Introduction to Linux | Linux Tutorial For Beginners 2026 | Linux For Ethical Hacking | Simplilearn

Key Takeaways

[Music] Welcome to the Linux Phil course. As the world of cyber security continues to grow, knowing Linux has become an essential skill for anyone looking to excel in the field, especially in ethical hacking. Linux is at the heart of many hacking tools and environments, making it crucial for security professionals to understand its power. Ethical hackers use Linux to secure systems, prevent attacks, and protect sensitive data. And this course will give you the foundational knowledge and hands-on experience you need to succeed. In this comprehensive course, we will cover everything you need to know about Linux from the basics to advanced topics. We'll also explore its importance in cyber security and ethical hacking. Starting with Linux fundamentals, you'll get hands-on experience with Kali Linux, which is one of the most widely used operating systems in the ethical hacking community. We'll also dive into key Linux commands, shell scripting, and system administration, which are vital for ethical hackers to secure systems and manage networks. And by the end of this course, you'll be fully equipped with the knowledge and the skills to use Linux effectively in ethical hacking and also cyber security roles. So let's get started on your journey to master Linux and launch your career in ethical hacking. Now if you want to watch similar videos like this, hit the subscribe button and check out our channel for more such content and information. Now before we move on, here's some quick information. If you're interested in a future proof career in cyber security, then Simply Learn's professional certificate program in cyber security is the perfect starting point for you. This is a 20week program in collaboration with pur university and IBM. It also equips you with the hands-on expertise in tools like metasplot it burpsuit and end mapap also explore generative AI in cyber security with real world projects guided by industry experts. The demand for skilled professionals is skyrocketing and this program provides the all the certification skills and the confidence you need to excel in the cyber security field. So hurry up and enroll now and you can find the link below. >> Hello tech wizards and digital explorers. Welcome to a journey into the core of Linux, the operating system powering over 2.3% of desktop computers globally and a staggering 96.3% of the world's top 1 million servers. I'm Abisa and today we are delving into one of the most vital components of Linux, its file systems. Imagine a world where every piece of digital information is meticulously organized, where every bite of data has its own unique place. That world exists right inside your Linux machine. So, buckle up as we dive deep into the intricate maze of Linux file systems, exploring how they work, why they are important, and what makes them so unique in the realm of operating systems. In the realm of Linux, file systems like ext4, xfs, and btrfs aren't just names. their sophisticated architectures that manage how billions of bytes of data are stored, accessed, and organized. These systems are the unsung heroes, ensuring data integrity and efficiency in a digital world. Today, we will uncover how these file systems support everything from your personal blogs to the largest data centers hosting pabytes of information. We will explore inodes, journaling, mounting, and more terms that might sound complex, but are incredibly fascinating once you get to know them. And now Linux offers a diverse array of file systems each tailored to specific requirements. And now let's explore some prevalent Linux file systems. So starting with EX2 and then we have EX3, EXT4, XFS, BTRFS, ZFS, JFS and then we have Riser FS. So now starting with the first one that is ext2. So, ext2 extended file system 2 that is one of the Linux earliest and most commonly used file systems. Exta choice for many Linux distributions. It's known for its stability and suitability for small to mediumsized partitions though it lacks a journaling feature which can complicate file recovery post crash. Now moving to the next file system that is ext3 extended file system 3. Building on ext2. ext3 introduces journaling to track file system changes reducing data loss risk after crashes. It's a popular choice for its stability, reliability, and performance. And now move to the next that is ext4 extended file system 4. As the evolution of ext3, ext4 addresses some of its predecessors limitations. It supports larger files, quicker file system checks and enhanced performance for larger disk. Features like journal check summing also enhances data integrity. Ext4 is a default file system in many modern Linux distributions. Now moving to the next file system that is XFS. So XFS that is X file system that is designed for large scale storage and XFS excels in performance and is suitable for file systems up to 16 XABY. It's a top choice for large data centers offering scalability, reliability and featuring like general and file level languages. Now moving on to the next file system that is BT RFS. B3 file system. A newer Linux file system. BTRFS supports copy on write snapshots and sub volumes allowing for multiple file systems within a single partition. It also includes RAID and compression support. BTRFS is still under development and isn't as commonly used as other file systems. Next we have is ZFS. ZFS Zabyte file system initially developed for Solaris. ZFS is a robust system with features like snapshots, data compression, reduplication and built-in rate. Renowned for its data integrity and self-filling capabilities. ZFS is not typically included in Linux distributions due to licensings but can be installed separately. Now moving to the next file system that is GFS. GFS journal file system that is developed by IBM. GFS is known for its performance and reliability. It offers journaling, file level compression and online resizing making it a strong choice for high performance systems. And now the next one that is resizer FS. So targeted at high performance computing, Resizer FS includes features like journaling, file level encryption and