Voodoo-Kali

Kali Linux Desktop integration with Windows 10

How it works:

  • Kali Linux with XFCE Desktop Environment in Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)
  • VcXsrv X Server for Windows is doing the hard GUI lifting
  • XFCE is started natively in WSL and displayed by VcXsrv

Install Voodoo-Kali:

  1. Enable WSL and install Kali Linux from the Microsoft Store
  2. Get the full path of the Kali Linux chroot directory (%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\KaliLinux.<xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>\LocalState\rootfs) and exclude it in your virus scanner settings
  3. Start Kali in Windows 10 as normal, unprivileged user and let it do its initial setup
  4. Run
    wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Re4son/WSL-Kali-X/master/install-WSL-Kali-X  
    bash ./install-WSL-Kali-X
  5. Download and install VcXsrv X Server from here:
    https://sourceforge.net/projects/vcxsrv/files/vcxsrv/1.19.6.0/
    Note: Don’t use any other versions as they probably break effects required for true voodoo magic.
  6. Start VcXsrv, accept change in firewall rules, exit VcXsrv

Run Voodoo-Kali:

Start Kali in Windows as normal user (that’s default), and launch Voodoo-Kali:

  • as normal user:
~/start-xfce

 

  • as root:
sudo /root/xtart-xfce

Run Kali Desktop in an RDP session:

In Kali WSL, type:

sudo /etc/init.d/xrdp start

In Windows, run mstsc.exe and connect to “127.0.0.1:3390”

 

Status:

Voodoo-Kali is in it’s infancy and it is far from being elegant. I’m working on it though and step by step I’ll push out improvements. Below a snippet of the To-Do list:

  • Clean up and comment the scripts
  • Make for a cleaner exit
  • Better error handling and dependency checking (get rid of sleeps, etc.)
  • Improve stability of java programs
  • Improve the looks??

Any help is truly appreciated, in any shape or form – from tips to pull requests.
Why don’t you join the forums to discuss?

Sources:

https://github.com/Re4son/WSL-Kali-X

Pull requests, issues and comments are always welcome.

Further Information:

Offsec – Kali Linux in the Windows App Store

MSDN – Windows Subsystem for Linux Overview