I've been trying to install Kali Linux on a virtual machine (VMware Workstation Player if that helps at all) Everything before works fine, just for some reason that particular step doesn't work for some reason, even after I've left it for 30 minutes. Does anyone have any idea why this is happening?

Thanks

hi there first thing is that all the kali documentation ASSUMES!!!! that the person using Kali is a VERY VERY VERY experienced Linux user .

that little things like installing the OS ( even into a VM) can be solved by that person , all on there own.

as to "Preparing to configure cryptsetup-initramfs"

it dose take a lot of time to have Urandom run on a partition

That is the most contrary response to a 'simple question' I 've ever heard! Coming from, as you put it a "VERY VERY VERY experienced (Kali) Linux user" some people just wanna try new things, and need help. No where in the 'Kali' documentation does it say "must be extremely experienced!" This why people are discouraged from asking questions on these forums, that are in place for people to ask questions.
No one can know everything....all-the-time! If you think you are an "Expert" in anything, perhaps you should do something else! The best personality trait I have experienced in the 'Security Community' is an overwhelming humbleness, to teach others, share knowledge and generally (not all time) not being a 'dick' to newcomers or people with less knowledge or experience!
Even your solution seemed to be intentionally vague, and not at all helpful! I can't even believe I registered here! Just had too when I seen that "asshat" response!

Take Care, John VV (I only hope in your other 17K + posts you had better days!)

It says exactly that in the Kali docs: the distro is for experienced users because it is for pen testing. Kali works great in a VM if you just pull in the VM image the Kali folks have and not try to install it.

OP, have you tried the VMWare image and just imported it into VMware? https://www.offensive-security.com/k...mage-download/

I use Kali daily at work and this is what my team does, zero issues with it.

https://www.kali.org/docs/introducti...se-kali-linux/

And if that's how you are going to behave, perhaps you shouldn't have registered. The Kali distribution makes it plain that it's a tool for computer experts doing security testing, but a lot of people assume it's a general purpose distro. This site got many people who were far out of their depth as a result. That's why the Newbie section has a sticky on the subject:
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ad-4175614092/

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And the help is: learn how linux works and if you are an expert you can try kali. This is how it really works.

1 members found this post helpful.

Kali is not to try, Kali us used for penetration testing, period. Sure you can use it for everything else; I can also use a sledge hammer to drive in a thumbtack but it's the wrong tool. Encryption (cryptsetup-initramfs) is also pointless on Kali because there should be nothing to keep on it. If doing pen testing, keep the evidence on a thumb drive or somewhere else in case the laptop gets lost, stolen, etc.

Just advice to avoid frustration, that's all.

I wonder if LQ should just ban any reference to that distro? Always seems to end badly. I've stopped answering any questions about it.

Wonder if this was the correct answer?

"it do(es) take a lot of time to have Urandom run on a partition"

I am not sure - we seem to only get questions by people who probably should not be using it...hate to cut off part of the population but these threads never end well it seems. Maybe a canned response to send people to the Kali forums or web site, or the list of links that are sticky'd about Kali. Some people always respond with those which I think is good but it gets old after a lot of similar posts.

There is the Kali sticky-post that is often quoted, and is pretty good, but even just saying that ends badly sometimes.
If they ban Kali, they should also ban RHEL and SLES too...one is for advanced users who should be able to figure things out. The others are commercial distros, that users should get their paid-for support for. If you're going to ban one, then there is certainly grounds to ban others.

And how are you going to ban a topic? Because anyone can post pretty much whatever (especially in General), and if you start deleting/closing topics, all the OP will do is post again. And are you then going to start banning/removing the "What is best Linux?" and "Where to download the Red Hat?" topics that flood the forums as well?? No, censorship isn't the answer, but quick moderator action IS; put the canned reply out, and close the thread. There have been suggestions for a while about removing such 'spam topics' like the "What is best..." type threads, but it gets shot down.
Yes, it was...but the OP likely doesn't want to hear it.

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Often, not always.

But I have noticed that particularly for Kali Linux people are very quick to (falsely) assume that they're being abused.
Victimising themselves or whoever originally asked the question.
There's been a few cases now where (purportedly) someone else created an account solely for the purpose of outraging about how Kali Linux newbies are treated here (in their perceptions).

Sometimes I wonder - is it a thing amongst certain internet dwellers to go and tease the BOFs over at LQ?
Nah.

Much more likely:

There's a whole group of people who thrive on the idea of being coder revolutionaries victimised by society.
This is an illusion fuelled by a recent TV show. To fulfil this illusion for themselves, they must run Kali.
If you deny them that (I know you don't, but that's how they'll perceive it) they finally have identified the ones who're doing the victimising.

It is [going to be] again [almost] completely offtopic.

Probably we can open a sub-forum with a title: Kali for beginners.
Collect all [relevant] threads and put/move into it.

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Not sure if you're refering to my post.
It is not off-topic, because the problem at its root is not technical.
Most of those people have no technical reason to use Kali Linux, and no technical knowledge to even understand our continued criticism.
It's a "Thing", like in certain circles you need to wear Nike basketball sneakers even if you don't play basketball.

I refer to myself.
going into a green-grocery to buy a ferrari...

I've seen this same behavior too...someone will necropost or 'sign up just to say how disappointed they are', etc., etc....I've always assumed it's someone who got told to write their own scripts and got their nose bent out of joint, and decides to troll. Not just Kali, either, although that is a fair amount of folks who behave like this.