support for larger files. While known for its speed and reliability, it's less common compared to other file systems listed here. Now moving to key Linux file system directories. So the Linux operating systems file management is predominantly handled through directories commonly known as folders. These elements are crucial in the Linux file system serving not just as file holders but also as organizational tools. Imagine directories as virtual boxes each capable of storing files and other directories. Directories in Linux play a vital role in providing an ordered hierarchal framework for file arrangement. This hierarchy commences at the root directory denoted as slash and extends into various subdirectories. This approach allows for a logical and systematic organization of complex systems enhancing the ease of file management and access. So key Linux file system directories each directory in the Linux file system serves a distinct purpose. Here are some of the signant directories starting with the number one that is root directory. So root directory is the highest level in the Linux file system hierarchy. All other directories and files are nested within this route. Now moving to the next directory that is bin standing for binaries. This directory contains essential command line utilities and programs vital for basic system management. And then we have boot. So here lies the bootloader files and the kernel images necessary for system startup. And then we have dev. This directory host device files representing both physical like printers and disk and virtual devices like terminals. And then we have etc directory that is home to system configuration files. These are utilized by various applications and services. And then we have home directory. It houses individual users directories providing personal space for file and setting storage. And then we have library directory. This directory stores shared library files needed by system programs. Next we have media directory. A mounting point for removable media such as USB drives, CDs and DVDs. And then we have Mnt that is mounting directory that is used for temporarily mounting file systems like network file systems or disk images. Next we have OPD directory a location for additional software packages that are not part of the standard system. And then we have standard bin directory, a directory for system binaries and administrative tools essential for system upkeep. And then we have user directory that contains user level programs, libraries, documentation and shared data files. So these were the directories in Linux file distribution system. And now here are the key concepts in file systems. Starting with journaling file system. So these systems maintain a log refer to as journal. This log records changes to files that are not yet permanently saved on the disk. This feature is particularly useful for recovering lost changes in the event of a system failure. And the next we have is versioning file systems. These systems reserve earlier versions of files. Essentially they save file copies based on their previous states at specific intervals offering a backup mechanism that could be based on minute or hourly updates. And next we have index nodes. And I note symbolizes a file or directory detailing attributes like size, permissions, ownership and physical locations. And now we'll see the demo for the Linux file distribution system. So for that we will open the terminal with control D. And now first we'll see in which directory we currently are in. So we are in home aisaruja. So first we'll move to the root directory. For that we'll write the command cd space /ash. So now we have moved to the root directory and here we'll see what types of directories we have. We have bin dev boot etc opt swap file. So now we'll move to the bin directory. So in bin directory it contains binaries or essential executable files. So these are the binaries and executable files that we can use in the terminal only. So now as I will show you there's a bin and there's s bin also this is sbin. So now we'll move to the sbin directory. For that we'll write the command cd sbin and here we see the directories of sbin. So what does sbin contain? It contains system binaries like mount or delete and the user that are used by the root user. So these binaries can be used by the root user only. And then we have other directories that is library. So to move to the library directory we'll write the command cd lib and now we'll see its directories. So what does it contains? It stores common libraries between bin and spin. So many directories are stored in the library directory only. So then we have another directory that is user directory under the root only. So to move to that we'll write cd user. So it says that. So first we'll move back to the root directory. and then we'll move to the user directory. So it says that no such file or directory is present here. We just check. I think it's USR for user. Yeah, it's USR. So user directory is named as USR. We'll move to the user directory. and to see the directories inside user. So these are the directories in user. So user has its own bin and spin directory and the binaries here are non essential binaries and there's a local directory under user. So it contains binaries that you can combine manually. So these are all the directories under root and you can go to other directories also as I have shown you the diagram of all the directories under user or under the root that I have shown in the previous thing. So you can check it out. So in conclusion the Linux file system with its directory structure is a cornerstone of the operating system. It facilitates efficient data management while upholding system stability and security. Linux file system is characterized by its hierarchical treel like structure with the root directory at its apex. Various file systems in Linux cater to different needs each with its pros and cons. The Linux directory structure encompasses an array of directories each designated for specific function like system binaries, boot files, device files, and user files. If you've ever opened a computer's file manager, you have probably seen something familiar on Windows. It's that