Things I Do After Installing Kali Linux 2025.2 — My Full Setup

Hey everyone, I’m Dev
I’ve been using Kali Linux for a while now for everything from learning to bug bounty to basic system tweaking. So every time I do a fresh install of Kali Linux 2025.2, these are the exact steps I follow to get everything set up properly. I’m keeping this as a personal note and also for anyone else who wants a clean, solid setup.

🛠️ 1. First Things First: Update

Once the system is installed, the first thing I do is update everything:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Simple but important. Keeps the tools, kernel, and everything else up-to-date.

📁 2. Create My Folder Structure

I like keeping everything organized. So I create my main working directories inside my home folder:

mkdir ~/Tools ~/Docs ~/Notes ~/Scripts ~/Trash ~/Temps

This way, all my downloaded tools, scripts, notes, etc., stay sorted.

⚙️ 3. Aliases That Save Me Time

I add the following aliases to my ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc:

alias scripts="cd ~/Scripts"
alias notes="cd ~/Notes"
alias docsh="cd ~/Docs"
alias tools="cd ~/Tools"
alias wordlists="cd ~/Wordlists"
alias trash="cd ~/Trash"
alias temps="cd ~/Temps"
alias down="cd ~/Downloads"
alias doc="cd ~/Documents"
alias desk="cd ~/Desktop"

alias yep="sudo apt install"
alias nope="sudo apt remove"

alias root="sudo -i"
alias c="clear"
alias cls='clear && echo "Welcome back, $(whoami)! Stay sharp 🔥"'

alias hg="history | grep"
alias ports="nmap localhost"

alias lss='ls -lah --color=auto'
alias lt='ls -lt --color=auto'

alias emptytrash='rm -rf ~/Trash/*'
alias cleantemps='rm -rf ~/Temps/*'
alias notepad="nano ~/Notes/quick_notes.txt"
alias updatekali="sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y && sudo apt autoremove -y"

alias run="bash"
alias ..='cd ..'
alias ...='cd ../..'

alias nessus-start="sudo /bin/systemctl start nessusd.service"
alias nessus-stop="sudo /bin/systemctl stop nessusd.service"

Reload it with:

source ~/.zshrc

These save me a lot of typing and help me move around faster.

🤖 4. Enable ZSH Auto Suggestions

This gives me smart suggestions based on my history.

sudo apt install zsh-autosuggestions

Then I edit ~/.zshrc and add:

source /usr/share/zsh-autosuggestions/zsh-autosuggestions.zsh
ZSH_AUTOSUGGEST_HIGHLIGHT_STYLE='fg=#999'

To disable later, just comment those lines.

🔥 5. Basic Firewall Rules (UFW)

UFW is simple and effective for basic firewall control.

sudo apt install ufw
sudo ufw default deny incoming
sudo ufw default allow outgoing
sudo ufw allow ssh
sudo ufw allow 80/tcp
sudo ufw enable
sudo ufw status verbose

📝 6. Extract `rockyou.txt`

This is one of the most commonly used wordlists in brute-force attacks:

sudo gunzip /usr/share/wordlists/rockyou.txt.gz
ln -s /usr/share/wordlists ~/Wordlists

🌐 7. Browsers I Use

I keep multiple browsers for different uses:

Firefox (already installed)
Opera
Google Chrome
Chromium (I use this mostly with Burp Suite)

Install .deb files like this:

sudo dpkg -i <filename>.deb

✍️ 8. Editors I Prefer

My main editors:

sudo dpkg -i <filename>.deb   # for vscode, sublime, etc.

And also install basic ones:

sudo apt install -y gedit vim neovim nano

💻 9. Must-Have Terminal Tools

sudo apt install -y terminator gnome-terminal qterminal tmux
sudo apt install -y htop tree fonts-hack-ttf
sudo apt install -y tor torbrowser-launcher openvpn
sudo apt install -y flameshot keepassxc etherape
sudo apt install -y kali-wallpapers-all

These help with multitasking, screenshotting, VPN access, password management, etc.

🧪 10. My Favorite Recon Tools

I install everything I regularly use for recon and subdomain enumeration:

sudo apt install -y dirsearch sublist3r amass assetfinder httprobe ffuf wfuzz dirb feroxbuster eyewitness recon-ng enum4linux wifite
sudo apt install -y peass bat fd-find ripgrep
sudo apt install -y seclists nodejs npm jq massdns

💾 11. GitHub Tools I Clone

These are some tools I like to keep in ~/Tools:

git clone https://github.com/s0md3v/XSStrike.git
git clone https://github.com/hannob/tlshelpers.git
git clone https://github.com/incogbyte/shosubgo.git
git clone https://github.com/nsonaniya2010/SubDomainizer.git
git clone https://github.com/rastating/dnmasscan.git

# BullsEye Dorking tools
git clone https://github.com/BullsEye0/dorks-eye.git
git clone https://github.com/BullsEye0/blue_eye.git
git clone https://github.com/BullsEye0/ghost_eye.git

🐍 12. Install Required Python3 Libraries

These are often needed for the above tools to run smoothly:

sudo apt install -y \
  python3-requests \
  python3-dnspython \
  python3-termcolor \
  python3-htmlmin \
  python3-tldextract \
  python3-colorama \
  python3-cffi \
  python3-bs4

🔧 13. Install Go Tools

If you’re using Go, these are super helpful for recon:

go install github.com/tomnomnom/assetfinder@latest
go install github.com/lc/gau@latest
go install github.com/projectdiscovery/subfinder/v2/cmd/subfinder@latest
go install github.com/tomnomnom/httprobe@latest
go install github.com/projectdiscovery/shuffledns/cmd/shuffledns@latest

Add this to your .zshrc or .bashrc:

export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/go/bin

🧩 14. Browser Extensions (For Hacking Stuff)

In browsers like Chromium or Firefox, I add:

HackTools
Cookie Editor
Wappalyzer
User-Agent Switcher
Dark Reader
Burp Suite CA certificate (for HTTPS interception)

🧰 15. Burp Suite Quick Setup

Set proxy to 127.0.0.1:8080 in your browser.
Import Burp’s CA certificate.
Test intercept to make sure it’s working.

I mainly use Burp with Chromium for this.

🎨 16. Kali Customization

This is optional but I like changing wallpapers and themes a bit:

sudo apt install kali-wallpapers-all

I also tweak the terminal appearance and fonts for better visibility.

📌 Wrapping Up

That’s my full post-install checklist for Kali Linux 2025.2.
I prefer keeping things simple and fast. This setup gives me everything I need from daily updates to deep pentesting sessions.

Hope it helps you too!

Things I Do After Installing Kali Linux 2025.2 — My Full Setup

Table of contents