Hi all.

Merry Christmas to all!

I am very new to Linux, especially Kali Linux.

I searched the forum for my particular problem, but could not find anything related.

OK so my problem is that i am unable to complete Kali Linux installation from USB on my Windows machine. It seems to be stuck in a install loop.

I decided to use my Lenovo Windows laptop to install Kali Linux as a single OS, using my USB flash drive.

Here is what i did:

During the Kali Linux installation process on my laptop, i got to the Partition disks stage, which showed:

SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda) - 1.0 TB ATA ST1000LM024 HN-M
> 1.0 TB FREE SPACE

SCSI5 (0,0,0) (sdb) - 16.2 GB UFDBM T7_151018
> #1 primary 2.8 GB B
> #2 primary 753.7 kb
> pri/log 13.5 GB FREE SPACE

I selected my 1.0 TB drive (my hard drive), as the other drive 16.2 GB is my USB.

I selected 'Continue' and 'Yes' to partioning my entire device.

I then got an error message:
Error fsyncing/closing /dev/sda input/output error
Warning!

And there are two options 'Retry' or 'Ignore', both of which don't do anything when selected, so i select 'Go Back' and i see a long list of options from Choose language to Abort the installation.

I have selected a number of options - Install system, Detect disks, Partition disks, but the install still fails showing:
Error fsyncing/closing /dev/sda input/output error
Warning!

Even if i select 'Finish partitioning and write changes to disk', still i get: Error fsyncing/closing /dev/sda input/output error.

It seems to loop in this order and does not go beyond.

I am really frustrated because the first time i successfully installed Kali Linux as the only OS on my windows machine, but when i did 'sudo apt-get update' command in terminal it messed everything up. All the desktop icons had disappeared.

Please can someone shed some light on what is going on, and how i can get Kali Linux installed successfully.

Your help and advice is greatly appreciated.

Thank you and a very Merry Christmas.

Ramirez

Not sure why you did that as Kali runs as root by default and the sudo package is not installed. See the link below to Kali docuntation on that and the reasons for it.

https://www.kali.org/docs/policy/kal...t-user-policy/

Installing Kali Linux is best explained at their site which has excellent documentation, link below.

https://www.kali.org/docs/base-image...-disk-install/

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If you are newish to Linux, I wouldn't use Kali.

Virtually any other distro would be fine - unless your main interest is in "Penetration Testing".

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It looks you have a problem with your disk. Perhaps reseating it helps?

The USB drive might have issues as well. Try installing with another one.

Before you install it on your PC, you may want to try out the USB live version of Kali.

Since you say that you are very new to Linux, you should also heed this advice from the Kali project:

3 members found this post helpful.

Hi all.

Yes I agree Kali Linux is probably not the right distro as a new Linux user, however it is Pen Testing that I am looking at. Otherwise I would have definitely gone for another Linux flavour.

I have had mixed results when installing.

I imaged Kali Linux on two USB flash drives. On one USB drive I could not mount the CD duri8ng installation, however, I was able to get to the Partition disks stage using the second USB drive.

I am beginning to think there may be a problem with the hard disk, but then why was I able to successfully install Kali on my first attempt?

Anyway, I will be looking at getting the hard disk checked before trying the Kali Linux installation again. Otherwise i may look at getting a pre-installed Kali Linux laptop.

Thanks guys for your great advice and suggestions.

Ramirez

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One more piece of advice: Whereever you look, the recommendation is to use Kali either in a virtual machine, or as a live USB system that you can carry with you and plug in anywhere. In other words, there should be no need to install it on your baremetal PC.

But I would definitely check the disk.

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Yes will be getting the disk checked.

Thank you for the advice.

;-)

I use Kali daily as a pen tester and my team all uses it in a VM. Works much better that way. We use the ova provided from Kali and just import into Virtualbox. I absolutely hate the gnome desktop it comes with but normally I am only using the command line anyway so pop open a terminal. I could kill the gui entirely I suppose.

Please stop for a second, and think about what you wrote here. A "new Linux user"....who wants to learn pentesting. If you want to learn, wouldn't it be better to start simply and add more as you go and understand?? ANY Linux distro can do what Kali does...Kali is just packaged to make it quick to run/use for professionals and experienced users. If learning is your objective, then why not load ANY version of Linux (Mint would be a good choice for a new user), and then learn about what tools are available, then install and configure those tools?? You would then have experience in running your system, installing/configuring/troubleshooting, and knowing what those tools do, what they depend on, and how they work.

If you honestly want to learn security and pentesting, it is **NOT** just 'pushing a button' on a program, but knowing WHY things work like they do, and determining vulnerabilities from there.
A 'pre installed Kali laptop'??? Kali's own website tells you it's best to run from USB or in a virtual environment, and that's been echoed here too. Again, Kali **IS NOT MEANT** for daily use. And to be honest, if you can't figure out how to install Kali, you don't have the experience needed to USE it.

Please, take the advice you've been given here over and over; use another distro. Learn what you're doing FIRST then use Kali as it was intended, either as USB or via virtualbox. You've asked an experienced community for advice, but seem bent on ignoring it....so why ask?

Good points TBone: most pentesters are specialized (I do web apps) so don't need the 64 million tools packaged with Kali. I use 3 or 4 only actually. These can be easily installed on a "normal" Linux box.

Maybe see what area of pen testing (DB, malware analysis, web apps, etc) is interesting to you (OP) and focus on a small number of tools you can install locally. Much easier...

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TB0ne
Thanks for your advice.

I am certainly not ignoring advice from anyone, In fact I appreciate it.

From the advice on here, I will be seriously looking at Linux Mint to start with and then take it from there.

Appreciate everyone's advice.

Thanks again.

Ramirez

Well, based on post #5 where you said
...it seemed like you were going that direction. You'll have a much easier time learning in steps, rather than all at once. Examine each thing you want to do, and learn how to do it...that will give you experience and knowledge at the same time. If you're going to pursue anything in a security-related field, you are going to have to know WHY things work like they do, and be able to explain why it's bad, how to remedy it (or at least manage the risks), etc.

Security is a never-ending journey.

Why yes, yes it is I have been doing IT security for nearly 15 years and is a huge field and constantly evolving. So much to know, I have focused on a single area but understand a pretty broad spread of things. You can't know it all...

TBone gives good advice - learn why and you will understand the concepts better.

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