trusty C drive with neat folders like program files and documents. On Mac, you get applications folder, your desktop and few others. Easy, right? But then you step into Linux and suddenly you're staring at bin, etc. Proc lib and you're thinking what alien planet have I just landed on? Now the truth is Linux organizes its file in a completely different way. No C drive, no fancy icon. Everything starts from a single slash. And every folder hanging from it has a very specific job. And here's the thing, it's not as scary as it looks. In fact, once you understand it, it's beautifully logical. So, in this video, I'm going to walk you through the Linux file system structure step by step in plain simple English. No tech jargon overloaded. And by the end, you'll know exactly what each folder does, where to find your stuff, and how it's different from Windows and Mac. So, in this video, we'll be covering what the Linux file system is, and how it's different from Windows and Mac. Starting with the root directory and exploring key folders like home, bin, dev, lip, temp, and many others. We'll also cover simple Linux commands to navigate and explore the structure and a few quiz questions to make sure you're following along. Now, before we get started, here's a quick quiz question for you. When you first boot up your computer, which part of the Linux file system do you think is responsible for starting the system? Home directory, boot directory, etc. directory? You can drop your guesses in the comment section below. Now before we get started, let's first understand what exactly the Linux file system is. You can think of it as the organization system for your computer. Now every file, program, and setting on your system is stored somewhere. And the Linux system is responsible for organizing all of that into neat directories and files. It's just like the blueprint for your computer's data storage, telling you where to find things and how they are connected. Just like a library has shelf, labels and categories to keep all the books organized in the same way the Linux file system works but with files and directories instead of books. So why do we need this structure? Well, in Linux the file system is a hierarchal structure which means everything is organized in layers starting from the root at the top just like a tree and the branches off into different directories each serving a specific purpose. It help manage data efficiently, ensuring security and allows the system to run smoothly and quickly. So why are we diving into the Linux file system today? So whether you're new to Linux or a seasoned user, understanding where files are stored and how everything is organized is very important for troubleshooting and system efficiency. Knowing the purpose of each directory will help you to navigate and manage files easily. This video will give you a solid foundation so you can confidently handle task and feel in control of your Linux system. Let's have a quick comparison between Windows and Linux. So when you're using Windows, everything feels familiar. You've got your C drive, maybe a D or E drive, and all your files and programs are neatly stored there. file paths uses backslashes like users Alex document and Windows doesn't care about capital letters. So you can see here in the screen you can see most of the apps are installed and it's end up with C back slashprogram files right and also talking about the capital letters now files txt and files are treated the same most apps you install end up with C program files so it's pretty straightforward but here in case of Linux it's pretty different the rules are a little different there are no drive letters everything starts with a single root directory and from there all your folders and files branch out. File paths uses forward slashes like home, Chris, downloads and it's also case sensitive. So filet txt and file.txt are completely different files here. Now another big difference is in Linux everything your hard drive, your USB sticks, even your keyboard appears somewhere under this slash. You can think of it like this. Now Linux is a giant tree and this slash is the trunk and every folder is a branch out here the bin etc home opt and everything. Now once you see the pattern it actually becomes easier for you to navigate than in Windows. All right. Now let's talk about the Linux file hierarchy structure or simply how Linux arranges the folders and files. Well, in Linux, there's something called the file system hierarchy standard or FHS for short. You can think of it as a rule book that tells the system where different types of files should go. Now, this standard is managed by the Linux Foundation. And here's the interesting part. No matter where a file is stored on your computer's hard drive or external drive or even a virtual device in Linux, all of it appears under one main folder, which is the root directory. Now this root directory is just under a single forward slash. Some folders you'll see only if certain features are installed like the X window system for graphic but most of these folders are present in all Unix space system and they generally work in a very similar way. What we'll be focusing on here is how Linux uses them specifically. So let's dive into the structure and break it down step by step. Let's begin at the top the very first directory in Linux which is the root directory. Now what is a root directory in Linux? Well the root directory is like the main entry point in Linux. It's represented by a single forward slash and everything else in the system connects to it. You can think of the root directory like the trunk of a tree and all the other directories like branches grow out from it. This is the highest point in the Linux file system and there is nothing above it. It's the starting point for everything. Now how does the root directory even work? Well, every file folder device or even a network shared in the system is connected with slash. Let's say for example your documents, music files or even your external devices like USB drives everything will appear under the folder slash. But only the root user that is the administrator can make changes directly to the / directory. Normal users won't have the