Kali 2 HVM - GUI broken

[Simon-Davies]

Affected: Qubes OS version R3.2

GUI broken when creating a Kali 2 HVM with the latest Kali 2 iso

[andrewdavidwong]

Can you be more specific? In what way is the GUI broken?

[andrewdavidwong]

Can you be more specific? In what way is the GUI broken?

[Simon-Davies]

See a picture of the gui here: https://s24.postimg.org/vra4obket/IMG_0491.jpg

The gui is cut to the bottom of the window and non functional

[Simon-Davies]

See a picture of the gui here: https://s24.postimg.org/vra4obket/IMG_0491.jpg

The gui is cut to the bottom of the window and non functional

[andrewdavidwong]

Duplicate of #1981.

[andrewdavidwong]

Duplicate of #1981.

[andrewdavidwong]

Reopening this issue to track the problem @Simon-Davies and others have reported with Kali HVMs.

While the problem was previously being tracked in #1981, it turns out that several users prefer to use a Kali template rather than a Kali HVM in order to avoid this very problem.

[andrewdavidwong]

Reopening this issue to track the problem @Simon-Davies and others have reported with Kali HVMs.

While the problem was previously being tracked in #1981, it turns out that several users prefer to use a Kali template rather than a Kali HVM in order to avoid this very problem.

[Jeeppler]

@Simon-Davies could you please specify which version you used? I guess you used Kali 2016.2 ISO. The best would be to add a hash sum of your ISO in your initial bug report. This way it would be easier to reproduce your issue. Because if I have the hash sum of the ISO I can download the exact same ISO.

Furthermore, did you install Kali or do you just use the Live CD?

[Jeeppler]

@Simon-Davies could you please specify which version you used? I guess you used Kali 2016.2 ISO. The best would be to add a hash sum of your ISO in your initial bug report. This way it would be easier to reproduce your issue. Because if I have the hash sum of the ISO I can download the exact same ISO.

Furthermore, did you install Kali or do you just use the Live CD?

[Simon-Davies]

I used the latest Kali 2016.2 ISO downloaded as a torrent 2 days ago. I can get a hash sum if it's required.

I installed Kali into the Kali HVM I created.

You get past the login screen fine but as soon as you are in the OS you get the GUI issues where it's cut to the bottom of the screen.

[Simon-Davies]

I used the latest Kali 2016.2 ISO downloaded as a torrent 2 days ago. I can get a hash sum if it's required.

I installed Kali into the Kali HVM I created.

You get past the login screen fine but as soon as you are in the OS you get the GUI issues where it's cut to the bottom of the screen.

[Chilinot]

This is a known and solved issue. There should be a working Kali template in the repos IIRC.

If that is not an option, take a look at the issue and subissues/threads linked by @andrewdavidwong.

EDIT:
The solution: #1981 (comment)

[Chilinot]

This is a known and solved issue. There should be a working Kali template in the repos IIRC.

If that is not an option, take a look at the issue and subissues/threads linked by @andrewdavidwong.

EDIT:
The solution: #1981 (comment)

[Simon-Davies]

I created a working Kali template upgrading Debian 8 to Debian 9 Stretch and installing Katoolin to create a customised Kali build.

This does not fix the fact that you can't run Kali in a HVM though.

[Simon-Davies]

I created a working Kali template upgrading Debian 8 to Debian 9 Stretch and installing Katoolin to create a customised Kali build.

This does not fix the fact that you can't run Kali in a HVM though.

[Chilinot]

My bad, it didn't occur to me when I wrote my previous post that you would not be able to apply the solution when using a HVM.

[Chilinot]

My bad, it didn't occur to me when I wrote my previous post that you would not be able to apply the solution when using a HVM.

[Simon-Davies]

If you can't bring up the Terminal on the HVM how can you edit Xorg settings?

You are forced to use a Kali AppVM template instead.

Having a working template is better than having no Kali though :)

[Simon-Davies]

If you can't bring up the Terminal on the HVM how can you edit Xorg settings?

You are forced to use a Kali AppVM template instead.

Having a working template is better than having no Kali though :)

[Simon-Davies]

Possible Fix: Could Qubes not detected that Kali has been installed in the HVM and when it is booting do the Xorg settings edit automatically for us?

[Simon-Davies]

Possible Fix: Could Qubes not detected that Kali has been installed in the HVM and when it is booting do the Xorg settings edit automatically for us?

[Chilinot]

I don't have a kali hvm at the moment so I cant test it myself. But are you able to access a virtual console by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1 ?

[Chilinot]

I don't have a kali hvm at the moment so I cant test it myself. But are you able to access a virtual console by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1 ?

[Simon-Davies]

I'll give this a shot now :) Thanks Chilinot :)

[Simon-Davies]

I'll give this a shot now :) Thanks Chilinot :)

[Simon-Davies]

Unfortunately Ctrl Alt F1 doesn't work.

Off topic: For the Windows HVM documentation if the user removes the Xfce keyboard shortcuts they can press Ctrl Alt Del to login to Windows and then disable the Ctrl Alt Del logon option.

