NEW for February 2020: The updated version of PWK has been designed so that the Standard 64-bit Kali VMware image is compatible with it. For more information about the 64-bit VMware Kali image, please visit: https://help.offensive-security.com/hc/en-us/articles/360049796792
Please note that while you may use any version of Kali to take the PWK course, we are only able to provide support for the use of the above image.
For students who have not yet upgraded to the new version of PWK, we strongly recommend using the following VMware image for the most streamlined experience: https://images.offensive-security.com/pwk-kali-vm.7z
To learn more about upgrading to the new version of PWK, please see the following URL: https://www.offensive-security.com/offsec/pwk-2020-update/
SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
The PWK Kali Linux VM is built for use with VMware products. Windows and Linux users can use either VMware Workstation or the free VMware Workstation Player, whereas macOS users will require VMware Fusion.
Free trials are available for both Workstation and Fusion if you do not already have a license for them.
PWK VM DOWNLOAD
The download URL, size, and SHA1 checksum for the PWK VM are as follows:
- URL: https://images.offensive-security.com/pwk-kali-vm.7z
- Size: 3.8 GB
- SHA1: 3f1004d800ed9b6fca79606f55cd4a34726e0c70
This Kali VM has the following credentials:
- Username: root
- Password: toor
USING THE PWK VM UNDER WINDOWS
Verifying the Download Integrity
Under Windows, you can use a utility like the Microsoft File Checksum Integrity Verifier to verify that your download did not get corrupted.
C:\Users\student\Downloads>fciv.exe -sha1 pwk-kali-vm.7z
//
// File Checksum Integrity Verifier version 2.05.
//
3f1004d800ed9b6fca79606f55cd4a34726e0c70 pwk-kali-vm.7z
C:\Users\student\Downloads>
Compare the computed SHA1 checksum with the one shown above. If the values do not match, that means your download did not complete successfully and you will need to download the file again. Do not proceed until you have a valid download or you will encounter issues going forward.
Extracting the Archive
The 7-Zip application is the quickest and easiest way to extract .7z and other archives on Windows. Once installed, right-click the PWK VM archive and select Extract to "pwk-kali-vm" and the VM will be extracted into a new folder in the current directory.
Launching the VM
To open and launch the extracted VM, open an Explorer window, navigate to the directory containing the extracted files, and double-click the .vmx file.
As the virtual machine is starting up, VMware will display a prompt asking if you moved or copied the VM. Click the "I Copied It" button to continue.
Once the VM has booted, you can log in with the username of root and the password of toor. Make sure you change the default password with the passwd command after you have logged in.
USING THE PWK VM UNDER OSX
Verifying the Download Integrity
Unlike Windows, OSX does not require any additional software in order to verify the integrity of the downloaded file. To compute the SHA1 checksum of the file, open the Terminal application, change to the directory that contains the downloaded archive and run the shasum command as follows:
mbp-pro:Downloads student$ shasum pwk-kali-vm.7z
3f1004d800ed9b6fca79606f55cd4a34726e0c70 pwk-kali-vm.7z
mbp-pro:Downloads student$
Compare the computed SHA1 checksum with the one shown above. If the values do not match, that means your download did not complete successfully and you will need to download the file again. Do not proceed until you have a valid download or you will encounter issues going forward.
Extracting the Archive
To extract the .7z archive, you will require a separate application, installed either through the app store, MacPorts, or Homebrew. MacPorts and Homebrew users who install the p7zip package can extract the archive at the command line as shown below:
mbp-pro:Downloads student$ 7z x pwk-kali-vm.7z
7-Zip [64] 15.09 beta : Copyright (c) 1999-2015 Igor Pavlov : 2015-10-16
p7zip Version 15.09 beta (locale=utf8,Utf16=on,HugeFiles=on,64 bits,4 CPUs x64)
Scanning the drive for archives:
1 file, 3493807992 bytes (3332 MiB)
Extracting archive: pwk-kali-vm.7z
--
Path = pwk-kali-vm.7z
Type = 7z
Physical Size = 3493807992
Headers Size = 448
Method = LZMA:26
Solid = +
Blocks = 4
Everything is Ok
Folders: 1
Files: 16
Size: 13573042462
Compressed: 3493807992
mbp-pro:Downloads student$
Launching the VM
To open and launch the extracted VM, open a Finder window, navigate to the directory containing the extracted files, and double-click the .vmx file.