permission to modify things out there without special access. Here's an important clarification to make the root versus this slash the /root versus the normal slash. So this is the main root directory and the root is a special directory is the personal home directory to the root user and it's very similar to how the home username in a home directory is used for other people. You can think of root as the roots user personal workspace within the system. Now in Windows we use different letters like C drive, D drive to represent different parts of a system like your hard drive, external storage etc. But in the case of Linux, there's no such thing as drive letters. Instead, everything connects to a root directory, even if it's an external devices like a USB drive. This structure makes Linux more unified and flexible as all the files, no matter where they are stored, are part of one system, which is starting from slash. All right, we are at the trunk of the tree. Let's grab the essential tools we'll need, and they are all in the bin folder. Now the second directory we're talking about is the bin which is essential user command. Now the bin directory in Linux it stands for binary and it contains essential commands that every user can use. So whether they are an administrator or a normal user. These commands are the core tools which are required for running the system and doing everyday task for the terminal which is the command line. But why is bin even important? Well, the commands in bin are vital for working with files and managing your system. Let's say for here ls which stands for list the files in directory. The cp stands for copies file or directories. MV means move or renaming files. RM is removing files or directories. Pink means checking network connectivity. GP searches for specific pattern in files and cat will display the contents of a file. You can see these commands are so fundamental that they are available even in single user mode which is a minimal state where the system can run in often used for maintenance or troubleshooting. So what happens if you don't have bin? If you don't have bin you wouldn't be able to perform basic file operations like copying, deleting or listing the files from the terminal. Now these actions would be impossible making the system unusable for normal task. If you're familiar with Windows bin in Linux is similar same as in Windows like how we write this in C drive Windows system 32 folder. System 32 in Windows holds essential tools like command.exe and other system utilities which are similar to how bin stores essential Linux command. So bin is critical directory in Linux because it's hold the basic commands that are necessary to interact with the system and manage file. Without these commands, the system wouldn't function properly. But before you can even use bin, Linux needs to actually start up. And that's where boot comes in. Let's make sure you're following along. So, I have another quiz question for you. Now, which of these folders in Linux holds the command that help you manage files like copying and moving them? Your options are home, bin, boot. You can think your answer and you can drop it in the comment section below. Now we'll be talking about the boot directory which is often called the boot loader and kernel files. Now this is where Linux keep everything it needs to start from the system. It contains the Linux kernel the core of the operating system. It holds the grub which is the bootloadader files the menu you might see when starting the computer. Now it also includes initial RAM disk file which is the initrid or init to help the kernel load drivers before the main system even starts. Now without boot your PC won't even start Linux. Talking about Windows window has boot files like boot mgr and the boot configuration. Okay the engine is running now. Linux needs to talk to hardware as well keyboards disk and printers. Now this happens when they are stored in the dev directory. Now dev is for the device files in Linux. So in Linux hardware is treated just like a file. So in hard drives you have folders like dev SD1 dev NDVM. Then you have USB drive, microphone, speakers, keyboards all have entries over here. Now talking about the two main components. So there are basically two main type of uh device files here. First we've got the block devices which store and transfer data in blocks. For example, hard drives. Then second we have the character devices which can send data one character at a time for example serial ports and keyboards. In Windows devices appear as E F etc. And in Linux they appear as special files in dev. Now how does Linux knows how to behave? Now that's decided in the ATC directory. This stands for system configuration files. The configuration files. This folder contains all the systemwide settings in plain text. You have your network settings here, the DNS servers. Then you have the user accounts as well. Startup services like etc etc. You can also open these files with any text editor because Linux stores configurations as readable text unlike Windows registry which is stored in special database. Now we have seen system settings. Now where do you keep your personal files? That's where we have our home directory which is for personal user directories. Now every user in Linux gets a personal folder under this home. So if your username is John, your folder would be home John and you can store documents, pictures, downloads and even your personal configurations over here. You cannot just modify other users folder without any permission. It's just like the Windows C drive where users join in Windows like how we use it. Now we have seen how this home directory works. Now to run applications, Linux needs shared code and this is where the lib directory comes in which is for shared libraries. So lib basically contains dos shared object files which are similar to DL files in Windows. Now these are used by programs in bin and spin to work properly. Let's say for example if bin ls needs to print colored output it might use a library in this lib directory to handle colors. Next we look at the Linux puts removable devices USB drives CDs and that's where media directory comes in. This is also called