The documentation says to use Ctrl Alt Home but on my Dell laptop this didn't work.

[Simon-Davies]

Unfortunately Ctrl Alt F1 doesn't work.

Off topic: For the Windows HVM documentation if the user removes the Xfce keyboard shortcuts they can press Ctrl Alt Del to login to Windows and then disable the Ctrl Alt Del logon option.

The documentation says to use Ctrl Alt Home but on my Dell laptop this didn't work.

[vikasbswami]

Any updates about this issue??

[vikasbswami]

Any updates about this issue??

[Jeeppler]

I was able to reproduce the issue with the latest Kali 2017.1:

$ sha256sum kali-linux-2017.1-amd64.iso 
49b1c5769b909220060dc4c0e11ae09d97a270a80d259e05773101df62e11e9d  kali-linux-2017.1-amd64.iso

Furthermore, I was able to fix the issue by enabling automatic login in in the Gdm3 configuration file after the installation of Kali.

Fix

Using the KaliLinux LiveCD is the easiest method to be able to enable automatic login, because the HVM cannot be access by using a xl or virsh console.

The following is assumed:

• during the installation the username user was selected
• the name of the Kali Linux HVM is kali-vm
• the Kali Linux .iso file is in the Download directory of the personal VM

Enable automatic login in Gdm3 configuration file:

1. After installation, start kali-vm in Dom0 terminal with:

    dom0: qvm-start kali-vm --cdrom personal:/home/user/Downloads/kali-linux-<version>-amd64.iso
   

   for example:

    dom0: qvm-start kali-vm --cdrom personal:/home/user/Downloads/kali-linux-2017.1-amd64.iso
   

2. Select in boot menu LiveCD

3. Mount the root partition of the kali-vm installation in kali-vm

    kali-vm: sudo mount /dev/mapper/kali--vg-root /mnt/
   

4. Enable automatic login by uncommenting the following lines in /mnt/etc/gdm3/daemon.conf

    [daemon]
    # Enable automatic login
      # AutomaticLoginEnable = true
      # AutomaticLogin = user
   

   like this

    [daemon]
    # Enable automatic login
      AutomaticLoginEnable = true
      AutomaticLogin = user
   

5. Save the file and shutdown kali-vm

6. Start kali-vm without the Kali Linux CD attached: qvm-start kali-vm

[Jeeppler]

I was able to reproduce the issue with the latest Kali 2017.1:

$ sha256sum kali-linux-2017.1-amd64.iso 
49b1c5769b909220060dc4c0e11ae09d97a270a80d259e05773101df62e11e9d  kali-linux-2017.1-amd64.iso

Furthermore, I was able to fix the issue by enabling automatic login in in the Gdm3 configuration file after the installation of Kali.

Fix

Using the KaliLinux LiveCD is the easiest method to be able to enable automatic login, because the HVM cannot be access by using a xl or virsh console.

The following is assumed:

• during the installation the username user was selected
• the name of the Kali Linux HVM is kali-vm
• the Kali Linux .iso file is in the Download directory of the personal VM

Enable automatic login in Gdm3 configuration file:

1. After installation, start kali-vm in Dom0 terminal with:

    dom0: qvm-start kali-vm --cdrom personal:/home/user/Downloads/kali-linux-<version>-amd64.iso
   

   for example:

    dom0: qvm-start kali-vm --cdrom personal:/home/user/Downloads/kali-linux-2017.1-amd64.iso
   

2. Select in boot menu LiveCD

3. Mount the root partition of the kali-vm installation in kali-vm

    kali-vm: sudo mount /dev/mapper/kali--vg-root /mnt/
   

4. Enable automatic login by uncommenting the following lines in /mnt/etc/gdm3/daemon.conf

    [daemon]
    # Enable automatic login
      # AutomaticLoginEnable = true
      # AutomaticLogin = user
   

   like this

    [daemon]
    # Enable automatic login
      AutomaticLoginEnable = true
      AutomaticLogin = user
   

5. Save the file and shutdown kali-vm

6. Start kali-vm without the Kali Linux CD attached: qvm-start kali-vm

[z4ppy]

Thanks you !!

You can also do it without livecd :
In dom0 : qvm-block -A vm_name dom0:/var/lib/qubes/appvms/kalivm/root.img
In vm_name : sudo mount -t ext4 /dev/xvdi1 /mnt/removable/
Enable automatic login as you did, in /mnt/removable/etc/gdm3/daemon.conf

[z4ppy]

Thanks you !!

You can also do it without livecd :
In dom0 : qvm-block -A vm_name dom0:/var/lib/qubes/appvms/kalivm/root.img
In vm_name : sudo mount -t ext4 /dev/xvdi1 /mnt/removable/
Enable automatic login as you did, in /mnt/removable/etc/gdm3/daemon.conf

[Jeeppler]

@andrewdavidwong I think we can close this issue.

[Jeeppler]

@andrewdavidwong I think we can close this issue.