Adding some additional posts which might be of interesst for people.

content/archive/2021-03-29-configure-rdp-access-for-kali-linux/index.md

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+---
+draft: false 
+toc: true 
+title: "Configure RDP access for Kali Linux"
+description: "Steps required to set up RDP access for kali linux." 
+date: 2021-03-29
+usePageBundles: true 
+categories: ["brain dump"]
+tags: ["linux"]
+---
+
+
+Kali Linux does not come with RDP enabled out of the box. But Kali can be configured to provide RDP access from any device with a proper RDP client. 
+
+<!--more-->
+
+## Some context for my specific case 
+I set up Kali Linux for my lab environment on a hypervisor solution. As I am not working in front of that hypervisor, it would be nice to RDP into Kali from my laptop. 
+
+## Configure RDP for Kali Linux 
+I installed a new instance of Kali Linux 2021.2 and configured the VM to have working network connectivity with my laptop. We are using **xrdp** to sign in to the Linux VM. 
+
+### Install xrdp on the Linux device 
+Open a terminal on your Linux device and install xrdp via **apt-get**. 
+
+```
+sudo apt-get update 
+sudo apt-get install xrdp
+```
+
+After the successful installation, we need to start xrdp as a service. 
+```
+sudo systemctl start xrdp
+sudo systemctl start xrdp-sesman
+```
+
+### Test connection from your client 
+xrdp is installed correctly and running. Let's see if we can connect and sign in. 
+
+On your working device (in my case, a Windows device), open a terminal and connect via 
+```
+mstsc /v kali
+```
+
+or 
+
+```
+mstsc /v 10.0.0.100
+```
+
+where ***kali*** or ***10.0.0.100*** is either the Linux VMs hostname or IP. 
+In case the connection was successful, you will see something similar to the image below. 
+
+
+![](images/article.configurerdpaccessforkalilinux.loginscreen.png)
+
+### Make RDP persistent 
+After a reboot of the Linux device, you need to restart xrdp and xrdp-sesman (Session Manager) manually. Tell Linux to start xrdp automatically as a service to avoid this extra step after each reboot. 
+
+```
+sudo systemctl enable xrdp 
+sudo systemctl enable xrdp-sesman
+```
+
+### Final thoughts 
+Make sure you are not logged in anywhere else - e.g., Hyper-V Manager. Otherwise, this will prevent the RDP client from taking over the session. I haven't found a way around this yet.
+
+So long...

content/archive/2021-03-31-fix-for-kali-linux-xrdp-authentication-is-required-to-create-a-color-managed-device/index.md