the automounted devices. So when you plug in a USB or you insert a CD Linux automatically it creates a folder inside media and it mounts it there. For example, we have media John my USB. Now, Windows will just give you the device a new drive letter. Whereas in case of Linux, it will treat it as a part of the single directory tree. Let's move on to next directory. Now, sometimes you don't want Linux to automount devices, right? And that's where the mount comes into play. This is also called the temporary mount point directory which is used by system admins to manually mount devices or network drives. Also, it's great for temporary use and it also doesn't even affect the media directory from here. Talking about the next directory on our list which is the opt optional software. We all know that some software doesn't come with Linux by default. We keep it that in this optional software directory. Third party software and its files are stored here. Let's say for example installing Google Chrome manually might put it in this opt Google Chrome uh directory. So this was for this directory out here. The next one we've got the s bin which stands for system administration command. Now for system maintenance admins use special commands. These live in this folder. It contains commands like IP tables firewall fisk disk partitioning and reboot. So if you want to access the directory, you want to first initially start up and access the root. Next one we've got on the list is SRV, the service data root directory. So what it does is it basically stores files for services like websites, srv, www or FTP servers, srv, FTP. Now you must have heard about this uh directory which is the temporary files tmp. This is used by application to store short-term data and also it clears automatically after a reboot. Then we've got this uh user directory user programs and data. So the first one we have is the user local. These programs are installed manually from the source. Second uh user program data directory. We've got a user bin. The user commands which are not in the bin folder. Then we've got the user sbin where the admin commands not in the spin. And then we have the user li which are related to libraries. The next up we've got this process information directory. So this is a virtual file system showing live uh system data. So this particularly will show your CPU details, your memory starts and information about a specific running process. So now that we have covered all the important file directories, I'll show you a quick Linux command cheat sheet. So here first up we've got this ls which stands for list directory content. Second we've got this cd directory which is the change directory. We have pwd which stands for print working directory. cp source desk it stands for copy files or directories. Then we've got MV source desk which is move rename files. RM is for move files or directory. Stop is for displaying system processes. PS is for showing process status. CH mod permission file is for changing file permissions. Chown user group file is for changing file ownership. Grep pattern file is for searching text patterns. Gat file is for displaying file content. Ping host is to test network connection. SSH is for securing shell connection. And at last, you've got WGAT URL to download the files. And that's the full Linux system tool. Now you know exactly where Linux keep your files, settings, and even hardware. Once you get comfortable with these, navigating Linux just feel as natural as browsing folders in Windows, maybe even better. Now that's a wrap on this video. If you like this video, do hit the notification bell and subscribe for more such video by simply learn. >> Now moving back to our topic that is Linux versus Windows. So Linux, an open-source and complimentary operating system debuted in 1991 courtesy of Linus Strows while he was a student at the University of Helsenai. Drawing its foundation from the unique system, Linux is acclaimed for its robust stability, enhanced security, and versatile adaptability. It's extensively utilized across various platforms, including servers, supercomputers, mobile devices, embedded systems, and desktop computers. On the other side, Microsoft is the architect behind the proprietary operating system, Windows. Launched initially as Windows 1.0 in 1985. It served as a graphical overlay for the MSTO system. Over the years, Windows has evolved through numerous substantial updates. This operating system is prevalent across a broad spectrum of devices encompassing personal computers, tablets, and other similar technologies. While Linux has established dominance in server and supercomputer applications, Windows enjoy widespread popularity in the personal computing realm. Windows is often loaded for its user-friendly interface whereas Linux is celebrated for its formidable stability and security features. In the past few years, Linux has seen a surge in its adoption as a desktop operating system. This rise in popularity can be attributed primarily to the emergence of accessible and userfriendly versions like Ubuntu and Mint. Despite this, Windows continues to maintain its stronghold as the global preferred desktop operating system. Nevertheless, Linux is steadily carving out a significant niche for itself in the market. Now moving to the difference between Linux versus Windows. So starting with first that is Windows uses different data drives like CDE to store files and folders and whereas Linux uses a tree like a hierarchical file system. Linux files are ordered in a tree structure starting with the root directory whereas in Windows files are stored in folders on different data drives like C, D or E. Now moving to the next difference that is hard drives, CDROMs, printers are considered as devices and whereas in Linux peripherals like hard drives, CDROMs, printers are also considered files in Linux or Unix systems. Now moving to the next difference that is there are four types of user account types in Windows that is administrator, standard, child and guest. Whereas in Linux there are three types of user account types. Regular, root and service account. Moving to the next difference. So Windows administrator user has all administrative