Installing Kali Linux 2016.1 in a UEFI boot-mode laptop/PC (Dual Boot with Windows 10)
The blog is also useful for those who wish to perform Dual boot with Kali Linux and Windows 10 or Windows 8.1
The blog is also useful for those who wish to perform Dual boot with Kali Linux and Windows 10 or Windows 8.1
[UPDATE: January 12, 2022] THE GOOGLE DRIVE LINK FOR EFI FILES HAS BEEN UPDATED.
Before going into the setup, let me give you some basics of boot loaders and boot mode.
So what is UEFI and Legacy Boot Mode ....?????
These are two different methods to boot-up the OS installed on the PC.
The Difference between UEFI and Legacy comes in the firmware, they both use for booting up the HDD installed in the PC.
Legacy Mode refers to BIOS firmware. Basic Input/Output System(BIOS) was the first popular firmware for desktop PC introduced in 1975 by IBM for its CP/M OS. Even though it is still widely present, computers have evolved tremendously and BIOS is unable to provide advanced features of modern hardware.
Unified Extensible Firmware Interface(UEFI) is the successor to BIOS. UEFI uses the GUID Partition Table (GPT) whereas BIOS uses the Master Boot Record(MBR) partitioning scheme. GPT and MBR are both formats specifying physical partitioning information on the hard disk.
The basic differences are like -
1. Max size of a single partition in Legacy is ~2TB, but in UEFI it's ~9 zetabytes
2. The number of primary partitions in Legacy is 4, and in UEFI is 128. (still you can go dynamic drives)
That means, you can install and keep the Windows Boot Manager as well as the GRUB loader (of Linux) both at the same time in the HDD.
4. UEFI enabled the support for Secure Boot, which is a sort of mechanism to prevent boot-time viruses from loading.
BIOS is pretty much outdated and UEFI offers many useful features. Thus it is recommended to install any operating system in UEFI mode. Note: One can't install in UEFI mode by booting in legacy mode.
Microsoft also started the support of UEFI with all it's OS Windows 8 onwards.
So, let's get started. Before that make sure you have the tools required for this.
2. Kali Linux Live USB Dist. .................. get it here
3. EFI File for booting into UEFI Mode ...................
for the time being just get it from here.... make sure you download both these files..
Okay so let's start..
Now let's build up our bootable media.............. a USB
Preferably take a 4 GB or 8 GB USB
Now open up Rufus Tools
1. Select your USB Media
2. keep the Partion System and Target System Type, File System and Cluster Size in default settings
4. Select the ISO of Kali Linux
5. Now click on start
Now let it complete....
After it's done...........
Now open up the USB in Windows Explorer
And Create a folder with name EFI in capital
Inside EFI.... create a folder Boot
Copy the contents of the EFI folder, that you downloaded from my google drive..... into this folder..
That's all....
Now restart your PC...
Get into the boot menu, using F12 or F8 or F9.
Make sure that the bootable USB in the USB 2.0 slot and is in FAT32 file system. After that open up
Do keep the secure boot disabled.
Iff, you encounter any problem disabling the Secure Boot, comment below.....
After doing this successfully, Kali Linux Boot Menu should show up...
Select the graphical install in the menu and follow the installation wizard....
After it's completed...
Reboot
You'll see the Kali Boot Loader installed on your PC in UEFI boot mode
Iff, by any chance, you happen to encounter a problem, saying
Some of. your hardware requires the installation of non-free firmware
then, select NO and proceed. This problem comes up when an unsupported hardware is detected.
You need not worry about this, because you can definitely install these firmwares later on after the installation of the OS is done.
Yeah but, beware, due to this error, you may find that some device of the PC may not work. (like the WiFi driver in most of the laptops with 6th gen Intel Core i Processors, do not work on Kali Linux).
This is that most of you would be facing, if you are working with root (admin) account on KALI LINUX 2016.2. The problem is that the Sound and Audio drivers (and may also be any other driver) won't load up, and you won't be able to hear any sound.
