Installing Kali Linux

Kali Linux Live USB Persistence

Adding Persistence to a Kali Live USB

As of Kali Linux 1.0.7, USB persistent options have been added to the default boot menu. These options require additional setup on your USB storage to function properly and are described in the following article.

Adding persistence (the ability to save files and changes across live boots) to your Kali Linux image can be very useful in certain situations. To make your Kali Linux USB stick persistent, follow these steps as the root user. In this example, we assume our USB drive is /dev/sdb and that we’ve downloaded kali-linux-1.0.7-amd64.iso. Make sure you’re using a large enough USB stick (at least 8GB).

1. 
   

   Image the Kali Linux ISO to your USB stick. We used the “Linux Method” and dd.

   
   
   
   
   

   dd if=kali-linux-1.0.7-amd64.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=1M

   
   


2. 
   

   Create and format an additional partition on the USB stick. In our example, we create a 5 GB persistent partition and create a persistence.conf file on it.

   
   
   
   
   

   size=5gb
   read bytes _ < <(du -bcm kali-linux-1.0.7-amd64.iso |tail -1); echo $bytes
   parted /dev/sdb mkpart primary $bytes $size
   mkfs.ext3 -L persistence /dev/sdb2
   e2label /dev/sdb2 persistence
   mkdir -p /mnt/my_usb
   mount /dev/sdb2 /mnt/my_usb
   echo "/ union" > /mnt/my_usb/persistence.conf
   umount /dev/sdb2

   
   

Adding USB Persistence with LUKS Encryption

As of Kali Linux 1.0.7, there is also the option of using a LUKS encrypted persistent storage space. This adds an extra layer of security to your sensitive files when traveling with Kali on USB devices.

1. 
   

   Image the Kali Linux ISO to your USB stick. We used the “Linux Method” and dd.

   
   
   
   
   

   dd if=kali-linux-1.0.7-amd64.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=1M

   
   


2. 
   

   Create and format an additional LUKS encrypted partition on the USB stick. In our example, we create a 5 GB persistent partition and create a persistence.conf file on it.

   
   
   
   
   

   size=5gb
   read bytes _ < <(du -bcm kali-linux-1.0.7-amd64.iso |tail -1); echo $bytes
   parted /dev/sdb mkpart primary $bytes $size
   cryptsetup --verbose --verify-passphrase luksFormat /dev/sdb2
   cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdb2 my_usb
   mkfs.ext3 -L persistence /dev/mapper/my_usb
   e2label /dev/mapper/my_usb persistence
   mkdir -p /mnt/my_usb
   mount /dev/mapper/my_usb /mnt/my_usb
   echo "/ union" > /mnt/my_usb/persistence.conf
   umount /dev/mapper/my_usb
   cryptsetup luksClose /dev/mapper/my_usb

   
   

That’s it! Plug the USB stick into the computer you want to boot up. Make sure your BIOS is set to boot from your USB device. When the Kali Linux boot screen is displayed, you can now choose the persistent option (either normal or encrypted, whichever you set up).