As the virtual machine is starting up, VMware will display a prompt asking if you moved or copied the VM. Click the "I Copied It" button to continue.
Once the VM has booted, you can log in with the username of root and the password of toor. Make sure you change the default password with the passwd command after you have logged in.
USING THE PWK VM UNDER LINUX
Verifying the Download Integrity
As with OSX, the majority of Linux distributions do not require any additional software in order to verify the integrity of the downloaded file. To compute the SHA1 checksum of the file, open the Terminal application, change to the directory that contains the downloaded archive and run the sha1sum command as follows:
student@linux:~/Downloads$ sha1sum pwk-kali-vm.7z
3f1004d800ed9b6fca79606f55cd4a34726e0c70 pwk-kali-vm.7z
student@linux:~/Downloads$
Compare the computed SHA1 checksum with the one shown above. If the values do not match, that means your download did not complete successfully and you will need to download the file again. Do not proceed until you have a valid download or you will encounter issues going forward.
Extracting the Archive
Although it may not be installed by default, most Linux distributions will have a p7zip package that can be installed with their package manager that will allow you to extract .7z archives. The PWK VM archive can then be extracted as follows:
student@linux:~/Downloads$ 7z x pwk-kali-vm.7z
7-Zip [64] 9.20 Copyright (c) 1999-2010 Igor Pavlov 2010-11-18
p7zip Version 9.20 (locale=en_CA.UTF-8,Utf16=on,HugeFiles=on,4 CPUs)
Processing archive: pwk-kali-vm.7z
Extracting Offsec VM/Offsec VM-s001.vmdk
Extracting Offsec VM/Offsec VM-s002.vmdk
Extracting Offsec VM/Offsec VM-s003.vmdk
Extracting Offsec VM/Offsec VM-s004.vmdk
Extracting Offsec VM/Offsec VM-s005.vmdk
Extracting Offsec VM/Offsec VM-s006.vmdk
Extracting Offsec VM/Offsec VM-s007.vmdk
Extracting Offsec VM/Offsec VM-s008.vmdk
Extracting Offsec VM/Offsec VM-s009.vmdk
Extracting Offsec VM/Offsec VM-s010.vmdk
Extracting Offsec VM/Offsec VM-s011.vmdk
Extracting Offsec VM/Offsec VM.vmdk
Extracting Offsec VM/Offsec VM.nvram
Extracting Offsec VM/Offsec VM.vmx
Extracting Offsec VM/Offsec VM.vmxf
Extracting Offsec VM/Offsec VM.vmsd
Extracting Offsec VM
Everything is Ok
Folders: 1
Files: 16
Size: 13573042462
Compressed: 3493807992
student@linux:~/Downloads$
Launching the VM
To open and launch the extracted VM, open a file manager window, navigate to the directory containing the extracted files, and double-click the .vmx file.
As the virtual machine is starting up, VMware will display a prompt asking if you moved or copied the VM. Click the "I Copied It" button to continue.
Once the VM has booted, you can log in with the username of root and the password of toor. Make sure you change the default password with the passwd command after you have logged in.
UPDATING THE PWK VM
Although there is no need to update the virtual machine in order to complete the course exercises, you are certainly free to do so if you wish. Bear in mind that updating software may introduce new bugs or issues. If you choose to update the VM, we strongly suggest that you create a snapshot of the VM before upgrading (if you can't take a snapshot, make a backup of the VM by powering it off and creating a copy of the folder). If you encounter issues after updating, you will then be able to revert to a working state if you are unable to find a solution to the issue in the Kali Linux Forums or Kali IRC channel (#kali-linux on irc.freenode.net).