Now if you don’t know what that means, let me break it down for ya: basically, instead of going through the whole installation process and answering all those ***** questions like “What’s your name?” or “Where do you live?”, we can just automate everything with this magical preseed file.
So how does it work exactly? Well, let me show you an example. First off, create a new text document called `preseed.cfg` and open it up in your favorite editor (I like to use Vim because I’m cool like that). Then copy and paste this code into the file:
# This is a preseed configuration file for Kali Linux installer.
# It will be used by debian-installer during installation process.
# For more information, see https://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/Preseeding
# Set the country for the mirror to be used during installation
d-i mirror/country string US
# Set the HTTP proxy to be used during installation (leave blank if none)
d-i mirror/http/proxy string ""
# Select the network interface to be used for installation
d-i netcfg/choose_interface select eth0
# Set the hostname for the system
d-i netcfg/get_hostname string kali
# Set the static IP address for the system
d-i netcfg/static_ip_address string 192.168.1.100
# Set the netmask for the static IP address
d-i netcfg/static_netmask string 255.255.255.0
# Set the gateway for the system
d-i netcfg/static_gateway string 192.168.1.1
# Set the nameservers to be used for DNS resolution
d-i netcfg/static_nameservers string 8.8.8.8;8.8.4.4
# Select the timezone for the system
d-i timezone/select_tz select America/Los_Angeles
# Set the system clock to use UTC
d-i clock/utc boolean true
# Set the locale for the system
d-i debian-installer/locale string en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8
# Set the keyboard layout for the system
d-i keyboard-configuration/layoutcode string us
# Do not prompt for keyboard detection during installation
d-i console-setup/ask-detect boolean false
# Set the console keyboard layout to US
d-i console-setup/layout select us
# Do not specify a variant for the console keyboard layout
d-i console-setup/variant select ''
# Set the keymap for the system
d-i debian-installer/keymap select us
# Set the root password for the system
d-i passwd/root-password password kali:123456
# Set the full name for the user account
d-i passwd/user-fullname string Your Name Here
# Set the username for the user account
d-i passwd/username string your_username
# Set the password for the user account
d-i passwd/user-password password your_password
# Use the same password for the user account as the root account
d-i passwd/use-first-passwd boolean true
# Select the tasks to be installed during installation
tasksel tasksel/first multiselect standard, kali-tools, kali-linux-default
This preseed file sets up a few basic options like the country, network settings, timezone, and keyboard layout. You can customize it to fit your needs by changing these values or adding new ones (just make sure you follow the syntax).
Once you’ve saved this file, you can use it during installation by passing it as an argument when running `debian-installer`:
# This script is used to customize the installation process of Debian OS.
# It allows users to set various parameters such as language, network settings, timezone, and keyboard layout.
# Users can customize the script by changing the values or adding new ones, as long as the syntax is followed.
# To use this script during installation, pass it as an argument when running `debian-installer` with sudo privileges.
# The argument `--preseed` specifies the path to the preseed configuration file.
# Example:
# sudo debian-installer --preseed=/path/to/preseed.cfg
# Import necessary libraries
import os
import sys
# Set language to English
d-i debian-installer/language string en
# Set network settings
d-i netcfg/choose_interface select auto
# Set timezone to UTC
d-i clock-setup/utc boolean true
d-i time/zone string UTC
# Set keyboard layout to US
d-i keyboard-configuration/xkb-keymap select us
# Save the changes made in the preseed configuration file
d-i preseed/late_command string \
in-target sed -i 's/^.*$/&\n# Added by preseed script/' /etc/apt/sources.list; \
in-target apt-get update; \
in-target apt-get -y install vim
# The above code segment adds a comment to the end of the sources.list file and installs vim package.
# Run the debian-installer with sudo privileges and pass the preseed configuration file as an argument
sudo debian-installer --preseed=/path/to/preseed.cfg
And that’s it! Your Kali Linux install will now be fully automated and you won’t have to answer any ***** questions. Pretty cool, huh?