Kali Linux Installed but won't Boot after choosing Kali from the Distro's Home menu in VM

[sretalla]

I confirmed that the problem exists with the base Kali x64, the light variant and the xfce variant, so stopped testing at tha point assuming all variants are suffering from the probelm.

I did some more digging around and it seems that the X11 config is stopping the GUI from loading somehow, looking for a framebuffer device that isn't there.

So, noting that kali is just debian with some mods/hardening, I decided to see if debian suffered the same issue... it doesn't.

Now with debian running, I can't find anything that seems to matter that's different, but I will continue to dig around when I have time.

 

[sretalla]

I also attempted Parrot OS (also a debian-based security OS) https://download.parrotsec.org/parrot/iso/4.6/Parrot-security-4.6_amd64.iso

More-or-less the same result, but it has a boot option to avoid loading ACPI which does load, but ends without a GUI (I think by design)... although it does display a nice graphic on the way to loading.

I think the reference to ACPI and real-time clock is where the issue is somehow, but I'm losing interest in throwing more time into it knowing Debian itself works.

 

[R_Stav]

I also attempted Parrot OS (also a debian-based security OS) https://download.parrotsec.org/parrot/iso/4.6/Parrot-security-4.6_amd64.iso

More-or-less the same result, but it has a boot option to avoid loading AHCI which does load, but ends without a GUI (I think by design)... although it does display a nice graphic on the way to loading.

I think the reference to AHCI and real-time clock is where the issue is somehow, but I'm losing interest in throwing more time into it knowing Debian itself works.

I appreciate the time to do the tinkering that you have :) no worries my guy

 

[fxfrax]

It may a bit late for this reply, but I recently came across the same issue, and managed to solve it. So, here it is for anybody else who comes along.

The blank blinking cursor screen is because Xorg is attempting to start, but failing to properly detect the correct drivers. To fix this, you need to:

1. Boot into single use mode by pressing 'e' at the GRUB boot prompt and adding 'single init=/bin/bash' to the 'linux' line and then pressing 'F10' to boot.
2. Remount the / filesystem as rw.
3. Disable graphical mode with the command 'systemctl set-default multi-user.target'
4. Sync / then reboot.
5. Log into the console then generate a new xorg.conf with 'Xorg -configure'.
6. Edit this configuration file, it will probably be in '/root/xorg.conf.new' and set the 'driver' field to 'fbdev'.
7. Copy to '/etc/X11/xorg.conf'.
8. Make sure Xorg functions by entering the command 'startx'.
9. If Xorg starts successfully, and you get a GUI, then open a terminal to reenable GUI mode with 'systemctl set-default graphical.target'.
10. Reboot.

I am not sure why the graphical installer was able to work correctly, but not the actual OS. But those were the steps that led me to a working setup. There may be a cleaner way to do it.

 

[pb345]

It may a bit late for this reply, but I recently came across the same issue, and managed to solve it. So, here it is for anybody else who comes along.

The blank blinking cursor screen is because Xorg is attempting to start, but failing to properly detect the correct drivers. To fix this, you need to:

1. Boot into single use mode by pressing 'e' at the GRUB boot prompt and adding 'single init=/bin/bash' to the 'linux' line and then pressing 'F10' to boot.
2. Remount the / filesystem as rw.
3. Disable graphical mode with the command 'systemctl set-default multi-user.target'
4. Sync / then reboot.
5. Log into the console then generate a new xorg.conf with 'Xorg -configure'.
6. Edit this configuration file, it will probably be in '/root/xorg.conf.new' and set the 'driver' field to 'fbdev'.
7. Copy to '/etc/X11/xorg.conf'.
8. Make sure Xorg functions by entering the command 'startx'.
9. If Xorg starts successfully, and you get a GUI, then open a terminal to reenable GUI mode with 'systemctl set-default graphical.target'.
10. Reboot.

I am not sure why the graphical installer was able to work correctly, but not the actual OS. But those were the steps that led me to a working setup. There may be a cleaner way to do it.

Thank you so much, I've literally spent an entire day trying to get a Debian VM to work in FreeNAS, and nothing worked untill I found this.
Time to add another bookmark to the list...