🐧 Lightweight Kali Linux on My M1 MacBook: No Docker, No VMs

by Amhar Azwar

Platform: Apple MacBook Air (M1, 2020, base model)
Use Case: Ethical hacking, penetration testing, terminal-based Linux vibes
Constraints: 2GB of available storage, no Docker Desktop, CLI-only obsession

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📘 Overview

Hey there! I’m Amhar Azwar, a software engineer with a side hustle in ethical hacking and pentesting. My mission? To run Kali Linux on my base M1 MacBook Air (2020) without choking its measly 2GB of available storage or leaning on bloated tools like full VMs or Docker Desktop. Spoiler: I did it, and it’s all terminal-based—because who needs a GUI when you’ve got bash skills?

In this guide, I’m spilling the beans on how I used Docker and Colima to spin up a lean Kali environment, complete with the Social-Engineer Toolkit (SET). I’ll share the technical hiccups I hit (like losing my setup to a rookie mistake), the fixes I cooked up, and some pro tips to make your own setup slicker than a pentester’s phishing email.

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🚀 Why Colima Over Docker Desktop?

Docker Desktop is the go-to for many, but it didn’t vibe with my setup:

• Size: It’s 2GB of available storage on my 256GB Mac.
• Daemons: Background processes? No thanks, I like my resources free.
• Minimalism: I wanted a lightweight, CLI-driven flow, not a GUI crutch.

Enter Colima—a sleek container runtime for macOS, built on Lima and Docker. It’s lightweight, terminal-friendly, and lets me run full Linux environments like Kali without breaking a sweat. Game changer.

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🛠️ Full Setup: Kali Linux + Docker + Colima on M1 Mac

🔹 1. Install Docker (CLI-only) and Colima

First, I grabbed the essentials via Homebrew—because what’s a Mac setup without it?

brew install docker colima

Then, I fired up Colima with Docker as the runtime:

colima start --runtime docker

This spins up a tiny Linux VM under the hood, ready to host my containers—all from the comfort of my Mac terminal.

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🔹 2. Create a Persistent Kali Linux Container

Here’s where I tripped up initially. I ran:

docker run -it kalilinux/kali-rolling

Cool, right? Nope. Exiting that session trashed the container—and all my work (RIP my first SET install). Lesson learned: unnamed containers are temporary. To keep my setup alive, I gave it a name:

docker run -it --name kali-persist kalilinux/kali-rolling /bin/bash

Now,

sticks around, saving my tools and configs across sessions. Crisis averted.

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🔹 3. Inside Kali: Install the SET Toolkit

Inside the Kali shell, I got to work:

apt update && apt upgrade -y
apt install git python3-venv -y
git clone https://github.com/trustedsec/social-engineer-toolkit.git
cd social-engineer-toolkit
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
pip install pycryptodomex
python setoolkit

Boom! SET fired up, and I was ready to simulate some social engineering magic—right from my Mac.

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❗ Rookie Mistake:

docker start -ai kali-persist

Flopped

After my first session, I tried restarting with:

docker start -ai kali-persist

And got slapped with:

Error response from daemon: No such container: kali-persist

Why? My original unnamed container was a ghost—deleted when I exited. I’d set up SET for nothing.

✅ Fix: I rebuilt it properly with

(see step 2) and redid the SET install. Patience pays off.

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🧠 Pro Move: Shortcut Script to Launch Kali

Typing commands every time? Nah, I’m too lazy for that. So I whipped up a script,

:

#!/bin/bash
container="kali-persist"
if docker ps -a --format '{{.Names}}' | grep -q "^$container$"; then
  docker start -ai "$container"
else
  echo "❌ Container '$container' not found. Run the setup first:"
  echo "docker run -it --name $container kalilinux/kali-rolling /bin/bash"
fi

Made it executable:

chmod +x ~/kali.sh

Now,

drops me into Kali with zero fuss—SET and all.

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🧼 Keeping It Lean: Cleaning Up

With only 2GB to play with, I stay ruthless:

docker ps -a       # List all containers
docker rm <id>     # Trash unused ones
docker image prune # Wipe dangling images

Keeps my Mac light and my setup mean.

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🔁 Running SET Like a Boss

To relaunch SET in future sessions:

docker start -ai kali-persist
cd social-engineer-toolkit
source venv/bin/activate
python setoolkit

I got fancy and added this to Kali’s

:

cd ~/social-engineer-toolkit
source venv/bin/activate

Now, every restart lands me in the SET zone, ready to roll.

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✍️ Final Thoughts

This setup is my pride and joy—a minimalist masterpiece. I’ve got:

• A persistent Kali terminal on macOS
• Tools like SET, Nmap, and more at my fingertips
• No bloat from Docker Desktop or chunky VMs

It’s all driven from my Mac’s native terminal, lightning-fast and storage-friendly. Whether you’re a pentesting newbie or a CLI nerd, this is your ticket to Kali on an M1 Mac—tested and tweaked by yours truly.

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🧠 Handcrafted and battle-tested by Mohamed Amhar
📍 On a base M1 MacBook Air with 2GB of available storage