Solution to this is quite simple. You just need to go to the Settings, and make and account of any type, (preferably ADMINISTRATOR).
Now Sign in using that account, and you should see all the audio drivers, (and any other driver which was not working previously), working as usual.
Before going into the setup, let me give you some basics of boot loaders and boot mode.
So what is UEFI and Legacy Boot Mode ....?????
These are two different methods to boot-up the OS installed on the PC.
The Difference between UEFI and Legacy comes in the firmware, they both use for booting up the HDD installed in the PC.
Legacy Mode refers to BIOS firmware. Basic Input/Output System(BIOS) was the first popular firmware for desktop PC introduced in 1975 by IBM for its CP/M OS. Even though it is still widely present, computers have evolved tremendously and BIOS is unable to provide advanced features of modern hardware.
Unified Extensible Firmware Interface(UEFI) is the successor to BIOS. UEFI uses the GUID Partition Table (GPT) whereas BIOS uses the Master Boot Record(MBR) partitioning scheme. GPT and MBR are both formats specifying physical partitioning information on the hard disk.
The basic differences are like -
1. Max size of a single partition in Legacy is ~2TB, but in UEFI it's ~9 zetabytes
2. The number of primary partitions in Legacy is 4, and in UEFI is 128. (still you can go dynamic drives)
A bootloader basically is a program that contains the details of the files which have to loaded on the startup of the computer, so as to make the OS boot-up at the computer start.
3. Legacy mode supports the storage of only one bootloader program, but UEFI enabled the users to store more than one bootloader program.That means, you can install and keep the Windows Boot Manager as well as the GRUB loader (of Linux) both at the same time in the HDD.
4. UEFI enabled the support for Secure Boot, which is a sort of mechanism to prevent boot-time viruses from loading.
BIOS is pretty much outdated and UEFI offers many useful features. Thus it is recommended to install any operating system in UEFI mode. Note: One can't install in UEFI mode by booting in legacy mode.
Microsoft also started the support of UEFI with all it's OS Windows 8 onwards.
So, let's get started. Before that make sure you have the tools required for this.
Tools required will be
1. Rufus USB Tool, by Akeo................... get it here2. Kali Linux Live USB Dist. .................. get it here
3. EFI File for booting into UEFI Mode ...................
for the time being just get it from here.... make sure you download both these files..
Okay so let's start..
Now let's build up our bootable media.............. a USB
Preferably take a 4 GB or 8 GB USB
Now open up Rufus Tools
1. Select your USB Media
2. keep the Partion System and Target System Type, File System and Cluster Size in default settings
4. Select the ISO of Kali Linux
5. Now click on start
Now let it complete....
After it's done...........
Now open up the USB in Windows Explorer
And Create a folder with name EFI in capital
Inside EFI.... create a folder Boot
Copy the contents of the EFI folder, that you downloaded from my google drive..... into this folder..
That's all....
Now restart your PC...
Get into the boot menu, using F12 or F8 or F9.
Make sure that the bootable USB in the USB 2.0 slot and is in FAT32 file system. After that open up
Do keep the secure boot disabled.
Iff, you encounter any problem disabling the Secure Boot, comment below.....
After doing this successfully, Kali Linux Boot Menu should show up...
Select the graphical install in the menu and follow the installation wizard....
After it's completed...
Reboot
You'll see the Kali Boot Loader installed on your PC in UEFI boot mode
Iff, by any chance, you happen to encounter a problem, saying
Some of. your hardware requires the installation of non-free firmware
then, select NO and proceed. This problem comes up when an unsupported hardware is detected.
You need not worry about this, because you can definitely install these firmwares later on after the installation of the OS is done.
Yeah but, beware, due to this error, you may find that some device of the PC may not work. (like the WiFi driver in most of the laptops with 6th gen Intel Core i Processors, do not work on Kali Linux).
