As announced at the end of 2019 to ditch the root user policy, Kali Linux finally launches its first release of 2020 with a non-root user model and other major changes.
Moving toward the primary OS, Kali still deters to use the latest release for general purposes. Kali Linux 2020.1 is mainly recommended for professional penetration testers and security specialists.
Kali Linux 2020.1 drops default “root” user
Owing to the historical reason for having the default superuser to take more advantage of tools, Kali switches to the standard, non-privileged user.
For detailed reasons, you can read here.
Now during the installation, you will get a dialog box to create a user account with non-privilege rights.
Also, if you don’t want to create a non-root user, you can restore the previous root policy model by installing kali-grant-tool.
apt update && apt install -y kali-grant-root
Kali restructures the Installer Image
To make the Kali images simpler, Kali 2020.1 shifts to a single image installer with fewer images available for downloads like installer image, live image, and a network installer image with reduced sizes.
Separate images for every desktop environment are now discontinued. However, you can choose your desired desktop environment during the installation in each image.
ARM images still follow the single user, default root policy. If you’re a Pinebook Pro user, then there is no new image release for Pinebook Pro.
Kali brings more respite for the mobile pentester to run Kali NetHunter without rooting the phone.
Also, for better utilization of limited hardware resources, NetHunter images are available in three editions: Nethunter, NetHunter Light, and NetHunder Rootless.
New Desktop Environment theme
Kali introduces major design modifications for different shells, icons, and desktop themes.
To refresh the GNOME desktop, Kali brings dark and light variants for the shell theme along with refined desktop themes.
Flat-Remix icon theme also extends to add 85 new app icons and 16 specific kali category icons. Menu icons replace with a new one.
Kali-Undercover gets more touch to resemble Windows with improved window headerbars, workspaces icons, and undercovered terminal.
How to try Kali Linux 2020.1?
Are you worried about downloading new images to upgrade your current kali system?
Then, I would say you don’t have to download to upgrade the existing system. Kali Linux 2020.1 is a rolling distribution, as it gets continuous updates.
You can just update, and you will have the same thing with the new latest version.
sudo apt update && sudo apt -y full-upgrade
If you want fresh images, you can download it from the official site here.