privileges of computers. And in Linux root user is the super user and has all administrative privileges. And now moving to the next one. So in Windows you cannot have two files with the same name in the same folder. Whereas in Linux you can have that is the naming convention is case sensitive. The sample and the case uppercase sample are two different files in Linux or Unix operating system. And moving to the next difference in Windows my documents is default home directory. Whereas in Linux for every user directory is created which is called his home directory. And talking about more so Linux is an open-source operating system. So user can change source code as per requirement. Whereas Windows OS is a commercial operating system. So user doesn't have access to source code and Linux is very well secure as it is easy to detect bugs and fix. Whereas Windows has a huge user base. So it becomes a target of hackers to attack Windows system. And if we compare Windows file system versus Linux file system, Linux runs faster even with older hardware whereas Windows are slower compared to Linux. And in Linux, as you can see, you can have two files with the same name. And in Linux, you would find the system and program files in different directories. Whereas in Windows, system and program files are usually saved in C drive. If you have never used Linux before and are looking to get into it, this is the perfect opportunity for you to learn on how you can use this operating system in your daily lives. Now although this video is specifically catered towards people who are trying to get into cyber security or who are trying to learn ethical hacking, the more people that get into Linux is that much easier because it just provides an alternative operating system that you can use and perform in your day-to-day lives. Now uh it's very important especially for ethical hackers to understand how Linux works and specifically how Kali Linux works that we are going to cover today. Now uh Kali Linux is also an operating system dedicated specifically to cyber security analysts and hackers and has a bunch of tools that makes the process of ethical hacking and vulnerability analysis malware analysis very easy. So uh in this Linux crash course we will learn everything about Kal Linux what it is what you can use it for then understanding a bit more of the Linux system fundamentals. Now that can span across a multi a variety of topics. For the uh Linux fundamentals we often have how to navigate the file system, how we can use the Linux operating system command terminal for creating editing and just manipulating files. We'll understand some networking commands that can help you. We'll understand how the uh the service mechanism how to start start services stop services. We'll understand how to install uninstall some particular tools. We'll also create a small script with bash so that you can understand how you can use the bash language to start your scripting journey in Kal Linux directly. Before we move forward, let's check out the C certification course by simply learn. If you want to learn more about cyber security and ethical hacking in general, check out our C certification training course. The certified ethical hacker certification is the industry standard for train penetration testers and our training program will ensure you are well equipped with all the necessary skills and techniques required to ace the exam. You'll get an exam voucher for free with the course allowing you to learn, master, and excel as a penetration tester with a single package. You can find the link for the course in the description box below. That being said, we can get started with our demonstration. Now the first thing we need to understand is how we can install Linux properly. To install Linux or Kali Linux to be specific in this case we will need two things. One we need the ISO file which is basically the installation file of every single operating system and we will need an environment to run it in. Now many people um use Linux or any other operating system as a dual boot in the system. So that when you start up your computer or a laptop, it will ask you where do you want to boot into? Do you want to boot into Windows or Kali Linux or Ubuntu something like that. But for easier access what many people prefer and many people will recommend is using a virtualization software. So what that will happen is you will keep using your normal Windows operating system but you can use virtualization software like virtual box or VMware to run Linux operating systems in Windows directly. It'll uh run in a sandboxed environment which makes it easier to learn and you don't have to dedicate another uh bootloader access and it just gets a whole lot complicated. The dual booting is a lot more complicated and it is recommend it is recommended for beginners to just stick with virtualization software. Now for virtualization software you will get two options here which will be virtual box by Oracle or VMware. Now I highly recommend VMware because I feel it is much more stable and it has a a bit more fluidity when running operating systems. Now since you are running full-fledged operating systems in a single window, your system must have a good amount of RAM free so that it can be completely dedicated to the operating system being run in the sandbox environment. So I would really recommend uh VMware over virtual box which I feel is has become slightly dated now. Meanwhile, VMware Workstation Player is going to be much better. This is obviously a pre a case of preference and you can try out virtual box if you want. Most of the things will be similar but once you download VMware and install it you should be getting a window like this. Now this is the works workstation you can get the VMware player version which is the free version. You can get that as well and again most of the things will be similar. So now that we have VMware and we have our environment where we are going to install Linux and work on it. Let's check Kali Linux. Now, Kal Linux as you can see it's the world's most advanced penetration testing distribution and more importantly it is based on DBN. DBN is one of the uh you can say the forefathers of operating