How to Run Kali Linux on QEMU Using the Command Line

Last updated: Sep 27, 2025

Kali Linux and QEMU logos fused together, symbolizing integration

If you only need to test it for a short time, or simply want to use it temporarily, it can be very convenient to run Kali Linux inside a virtual machine that you can start on demand.

On the official download page, you’ll find that Kali Linux is available in several file types and virtual machine formats: VMware, Hyper-V, VirtualBox, and more. (By the way, you can check out my tutorial on how to install Kali Linux on VMware.) In this guide, I’ll show you how to run Kali Linux using the QEMU image.

This tutorial is written with Arch Linux in mind, but it should also work on most other GNU/Linux distributions.

Installing Prerequisites

First, install the required packages: qemu, 7zip and tigervnc.

[root@host ~]# pacman -S qemu-full 7zip tigervnc

Next, download the Kali Linux QEMU image from the official Kali Linux download page.

Kali Linux official download page showing QEMU pre-built virtual machine option — The official Kali Linux download section provides a ready-to-use **QEMU virtual machine image**, alongside options for VMware, VirtualBox, and Hyper-V.

Extract the downloaded archive using the 7z command. In this example, we use the kali-linux-2025.3-qemu-amd64.7z file:

[user@host ~]$ mkdir KALI && 7z e kali-linux-2025.3-qemu-amd64.7z -o./KALI/

Run Kali Linux with QEMU

Start the virtual machine with the qemu-system-x86_64 command. Below are the options I use — feel free to adapt them to your system:
- -m 8192: allocate 8 GB RAM to the VM
- -cpu host -enable-kvm: use the host CPU features and enable KVM acceleration (recommended for better performance)
- -smp cores=4: assign 4 virtual CPU cores
- -drive file=./kali-linux-2025.3-qemu-amd64.qcow2,index=0,media=disk,if=virtio,format=qcow2: path to the Kali Linux virtual disk image, using VirtIO for better performance
- -net nic,model=virtio-net-pci,macaddr=de:ad:be:e5:34:56: add a VirtIO network interface with a custom MAC address
- -net user,id=mynet0,net=192.168.76.0/24,dhcpstart=192.168.76.9: configure user-mode networking with a specific subnet and DHCP range

[user@host ~]$ qemu-system-x86_64 \
-m 8192 \
-cpu host -enable-kvm -smp cores=4 \
-net nic,model=virtio-net-pci,macaddr=de:ad:be:e5:34:56 -net user,id=mynet0,net=192.168.76.0/24,dhcpstart=192.168.76.9 \
-drive file=./kali-linux-2025.3-qemu-amd64.qcow2,index=0,media=disk,if=virtio,format=qcow2

Now, use the VNC client TigerVNC to connect to the running virtual machine. By default, Kali Linux uses the credentials kali/kali for login:

[user@host ~]$ vncviewer -PreferredEncoding tight 127.0.0.1:5900

Kali Linux login screen inside QEMU accessed with TigerVNC client — Accessing the **Kali Linux** virtual machine running in **QEMU** using the **TigerVNC client**. The default username and password are **kali**/**kali**.

Congratulations! 🎉 You can now use your Kali Linux virtual machine running on QEMU!

From here, you can start experimenting with penetration testing tools.