Need help booting Kali Linux

[Moaz Ahmed]

I used the Grub2win GUI and set description for Kali Linux but it didn't work, so I opened the .cfg file and found the code given below. I don't know what to do next, so plz guid me.

menuentry 'Kali Linux Hotkey=k' --hotkey=k --class debian --class icon-debian {
set gfxpayload=1366x768
set reviewpause=5
set partlabel=Kali-Linux-2018
getbootpartition label $partlabel
linux /vmlinuz root=LABEL=$partlabel verbose nomodeset
initrd /initrd.img
echo Grub will boot Kali Linux
echo Boot disk address is $root
echo The boot mode is Partition Search By Label
sleep -i -v $reviewpause ; echo
savelast 1 'Kali Linux'
echo Grub is now loading Kali Linux
}

P.S. I have an .iso file of Kali Linux and want to boot from there.

[Ed P]

You need to choose the ISOBOOT option which will generate code similar to this.

 search -f $iso --set=root
 loopback loop $iso
 linux (loop)/boot/syslinux/vmlinuz from=$iso $boot_parms
 initrd (loop)/boot/syslinux/initrd.xz

[Drummer]

Hi Moaz,

I need some more information to help you.

What happened when you booted? Black screeen? Error messages?

A screen shot would be be good. Simply saying it "doesn't work" is not at all helpful.

Also, please run the Grub2Win diagnostics as shown in the help file, zip up the C:\grub2\diagnose directory and send it to me as an attachment.

Thanks,

Dave

[stressat]

Hi. You could erase those lines and manually add menuentry on grub.cfg:
menuentry "Kali" {
insmod loopback
insmod iso9660
set isofile="/path-to-kali.iso"
loopback loop (hdx,y)$isofile
linux (loop)/live/vmlinuz boot=live findiso=$isofile noconfig=sudo username=root hostname=kali noprompt noeject toram panic=5
initrd (loop)/live/initrd.img
}
In my case (Kali iso is kali-linux-kde-2018.1-amd64.iso on /dev/sda2, the fourth partition on first disk, on ISO folder; you must replace with correct name and path):
menuentry "Kali 2018" {
insmod loopback
insmod iso9660
set isofile="/ISO/kali-linux-kde-2018.1-amd64.iso"
loopback loop (hd0,4)$isofile
linux (loop)/live/vmlinuz boot=live findiso=$isofile noconfig=sudo username=root hostname=kali noprompt noeject persistence rw toram panic=5
initrd (loop)/live/initrd.img
}
Another Kali iso image (kali-linux-kde-2018.2-amd64.iso), from second partition on disk, in /dan/Downloads/ISO folder, in Linux ext4 partition:
menuentry "Kali 2018" {
insmod loopback
insmod iso9660
set isofile="/dan/Downloads/ISO/kali-linux-kde-2018.2-amd64.iso"
loopback loop (hd0,2)$isofile
linux (loop)/live/vmlinuz-4.15.0-kali2-amd64 boot=live findiso=$isofile noconfig=sudo username=root hostname=kali noprompt noeject persistence rw toram panic=5
initrd (loop)/live/initrd.img-4.15.0-kali2-amd64
}

If you want persistence you must create a small partition labeled persistence with a persistence.conf file contain /union.

[Ed P]

Nice stressat.

A suggestion, if you add:

search -f $isofile --set=root

between your:

set isofile="/path-to-kali.iso"
loopback loop (hdx,y)$isofile

lines

you won't need the (hdx,y) parm. It's what I do when booting ISOs.

menuentry " antiX ISO" --class debian --class icon-debian {

 set iso='/ISOs/antiX-16.1_x64-full.iso'
 set bootparms='from=all quiet '

 search -f $iso --set=root
 loopback loop $iso
 linux (loop)/antiX/vmlinuz fromiso=$iso $bootparms
 initrd (loop)/antiX/initrd.gz
 }

[stressat]

Thanks Ed, but i like the old Linux way (DIY), it's safer, sometimes I have multiple versions of one distribution on disk (Kali 2018.1, Kali 2018.2, etc)...
menuentry "AntiX" {
set isofile='/dan/Downloads/ISO/antiX-17_x64-full.iso'
loopback loop (hd0,2)$isofile
linux (loop)/antiX/vmlinuz fromiso=$isofile from=all disable=lx persist_all pdev=sda6 plab=AntiX-Persist tz=Europe/Bucharest nomodeset toram
initrd (loop)/antiX/initrd.gz
}

PS: don't use persistence?

Dan.

[Ed P]

I always uniquely name my ISOs so multipe versions is not an issue. And for newbies, who may not understand the numbering scheme of Linux verses Windows, IMO it's a safer option.

As for AntiX and persistence I never got that far with it. Does it require a partition for persistence?

[stressat]

Yes, a small partition. Some distribution could save changes in a directory (folder) from an existing partition (Arch Linux based distros, Porteus).
https://download.tuxfamily.org/antix/docs-antiX-17/FAQ/persistence.html
http://stressat.blogspot.com/2018/05/boot-live-iso-hdd-cu-persistenta.html (use Translate)

[Ed P]

I use Porteus with persistence, which is Slackware based, but no partition needed. I use the Porteus Save File Manager to create a porteussave.dat file and I create modules of my changes and add them to my Porteus extramods folder.

[Ed P]

So Moaz, did you figure it out or go another route?

[Shreyas Kulkarni]

I tried kali in 3 methods with GRUB2win 1) Via ISO (Yes it did successfully boot but was finiky, I dont remember how I did it back then :v ) 2) From a seperate partition (Most Stable) 3) From external USB in Persistance.
I'd rather recommend you to install kali in a single SEPERATE disk partition, rather than using isoboot.