systems, one of the operating systems which paved the way for many Linux distributions to be based on it. Apart from Kali, we also have another operating system which is called parrot security. This is also used by ethical hackers and cyber security analysts because this has the uh this functions the same way as Kal Linux as in it has all the tools and techniques that you may require in your ethical hacking journey. So uh you can use either of them either Kal Linux or pirate security and more importantly for today's video actually any Linux distribution will do because this is more about learning the basics and the basics will stay same irrespective if you go for Kali parrot Ubuntu or any other Linux distribution that you can think of but I'm just letting you know that there are two options here parrot has a bit more features but Kali Linux is the industry standard today and has been for like a decade now at this point uh so it is much recommended to go with Kali and that's what we are going to work on today. So to download the ISO file we'll just click the download button here and you can see it offers a variety of options. You can directly download for virtual machines which is see as you can see it is the recommended but it is it is going to deprive you of a few um learning things. So what we can do is we will get the live boot system. What live boot will do? It will provide the ISO file which we can later use to install on our VMware system. So I will go to the live boot. It includes everything. As you can see I got a torrent file. I will place this torrent for download now. Actually instead of the torrent we can just download the point release live image. Um the this actually this version had every tool possible but this one this uh January edition you can see Kali 2023.1 the January live version point release live image. You can just download this one directly just click the download button here which is written at 3.8 gigs the ISO file size just click on download and your download will start. So remember once again you can do this process with parrot security directly as well. I think if you go to download button here yes you have to choose a security edition. Now they also have multiple versions for let's say the home edition is for daily use you know um just casual browsing or just multimedia process all those things. Hack the box is completely separate service that functions easy to easy to hack um boxes that will be a completely separate edition similar to cloud architect and raspberry pi but if you are going to use pirate security get the security edition directly just download it from here and you it you'll be good to go but for now we are just going to install Kal Linux since that is what the majority of industry uses and we'll move forward with it accently These are the containers. Yes. Now what you what would have happened if I chosen virtual machine is as you can see there are many virtualization software like VMware virtual box and chemo. It what will provide is it will provide a installed file. It'll give a folder where the virtual box app VMware has already installed Kal Linux. So you can just load up in your VMware system. As you can see you can it'll you have to just open a virtual machine if you download the image directly this one. So you can just open up that folder and your operating system will load on its own. But why after getting the ISO you can customize a lot of things. The thing about this virtual images are they're not customizable as such. With the ISO, I can customize how much hard space I want to devote to just the sandbox operating system. How many how much RAM usage although those RAM usage and all can be uh customized. Everything will be tailor made based on your specific needs. So we will check that once the download is completed which is just 1 minute remaining. Apart from that you can see there is a 64bit. I think this is 32-bit as well. I'm not sure if a 32-bit is required nowadays considering everything is 64 but yes before uh while the ISO is getting downloaded let's check out VMware Workstation now to get started at creating our sandboxed environment we will touch upon create a new virtual machine. Yes. Uh here we can let's say check on custom because we want to customize how much we want to uh give hardware. We can use workstation 16.x which is the latest one. Now here I'm going to choose I will install the operating system later. If I give the ISO file here directly, it will install the operating system on its own which kind of defeats the purpose. If that was the case, we would have downloaded the live image. Anyway, we I will click on I will install the operating system later. We will choose in the guest operating system, we will choose Linux. And make sure you choose DBN 10.x 64bit as we read in the website. It is based on DBN. It's TBN based Linux distribution. Now this can obviously change. There are other operating systems on which others can be based like Fedora and uh Arch but this one is DBN. So we are going to choose DBN over here. DBN 10X 64bit which is the latest version. Click on next. We will name it as Kali Linux and click on next. The number of processors I'm going to give two processors here. total processor course is four. This you can determine based on how much how powerful your system is and how much you can give as it is because a major part of how how how a virtual machine runs is not just how much RAM you give to it is how much RAM is available outside of a sandbox environment because if let's say your system is u uh has 8 GB of RAM you devote 4 GB to the virtual machine. Windows itself takes up around 4 GB uh at least 3.5 GB when it's sitting idle. So you have to account for all that when dedicating processors and more importantly RAM as well. So we're going to click on next for now. And here what I'm going to do is I'm going to give 2.5 GB of RAM which should be enough for the thing at least the things that we are doing today. This can be customized later on as well. Let's say you have started working and then you realize the amount of RAM that you have given is just not enough and you need a bit more then you can customize that later. For now I'm going to give 2.5 GB of