Unable to get right X display for kali on HVM

[NewbieG]

Hello list,

I'm running Qubes OS 3.1 and I'm trying to have a Kali VM (2016.1).

I've tried both methods suggested in:

https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/pentesting/kali/

First one, works ok if you run kali from DVD without installing it. If I try to install it, login window flickers and once logged on, the desktop shows up 'misplaced' (see attach).

Second one, as someone already pointed out in the list, introduces conflicts between X packages from kali and X packages from the debian-9 template.

Any help would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

[Andrew David Wong]

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Thanks for the report. I've added your comments to the issue we have for
tracking Kali documentation:

https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues/issues/1981

Jeremias (CCed) wrote most of the existing Kali documentation, so he might
have some ideas.

- --
Andrew David Wong (Axon)
Community Manager, Qubes OS
https://www.qubes-os.org
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[J. Eppler]

On Monday, August 1, 2016 at 8:58:56 AM UTC-5, NewbieG wrote:
> Hello list,
>
> I'm running Qubes OS 3.1 and I'm trying to have a Kali VM (2016.1).
>
> I've tried both methods suggested in:
>
> https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/pentesting/kali/
>
> First one, works ok if you run kali from DVD without installing it. If I try to install it, login window flickers and once logged on, the desktop shows up 'misplaced' (see attach).

I was first able to install and run kali without the above problems, but since Kali is a rolling distribution, I will test it again.

> Second one, as someone already pointed out in the list, introduces conflicts between X packages from kali and X packages from the debian-9 template.

For the second method there are two paths, one which uses kali repos directly and another is based on katoolin (which is a helper script).

Use the katoolin one, that method works well.

[NewbieG]

On Thursday, August 4, 2016 at 5:29:45 AM UTC, J. Eppler wrote:
> On Monday, August 1, 2016 at 8:58:56 AM UTC-5, NewbieG wrote:
> > Hello list,
> >
> > I'm running Qubes OS 3.1 and I'm trying to have a Kali VM (2016.1).
> >
> > I've tried both methods suggested in:
> >
> > https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/pentesting/kali/
> >
> > First one, works ok if you run kali from DVD without installing it. If I try to install it, login window flickers and once logged on, the desktop shows up 'misplaced' (see attach).
>
> I was first able to install and run kali without the above problems, but since Kali is a rolling distribution, I will test it again.

It might just don't like my video card (Nvidia GF108M).

>
> > Second one, as someone already pointed out in the list, introduces conflicts between X packages from kali and X packages from the debian-9 template.
>
> For the second method there are two paths, one which uses kali repos directly and another is based on katoolin (which is a helper script).
>
> Use the katoolin one, that method works well.

thanks for your suggestion. I've tried both, manual and katoolin ways. If you try to install everything (kali-full) X-based conflicts show up, hash mismatches, etc.

Cheers

[a.fel...@gmail.com]

Same problem..., manual and katooling with option full, and
misplaced desktop with last available kali iso.
My video card is also a nvidia (GT330M)

Cheers

[Cube]

On Saturday, August 27, 2016 at 5:13:34 AM UTC-7, a.fel...@gmail.com wrote:

> Same problem..., manual and katooling with option full, and
> misplaced desktop with last available kali iso.
> My video card is also a nvidia (GT330M)

Same problem with either Intel and AMD graphics cards (dual GPU laptop).

So it's no the GPU but something else. I tried a few things with the X conf file but it then wasn't able to start X at all, more work here maybe. Just looks like the viewport is displaced.

[peto...@gmail.com]

I have the same issue on a Lenovo T440s

[Gabriel]

Had the same issue on my Dell.

Both the xfce and lxde editions work fine though.

[matty...@gmail.com]

On Monday, August 1, 2016 at 8:58:56 AM UTC-5, NewbieG wrote:

Same issue here. I had good luck using the "Mate" version of Kali for my HVM. This indicates it is probably an issue with default gnome in kali?

[jaki...@gmail.com]

Anyone have a fix for the misplaced yet? I can run calling fine booting into windows harddrive and using virtualbox

[Noor Christensen]

I guess an alternative would be to use the katoolin[0] utility to
install the Kali packages in an existing Debian template. There are
several articles on how to do this on the net, but here's one of
them[1].

Basically, it adds the Kali APT repositories + GPG key and provides a
simple menu for selecting packages for install using the same categories
as Kali. I think it also includes a script to create the same
application menu structure as the default Kali install.

Seems to work fine, been using Kali like this since I switched over to
an Qubes based environment.

[0] https://github.com/LionSec/katoolin
[1] https://www.tecmint.com/install-kali-linux-tools-using-katoolin-on-ubuntu-debian/

-- noor

|_|O|_|
|_|_|O| Noor Christensen
|O|O|O| no...@fripost.org ~ 0x401DA1E0

[jaki...@gmail.com]

Are you using this a standalone hvm or as template app vm?

[Noor Christensen]

On Wed, Jun 28, 2017 at 10:43:58AM -0700, jaki...@gmail.com wrote:
> Are you using this a standalone hvm or as template app vm?

I cloned my usual debian template and installed all Kali packages on
that one. No HVM, normal AppVM.

This way I have a debian-kali template that I can keep updated
and base other VMs on, like customer-specific pentesting VMs.

[Noor Christensen]

On Wed, Jun 28, 2017 at 08:08:09PM +0200, Noor Christensen wrote:
> I cloned my usual debian template and installed all Kali packages on
> that one. No HVM, normal AppVM.

I meant "No HVM, normal TemplateVM", of course. Then, as said, I create
AppVMs based on that template whenever I need a Kali machine for
something.

[jaki...@gmail.com]

How are you accessing the Kali apps installed? I had played with what I read from the site about katoolin but no apps show on the vm to list. How are you launching the apps without a full display?

[Noor Christensen]

Personally I use a launcher like rofi[0] or dmenu[1] for running stuff,
or from a terminal on the VM itself.

But if you want the application menu in dom0 (and the Applications list
in VM settings) to show the menu entries from Kali, you probably need an
additional step to install them in the right location. They are
currently installed under /usr/share/kali-menu.

So, in your template run the following:

$ /usr/share/kali-menu/update-kali-menu

This will install the Kali application entries to the default location.

Now you should be able to run qvm-sync-appmenus in dom0:

$ qvm-sync-appmenus templatename

After which the new entries will be visible in the list of applications
available for any VM based on that template.

This was recited by memory so I guess YMMV.

[Noor Christensen]

On Wed, Jun 28, 2017 at 11:52:09PM +0200, Noor Christensen wrote:
> Personally I use a launcher like rofi[0] or dmenu[1] for running stuff,
> or from a terminal on the VM itself.

Sorry, forgot the links.

[0] https://davedavenport.github.io/rofi/
[1] http://tools.suckless.org/dmenu/