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+---
+title: "xRDP - Authentication is required to create a color managed device"
+date: "2021-03-31"
+description: "Mitigation of a common error in Debian based regarding xRDP - Authentication." 
+featured: false 
+draft: false 
+toc: true 
+# menu: main
+usePageBundles: true 
+categories:
+  - "unrelated stuff"
+tags:
+  - linux 
+  - troubleshooting
+
+---
+
+Many Debian based linux distro are using PolKit to enfore specific policies. Especially while working within a RDP session, this can become a major pain in the ass because of re-occurring pop-ups asking for credentials. This makes it almost impossible to do any work. 
+
+<!--more-->
+
+
+
+![](images/article.configurerdpaccessforkalilinux.authenticatepopup.png)
+
+There is a good article[^fn1] which describes the issue in a more detailed fashion and how to resolve the issue. This post will be a brief summary for later reference. 
+
+## How can we solve the problem?
+
+The solution to this issue is, that we have to tell PolKit how to behave if a user is working remotely via RDP. And this can be done with a specific file in the folder 
+```
+/etc/polkit-1/localauthority/50-local.d/
+```
+Let's have a look, step by step. 
+
+### Become root on the terminal as some resources require that special permissions.
+
+```
+sudo -i
+```
+
+### Check which version of pkaction (PolKit) is running.
+In the next step, we have to check the version of pkaction. This will tell us in which direction we need to go. 
+
+{{< mermaid >}}
+flowchart TD
+  A[pkaction --version] 
+  A --> |v0.106 and above?| C[*.conf]
+  A --> |v0.105 and below?| D[*.pkla]
+{{< /mermaid >}}
+
+You can check the version in the terminal
+```
+pkaction --version 
+```
+
+The output looks something like this: 
+```
+pkaction version 0.105 
+```
+
+### Case A: (pkaction --version >= 0.106)
+
+```
+cd /etc/polkit-1/localauthority.d.conf
+touch 02-allow-color.d.conf
+nano 02-allow-color.d.conf
+```
+
+Add the following content to this file and save it.
+
+```javascript
+polkit.addRule(function(action, subject) {
+ if ((action.id == "org.freedesktop.color-manager.create-device" ||
+ action.id == "org.freedesktop.color-manager.create-profile" ||
+ action.id == "org.freedesktop.color-manager.delete-device" ||
+ action.id == "org.freedesktop.color-manager.delete-profile" ||
+ action.id == "org.freedesktop.color-manager.modify-device" ||
+ action.id == "org.freedesktop.color-manager.modify-profile") &&
+ subject.isInGroup("{users}")) {
+ return polkit.Result.YES;
+ }
+ });
+```
+
+### Case B: (pkaction --version < 0.106)
+
+```
+cd /etc/polkit-1/localauthority/50-local.d/
+touch 45-allow-colord.pkla
+nano 45-allow-colord.pkla
+```
+
+Add the following content to the file and save it.
+
+```bash
+[Allow Colord all Users] Identity=unix-user:* 
+Action=org.freedesktop.color-manager.create-device;org.freedesktop.color-manager.create-profile;org.freedesktop.color-manager.delete-device;org.freedesktop.color-manager.delete-profile;org.freedesktop.color-manager.modify-device;org.freedesktop.color-manager.modify-profile; 
+ResultAny=no 
+ResultInactive=no 
+ResultActive=yes
+```
+
+### Test the configuration
+
+Now try to login via RDP to your machine. No popup should be visible and asking for any kind of credentials.
+
+I highly recommend to read the original article[^fn1] as you will find very useful infos to understand the mechanism behind this behaviour and the proposed solutions.
+
+
+
+[^fn1]: "xRDP - The Infamous 'Authentication Required to Create managed Color Device' Explained" | Griffon's IT Library (2021-Mar-22)](https://c-nergy.be/blog?p=12073)

content/archive/2021-07-13-how-to-change-display-resolution-in-kali-linux/index.md

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+---
+draft: false 
+toc: true 
+title: "How to change display resolution in Kali Linux"
+description: "Read how to change the display resolution for kali linux. "
+date: 2022-09-27
+usePageBundles: true 
+categories: ["brain dump"]
+tags: ["linux"]
+---
+
+
+
+When you install Kali Linux as a Hyper-V VM the default display resolution is 1024x786. This is too small to work on. 
+I found some good info on how to do change the display resolution for Kali on YouTube[^fn1] and decided to summarize the steps here for your convenience. 
+
+<!--more-->
+
+## Change the resolution
+The steps are fairly easy: 
+- modify the grub configuration file 
+- update grub 
+- restart the device 
+
+
+We have to make a modification to a config for grub and restart the machine.  
+Therefore go to your Kali Linux machine and open a terminal.
+
+### Modify the grub configuration file 
+Open a terminal on your linux device and open the grub configuration file in nano or any other editor of your choice. 
+
+```bash
+sudo nano /etc/default/grub 
+```
+
+Now have a look for this line 
+```vim
+GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet"
+```
+
+It is possible that there are more parameters after "quiet". But this is the line we need to modify.  
+So change this line as follows:
+
+```vim
+GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash video=hyperv_fb:1920x1080"
+```
+
+**Info** | In my case I switched the resolution to 1920x1080. I haven't tested any higher resolutions. So, can't tell if it's working with higher numbers.  
+Let me know if you have any experience with that.
+
+Save the modification with nano's shortcuts **Ctrl+X** and confirm with **y**.
+
+### Send the updated config to grup 
+After we made the modification of the grub config file, we need to tell grub about these changes. Do that with the statement here: 
+
+```bash
+sudo update-grub
+```
+
+### Restart your device 
+In the last step, we do a restart of the Kali Linux machine. The new settings should apply and you'll now have way more place on your desktop.
+
+Enjoy.
+
+[^fn1]: [Change Kali Linux screen resolution on Hyper-V Virtual Machine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8K9qnd5NT8) (Youtube: HERESJAKEN)