Kali Linux on MacBook Air 2014

Why?

As part of learning cybersecurity principles, it is important to get hands on a laptop as a tool to put in practice softwares used on this field. Kali Linux is a very common operating system used in cybersecurity, having most security-related tools already packaged together.

In my current field of work, there are old laptops that are not being utilised at all, due to the obsolescence of hardware with the corresponding operating system after 5-7 years. I have a fortunate opportunity to get my hands on a 11" MacBook Air (2014 model) that could highly suit running a linux system, such as Kali. The requirements of Linux is quite modest, and I am sure this would be a good challange to resurrect and utilise a decent laptop that is over 10 years old.

Laptop Specifications

The Macbook Air 2014 that I acquired has the following specifications according to Apple Support:

Display: 11.6" LED
Resolution: 1366 x 768 pixels (native)
Storage: SSD 256Gb
Processor: 1.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost up to 2.7GHz) with 3Mb shared L3 cache
Memory: 4Gb of 1600MHz LPDD3 onboard memory
Battery: 38Wh LiPo, up to 9hrs wireless web
Weight: 1.08kg
GPU: Intel HG Graphics 5000
Network:
- Wi-Fi
  - 802.11ac Wi-Fi networking;4 IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n compatible
- Bluetooth
  - Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology
- Network Adapter (separate dongle): Apple Thunderbolt 2 to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (link to Apple Amazon here). The laptop does not have a built-in Network port, so we need to use an adapter to allow connection to a network via RJ45 port. Tip: Ethernet connectivity is required in order to get wifi working on this MacBook after initial installation.

Creating a Kali Linux USB boot drive

I wanted to have Kali Linux run "bare-metal", and not virtualised in MacOS.
You will need to have a PC or Mac to write/flash the image onto a USB drive. In my case, I utilised an external SSD drive with a USB 3.1 interface (giving a 5Mbps transfer rate, in order to speed up the installation).
Head over to the official Kali Linux download page here. Since this Macbook Air is Intel-based, we will download an x86_64 version from the "Installer Images". At this point in time (June 2025), the latest recommended "offline" x86_64 installer is Kali Linux 2025.1c, at 4.1Gb in size.
I used balenaEtcher (link) utility to flash the Kali Linux image onto my external SSD drive.

Installing Kali Linux

Disclaimer: This will be a clean installation of Kali Linux, overwriting MacOS and any data on the native disk drive. Please ensure you have backed-up your Mac. I do not take any responsibility for any loss of data on your laptop.
Tip 1: ensure your laptop is plugged onto a power source, to make sure your laptop does not run out of power during the installation.
Tip 2: plug in an external USB mouse, since the touchpad won't be active during the installation. If you don't have an external USB mouse, navigate the installation menus using the arrows, tab and enter keys on the laptop keyboard.

STEPS

While powered-off, attach the Kali Linux USB boot drive to the laptop.
Before pressing the Power Key, hold down the right-Option key, then press the Power Key. This should present a screen that looks like below.

Select the middle "EFI Boot" drive, and click on the arrow to continue. Note: Don't select a network, this is only relevant for MacOS reinstallation for now.

Default selected is "Graphical install" and press Enter to continue

Language: Default selected is "English". Note that the trackpad drivers are not active, use the "tab" key on your keyboard to select "Continue" by pressing the "Return" key.

Location: Default selected is "United States". I used the arrow keys on the keyboard to navigate to Australia, and press tab to navigate to "Continue".

Keyboard: Default selected is "American English". I left this as default since we use the American Keyboard in Australia. Navigate to "Continue".

Ethernet: select "no ethernet card" for now, we will come back to this, as we are installing Kali offline. Navigate to "Continue".

Configure the network: We are still installing Kali offline. Select "Continue"

Configure the network: Left hostname default as "Kali" for now, this can be changed post-install. Naivgate to "Continue".

Set up users and passwords: Enter your "real" name and navigate to "Continue"

Set up users and paswords: Enter a username and navigate to "Continue"

Set up users and passwords: Enter your password, and navigate to "Continue"

Configure the clock: Select appropriate timezone, then navigate to "Continue"

Partition disks: In this instance, I want to use the entire disk, so we select "Guided - use the entire disk". Then navigate to "Continue"

Partition disks: Making sure we select the Apple SSD (sda), then navigate to "Continue"

Partition disks: We select the default "All files in one partition (recommended for new users)", then navigate to "Continue"

Partition disks: Select default "Finish partitioning and write changes to disk" and navigate to "Continue"

Partition disks: Select "Yes" and navigate to "Continue"

Software Selection: After a minute, the installer will asks for any customisations to the desktop environment and default tools. Use the default selections for now and navigate to "Continue". The installation will continue for a few minutes from here.

Finish the installation: after approximately 12 minutes, we reach the end of the installation, and the installer asks to remove the USB boot disks. Remove any installer media and navigate to "Continue" for rebooting.

This is the stock Desktop of Kali Linux after logging in with the username and password specified during the installation. Note at this stage:

Laptop is not connected to the internet
Date and Time may be incorrect
No visibility of ethernet or wifi interface

The next step is to have the laptop connected to the internet. This will allow us to fix the above issues.

Please check out my blog on how to enable this laptop to be on the network.

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