RAM. You can see the recommended is 2 GB. Anyway, I'll just go a step further. Click on next. Use network address translation is the network connection as in what kind of networking it should have. The virtual sandbox should have considering it is being run inside an operating system. your windows whatever internet connection is given to your windows will u go to uh Kal Linux directly but you can customize that let's say you don't want networking you want host only networking that you connect the guest operating system to a VPN later on it's a completely customizable process but for easiest access we are going to use use network address translation IO controller type LSI is always going to be the most recommended so just go ahead with it choose CI for the virtual disk type. Now these are different virtual disck types that can be used and they have different purposes like some make it easier to transition between multiple uh installations of VMware or virtual box based on what you have chosen but SCSI is always considered the best disk would be we will create a new virtual disk. Now this is the maximum disk size or the disk capacity. How much hard storage are we are going to devote for the operating system installation and all the files whatever you work in the system that will be stored somewhere right so we're going to devote the basically the uh room size to make it easier to understand so I will give 30 GB of memory size now here you have another option uh you can actually allocate all disk space now as it is written allocating the full capacity can enhance performance but requires all of the physical displays to be available right now. So the good thing about VMware is if I think that's in virtual box as well. If I do not click this even though I have greater than 30 GB it does not take up all of the 30 GBs in your hard disks. It takes how muchever is required. Let's say after installation and everything uh it takes up 10 GB of space that is all that will be taken up. It won't take up all the 30 GB. the more you keep working and slowly the data increases the size increases of the virtual machine folder it will go up to 30 GB that's it. So if you allocate all of it now it will take up the 30 GB directly and it will be slightly more performance because it will remove that uh read functionality when the virtual when the virtual machine is being run. So I will I will click it and between these two options between single files and multiple files single files is faster but multiple files will make it easier if you want to move your virtual machine system from let's say one laptop to another or you have to switch between personal and official systems but for now I can choose a single file 13 disk file will be created you can just put whatever name and I think everything else is settled now what we will do is we will click on finish. It'll take some time to create the disk. I think the ISO download would have been completed. Yes, the ISO download is completed by now. It'll just take a while to create the disk. Uh there is also Kali Net Hunter which is a mobile penetration testing platform. It is available only on Android. Uh you can use it to perform small tasks. Obviously you can't you can't perform everything that you can on Kal Linux desktop environment but a lot of the things can be performed like basic network scanning and some amount of sniffing and uh brute forcing tools all those things can be performed on net hunter directly but that is a video for another day. So we'll just wait till the disk is created and then we'll move forward with the process. as you can see the virtual machine is now created. So the next step would be to actually align the ISO file. So we're going to click on edit virtual machine settings. Here we'll select the CDB position. Use ISO image file. We're going to browse. Go to downloads. Use the Kali Linux ISO and click on okay. So now we can power on. Select live system AMD 64 at all times. Okay. You can see a pop-up here below that says install DBNS on physical computer that we are going to do which would be Kallay Linux. In this case it just shows Debian because it is based on Debian. That's it. When you're done and the operating system boots up, click I finish installing. So we will do that when the time is correct. So, we can see the live boat running up. Okay, you can see K Linux is booting up now. You get the uh the usage CPU usage meter here and this should be the memory. Yes. Okay. So, we have enter booted into the desktop. These are the multiple workspaces. But once again, this is not installed. What we're going to have to do is install this operating system. You can see you can use in the live environment you can use everything but you just have to install this operating system directly. The networking system is working. Okay. So once you familiarize yourself with the Kali Linux operating system and more importantly in the live environment you are able to check if the amount of RAM that you have given and your processor in general is able to sustain everything or not. We will what we'll do is we will just power off the virtual machine. We'll again power on and this time we'll not choose the live system. What we will choose is we'll go down. We'll choose the advanced installation options. We'll click graphical install and install. That's it. Now what this will do is we'll launch the graphical installer instead of the live system. Uh some operating systems like u pyro security for example will allow you to install directly from the live environment but that's it. It's uh it's not really a very big difference if you run it from here or there. Now the installation installer is launched. I'm sorry. Uh I will select the English language. Yes. Uh it'll ask for your location so that it will set your time zone. I will choose India. Configure the keyboard. You can choose American English considering that is the standard uh keyboard layouts that is available on the market. It will load the additional components like the the networking modules, the input output device detection drivers, all those things. Some of the partitioning devices as well. I think uh it will take the network hardware. Next configuring configuring the