MacOS – Installing dual boot Sierra and Kali-Linux

dual-bootmacosunixusb

I'm trying to install a dual boot with Kali-Linux 2.0 on my Macbook Pro (mid July 2016) running MacOS Sierra 10.12

I format my usb key to exFat and a guid partition. Then with the dd command I burn the kali-linux iso to the drive by getting the disk identifier with the diskutil list command.

To succeed to boot to the usb drive, I have to boot without plug it and hold down the option key, then I can plug the usb drive and click to EFI boot.

When I'm here, I have the Kali-Linux menu (Sometimes I just get a black freezing screen) the kali-linux menu is very small in the top-left corner.

So I try to use the graphical install and it freeze everything I try. I tried to go to my usb drive and modify the syslinux.cfg file to change "vesamenu.c32" to "menu.c32" but when I do that I can't get the kali-linux menu anymore.

Someone succeeded to install a dual boot on a MacBook Pro Sierra 10.12 and Kali-LInux 2.0 ? How can I do that ?

Thanks for your attention.

Best Answer

I have managed to get Kali Linux running from USB with persistence, on a Macbook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) with macOS Sierra.

Here's my guide explaining the process I used. I've tried to make it easy to follow, whilst still being as detailed as possible.

Part 1: Preparing the USB

Note: if you don't want persistence, just create 1 partition and finish the guide at part 3.

Open disk utility (Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility).
Select your USB device.
Choose erase.
Name: Untitled | Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled) | Scheme: GUID Partition Map.
Click done.
Select your newly formatted USB device.
Choose partition.
Click the "+" symbol at the bottom of the window.
Name (left partition): Persistence | Name (right partition): Kali Linux.
Format (both partitions): MS-DOS (FAT).
Click apply.
Click partition.

After this process, your partitions (Kali Linux and Persistence) may have renamed themselves to "K L" and "P" respectively. If this does happen, simply rename them, and follow the rest of this guide.

Part 2: Installation

Download your ISO of choice (I have tested this with Kali Linux full).
Drag the ISO file to your desktop.
Rename to "boot.iso".
Download the following EFI files: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/49525238/efi.zip
Extract the "efi.zip" file to desktop.
Drag "boot.iso" to efi > boot.
You should now have the following files contained within efi > boot: boot.efi, boot.iso, bootX64.efi, enterprise.cfg.
Copy the efi folder to the root of the Kali Linux partition on the USB drive.

Part 3: Booting Kali Linux

Restart your machine.
Hold the option key (alt) as soon as you hear the chime.
Follow the onscreen options (for me I press the "1" key twice, and then it boots).
After a few minutes, you should be prompted to enter login details.
Username: root | Password: toor

Part 4: Persistence

Open up GParted (you can find this by clicking the bottom icon in the task bar to the left, then you should see a search function - search GParted).
Once GParted is open, click the dropdown menu to the right and select the bottom option. If you only have one USB inserted, it should be /dev/sdb.
Select the partition with the label "Peristence".
Click partition at the top.
After this (choose unmount if the option is available) choose format to and then choose ext3.
Click edit at the top.
Choose Apply All Operations.
Apply.
Select the newly formatted partition.
Click partition at the top.
Click label.
Label "Persistence".
Choose Apply All Operations.
Apply.

Part 5: Reboot

Restart your machine (as in step 3).
Change your desktop background to a solid colour (grey for example).
Restart you machine again.
If your desktop background is the colour you changed it to, you now have persistent storage.

Hopefully this helps anyone having issues.

Related Solutions

Mac – Dual boot Kali with Mac

Honestly I'd suggest running it in a virtual machine (VM). I used to dual boot, however, at every update it would wipe the Kali install.

How to properly install Kali Linux on MacBook Air (dual-boot with El Capitan)

I set up a MacBook Air 2013 from scratch and tried to install Kali Linux 2.0. The install was successful, the big problem is the Broadcom wireless card though. But that's probably a second question.

Here is what I did:

First I made a fresh install of El Capitan 10.11.1 after repartitioning the internal drive to 1 partition with a GUID partition table.
After configuring El Capitan I downloaded Kali Linux and rEFInd 0.9.2
Then I dd'ed the kali iso image to a thumb drive:

First get the disk identifier of the thumb drive and unmount it:
```
diskutil list
```
My thumb drive had the disk identifier disk2.
```
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2
```
then dd the iso to the thumb drive:
```
sudo dd if=/Users/your_user_name/Downloads/kali-linux-2.0-amd64.iso of=/dev/rdisk2 bs=1m
```
The thumb drive will be bootable without installing rEFInd.
Then I booted to Recovery HD by holding cmdR while booting. Disable System Integrity Protection in Terminal with
```
csrutil disable
```
Reboot to Internet Recovery Mode by holding altcmdR.You will see a spinning globe animation while booting.
Since you probably have a CoreStorage partition after installing El Capitan you have to resize it. I doubt that the disk partition tool in the Kali Live USB drive succeeds with that. Open Terminal and enter:
```
diskutil cs list
diskutil cs resizeStack lvUUID size
```
lvUUID is the UUID of the Logical Volume. It's the last one listed in the output of diskutil cs list. The size has to be in t, g, m or k. Example: If your main disk has 250 GB and you need 40 GB free space to install Kali Linux to, enter 210g.

If you don't have a CoreStorage stack on your Mac you may choose Disk Utility to resize the main volume. The Recovery HD should be moved automatically in both cases.
Reboot while holding the alt key. Boot to the Windows partition of the thumb drive. Choose Graphical Install and configure the locale settings. The network interface install will probably fail. Choose none. Use the defaults of the disk partitioning tool. It will choose the empty space on your main disk to create a small boot partition for grub, a main partition and a swap partition. Then Kali Linux will be installed. Install grub to the mbr of your main disk.
After a reboot the Mac will boot to OS X. Eject the Kali Linux installer thumb drive.
Install rEFInd:
```
cd /Users/your_user_name/Downloads/refind-bin-0.9.2
./install.sh
```
Rename the refind folder and the efi file:
```
cd /Volumes/ESP/EFI
mv refind boot
mv boot/refind_x64.efi boot/bootx64.efi
```
Immediately after installing rEFInd the EFI volume is mounted at /Volumes/ESP and the install script fails to unmount it. If you mount disk0s1 later manually (e.g. after a reboot) with diskutil mount /dev/disk0s1 it will be mounted to /Volumes/EFI! Then you have to use cd /Volumes/EFI/EFI instead.
Quit Terminal and reboot while holding alt
Choose EFI Boot at the Mac boot screen and then Kali Linux at rEFInd boot screen.
Set up Kali Linux

Everything except the WLAN interface (and AFAIK the webcam) works now.

To further set up Kali Linux check the following resources:

HOWTO : Kali Linux 1.0.6 on MacBook Air (Mid 2013) 13 inches

To get the Broadcom chip to work check:

How to install Broadcom BCM4360 on debian on Macbook pro
How do I install build-essential without an Internet connection?
Kali 2.0 Installation Tips for Macbook Pro 2015 Retina
Broadcom firmware
Installing Debian On Apple MacBook Air6-2
b43 and b43legacy

Until now I haven't been able to get WLAN working but I'm investigating that and I will extend the answer as soon as I'm successful.

After setting up everything successfully boot to the Recovery HD again and reenable System Integrity Protection in Terminal with

csrutil enable

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Mac – Dual boot Kali with Mac

How to properly install Kali Linux on MacBook Air (dual-boot with El Capitan)

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