Ayo!!!

Wassup kid.

Welcome to our seven part, step-by-step series on setting up a hacking lab.  The purpose of this short series is to give you real experience working with Security+ topics.  We're going beyond the book knowledge and into real world experience.

Last week we customized Kali Linux and today I'm going to show you how to legally download and install Windows 10 in VMWare Workstation.  The Windows 10 workstation will become our victim in our hacking lab.

Here's the rundown:

1. How to Setup VMWare Workstation
2. How to Download Kali Linux for your hacking lab
3. How to Install Kali Linux from scratch (step-by-step)
4. How to Configure Kali Linux (you know, how to pimp out the interface)
5. How to Legally Download and Install Windows 10 for Free
6. How to Install VMware Tools (open-vm-tools) in Kali Linux
7. How to share folders with your VM

Let's jump right in!  I hope this one will be a faster read and setup than my previous training lessons!

Let's go ahead and grab a legal copy of Windows 10 Enterprise.

Where to download Windows 10 Enterprise for Free

Okay, so first things first: we need to download the evaluation copy of Windows 10.

We can download a free 90 day evaluation copy of Windows 10 from Microsoft Technet.

Along the right side of the page, you should see a link to "Try products on the Microsoft Evaluation Center".  Go ahead and click that.

Next, you'll want to scroll down the eval center and pick "Windows 10 Enterprise".

Microsoft is going to moan about registration.  I know it's annoying but just plop in your name, company (whatever that means) and the rest of the details there.

When you click continue you'll be presented with a link to download the Windows 10 ISO.

Installing Windows 10 in VMWare

The download file is quite large so this might be a good time to go for a jog, grab a magazine or just take a nap.  

Once it finishes, we need to pop open VMWare Workstation and create a new Virtual Machine (Press Ctrl + n).  We'll use the Typical installation process and browse to the Windows 10 ISO file.

On the next screen the easy installer will ask for the product key and account details.  You can leave all this blank.  I entered my name and create a password here but you can do that later if you want.

We need to name our VM.  This is the name that appears in the library when you open VMWare Workstation and view all your VMs.  So you should make it something descriptive.

I'm naming mine:

Windows 10 Enterprise

Click next, keep the default maximum disk size of 60.0 GB but choose "Store virtual disk as a single file".  This option is better for performance.  

Trust me when it comes to VMs running on your host machine, anything you can do to boost performance will be appreciated!

Alright, now we can create the disk.  

Once it finishes the VM will start up and present the installation screen.  Go ahead and select "Windows 10 Enterprise Evaluation" and hit the next button.

Let the installation process go!

It actually completed faster than I expected.  It was somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes on my SSD.  I got my 1TB drive from Amazon and I've seen huge improvements in performance as a result.  

After a few moments you'll jump into the desktop.  

Setting your VMWare Network Adapter

Once thing you'll probably want to do is to make sure your network adapter is set to "Host Only".

Remember, the goal of our lab is to setup a self-contained, isolated hacking environment where we can attack our Windows 10 target from our Kali Linux workstation.  As a result. we don't want any devices on our home network.  We want them on a separate isolated network.

One of quickest ways to pull this trick off is to shut down the VM, select it and then press Ctrl + d to open the Settings window.

In the left pane you'll see Memory, Processors, Hard Disk, CD/DVD, Network Adapter and more.  Choose Network Adapter and then in the right pane make sure the Network Connection is set to "Host-only: A private network shared with the host".

Once you do that we can configure static IP addresses for our Kali and Windows machines on the same subnet so they can communicate with each other.

Don't worry I'll show you how to setup all that in a future training lesson I just wanted to give a you preview of what's coming down the pipe!

Oh and as always, here's a quick video demonstration of what we discussed in this training session.

If you have any questions leave a comment below and don't forget to subscribe to our mailing list!  

Coming Up

Next week I'll show you the proper way to install VMWare tools in Kali Linux.  Installing VMWare tools in Windows is easy (but not so much in Linux). 

It's important that we get this setup because VMWare tools will make your life a lot easier.  It makes the VM run smoother.