Kali Linux is the distribution most security professionals reach for first. It ships with hundreds of penetration-testing, forensics, and auditing tools pre-installed — and several of them need raw access to your network hardware to work properly.

That last part is why how you install Kali matters. Install it the wrong way and Wi-Fi testing tools may not see your wireless card at all.

This guide covers the two installation methods that make sense for most people: running Kali inside a virtual machine (safest, recommended) and a native dual-boot (full hardware access).

Before you start

RAM: 4 GB minimum, 8 GB recommended

CPU: dual-core or better

Disk: at least 32 GB free

Backup: anything important on the target machine

Download the latest Kali image from the official site ( kali.org/get-kali ).…