(the missing firmware may be different, on different PC)
The above can be used for the installation of Kali Linux 2016.2, although I've written a seperate blog for that, but in 2016.2 you'll face a problem, which I've discussed below.
Now, let's come to a very big problem
Solution to this is quite simple. You just need to go to the Settings, and make and account of any type, (preferably ADMINISTRATOR).
Now Sign in using that account, and you should see all the audio drivers, (and any other driver which was not working previously), working as usual.
You encounter any problem......... ??????????
feel free to post it below in comments...
I assure your queries will be resolved asap...
author Chinmoy,
Bengaluru, India
Dude this awesome!!!It works for me.Could you tell what are you doing in this process.Where are those grub files taken from.
ReplyDeleteThank you.. dude...
Deletesorry for the late reply, I had been a bit busy lately...
You see these EFI files are taken from Fedora repositories, which I later mod-ed for use in Kali Linux 2016.2
this process is done solely, because kali linux (by default), does NOT have the EFI files, required for booting up a EFI-bases PC.
DeleteThank you.. It really relief my headache.
ReplyDeleteyour welcome...
Deleteand thank you for appreciating it.
Error: Unknown file system
ReplyDeleteError: You need to load the kernel first
Press any key to continue.....
Hey, first of all, this method is for all those who have UEFI-based laptops.
DeleteEnsure that, you have UEFI boot mode in your system.
.......
Now, look to it that you've DISABLED THE SECURE BOOT.
You can do it from the boot menu.
I've already mentioned that in my blog.
.......
Do that, then say if it's working..!!
Error:disk `hd0,1'' not found
ReplyDeleteError:You need to load the kernel first
same problem here
DeleteYou need to turn on UEFI first..
Deleteand then disable SECURE BOOT.
then only will the linux kernel boot up..
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteHi thanks for the tutorial. I did everything accordingly but when I try to boot from the USB it shows a black screen written GNU GRUB and a line about minimal bash like line editing is supported, looks like some kind of cmd terminal
ReplyDeletehey,
DeleteIf you post some pictures, of what's happening with your computer, then I'll be of more help.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteYes,
Deletebecause, you see, this is a method to DUAL BOOT Kali Linux alongside Windows in UEFI Boot Settings.
And what's your favorite anime?
ReplyDeleteMine naruto shippuden .... I think u like one piece ;-)
you kinda guessed it right.
DeleteIt's One Piece, but I also really like Naruto Shippuden and Fullmetal Alchemists
HI there are 3files in Google drive....
ReplyDeleteall of them are required for booting up in UEFI Boot mode
DeleteWhat is grub.cfg ? should I download that too? Or just bootx64 and grubx64?
ReplyDeletedownload all three, and put them inside a newly created folder with the name --- EFI --- in your bootable USB
Deletebut the bootable usb cant be opened.?
Deleteinsert the USB into your laptop's USB 2.0 PORT.
DeleteAlso, make sure that the USB is in FAT32 File System.
other wise, it won't boot up !
finally. Thank you man thank you iv been looking for 13 14 hour
ReplyDeleteyour welcome.
Deleteand I really appreciate you for commenting..
I have more questions please answer the previous questions...
ReplyDeleteI've answered them, now ask the other questions also...
DeleteWhat if I want to install it on a 2nd drive? 10 on one drive and Kali on the other...same procedure?
ReplyDeleteYeah, surely you can do that.
DeleteHowever, you must have Windows 10 installed first,
then you create a 2nd drive on your hard-drive, and install Kali Linux on that drive.
Hi thank you for this solution... now I have both kali and Windows in bootloader...
ReplyDeleteMy question is how can I run Linux 2016.2 in usb without install it so I can carry linux ???!!
for this purpose...
DeleteYou just build up a bootable USB with RUFUS as I've said, and create the EFI folder with the given contents.
Now, this will be bootable and portable as well.
rather, I should say that you do the process with Ubuntu.
