By default, the Kali Linux Raspberry Pi 2 image contains the kali-linux-default metapackage similar to most other platforms. If you wish to install extra tools please refer to our metapackages page.

If you’re unfamiliar with the details of downloading and validating a Kali Linux image, or for using that image to create a bootable device, it’s strongly recommended that you refer to the more detailed procedures described in the specific articles on those subjects.

To install a pre-built image of the standard build of Kali Linux on your Raspberry Pi 2, follow these instructions:

1. Get a fast microSD card with at least 16GB capacity. Class 10 cards are highly recommended.
2. Download and validate the Kali RaspberryPi 2, 3, 4 and 400 (img.xz) image from the downloads area. The process for validating an image is described in more detail on Downloading Kali Linux.
3. Use the dd utility to image this file to your microSD card (same process as making a Kali USB.

In our example, we assume the storage device is located at /dev/sdX. Do not simply copy these value, change this to the correct drive path.

$ xzcat kali-linux-2025.1-raspberry-pi-armhf.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress

This process can take a while, depending on your PC, your microSD’s speed, and the size of the Kali Linux image.

Once the dd operation is complete, boot up the Raspberry Pi 2 with the microSD plugged in.

You should be able to log in to Kali.

To build external modules against the kernel, most instructions will state that you need to install header packages via linux-headers-$(uname -r) This is not the case on the Raspberry Pi 2 image. They are already included and do not follow that naming scheme, they are linux-headers-rpi-v7 and linux-headers-rpi-v7l. If you have removed them, you can add them back by running the following commands:

kali@kali:~$ sudo apt update
[...]
kali@kali:~$ sudo apt install -y linux-headers-rpi-v7 linux-headers-rpi-v7l

You can use mt76 chipset USB Wi-Fi devices, but they require creating a configuration file in /etc/modprobe.d with the following contents:

# Load mt76usb without using scatter-gather which doesn't work on the RPi2 or RPi3 USB chipset
options mt76-usb disable_usb_sg=1

Kali uses LightDM with Xfce on Xorg for the desktop by default. In our testing, we found that many of the HAT systems required setting up a config snippet for display to show up. If you are having issues getting output, it could be the opposite for you, and you may want to try removing the file /etc/X11/Xorg.conf.d/99-vc4.conf and allow Xorg to attempt to use the defaults:

kali@kali:~$ sudo mv -v /etc/X11/Xorg.conf.d/99-vc4.conf ~

Another option may be that you may have to modify the config snippet. It is best to consult with whatever documentation your LCD may have.

If you want to customize the Kali Raspberry Pi 2 image, including changes to the packages being installed, changing the desktop environment, increasing or decreasing the image file size or generally being adventurous, check out the Kali-ARM Build-Scripts repository on GitLab, and follow the README.md file’s instructions. The script to use is raspberry-pi.sh.