DeleteThe Ubuntu Gnome looks similar to Kali linux, and It'll be better than Kali as far as portability is concerned.
https://ubuntugnome.org/
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAnd thanks for ubuntu but for now I want use kali
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHey ! when i boot the usb with kali correctly installed, it says " error disk "hd0, 1" not found, kernel....."
ReplyDeleteBut my UEFI is ON, and i've disabled secure boot, can you help me ?
Send massage here https://t.me/EqualistT8
DeleteI will be happy to help you ...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi buddy, when i reset my pc the boot folder in efi folder is erased.
ReplyDeleteI'm assuming that Reset Your PC is what you did from Windows 10.
DeleteWhat you need to do now is re-install the Linux Distro, that's the only thing I can suggest.
To save your data from your previous installation, you can open the file system on linux live distros.
Hey! I copied all three files.disabled secure boot,but then i boot using usb media blue screen came & i choose graphical install..then black screen throws error saying that secure boot is not enabled..thats it pc froze on that screen.what should i do?
ReplyDeletetry it with "Secure Boot Enabled", it may proceed.
Delete...
dude, pls, can you post a screenshot of the error !!
I downloaded and install windows 10 creator update, But I did not like it. After installation Microsoft shows downgrade option early after upgrading to Windows 10 and remove it after one month. I recently upgrade my windows 8.1 Professional operating system to windows 10 Professional being getting a license from ODosta Store
ReplyDeleteBut I did not like its overall structure. I think Its not Windows 10, Its version should be windows 6 as it has many faults.
I tried to downgrade back to my existing win 8.1 os and I saw as Microsoft was giving me option to downgrade. I thought that I'll downgrade after two month But after two month when I tried again, Microsoft removed that option. Now what to do. I searched and found your post, Which is very helpful for me. Thanks for sharing these details here.
your welcome dude,
Deletelook the downgrade options come only till some limited amount of time, after that it goes away.
DeleteIt's one of the marketing strategy of Microsoft, to make users use the new Softwares.
as far as Odosta Store is concerned, It's probably genuine key that they provided you with.
DeleteYou can chat with Windows Support(en-US), and ask them to verify the key that you got. They'll help you out.
btw, Try to but things like Windows from g2a.com only,
Deletethey are totally legal, geniune, and will provide you with full security of your money & product in case of fake products.
as far as your problem is concerned,
Deletethe only solution I can think of is that you should re-install Windows from fresh (whichever version you like).
I would suggest you to go with Windows 10, 'cause it's the most stable version of Windows available till date. Even more, the WannaCry ransomware is reported NOT TO AFFECT WINDOWS 10 MICROSOFT, as of yet.
reply to me, in case you found my answer helpful.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI have installed the kali Linux 2017 version with the help of some video but in between i didn't copy anything like you said.now after the installation pc automatically loading the same old windows 10.is there a way to install grub or some what to dual boot the system.
ReplyDeletelook, you need to set up your PC's UEFI boot manager, so that it is able to look for the grub file of your Kali Linux.
Delete.
.
Get into the laptop's BIOS, there you'll find a setting -- BOOT from UEFI File.
.
.
.
Enter that, and select the grub file of kali (probably stored as Ubuntu)
nice
ReplyDeletedual boot Kali Linux with windows 10
thanks
DeleteNice guide on dual boot kali linux with windows 10.
ReplyDeletethank you
DeleteIf you want windows on one drive and kali on a second drive... when Kali install asks where to put grub file, should you select the windows drive, or the Kali drive you are installing to?
ReplyDeleteHey I am using same method to live boot kali Linux in my laptop(hp pavilion 15 gaming windows 10) with secure boot disabled. After entering in live boot it keeps starting udev kernel manager and fails every time. I kept it running for an hour and it kept repeating same process. What is wrong with it? Will your process work only for graphical install of kali 2016.1 and not for other kali versions? Please help me..
ReplyDeleteI feel really happy to have seen your web-page and look forward to so many more entertaining times reading here. Thanks once more for all the details.
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