Kali Linux Config.txt On Raspberry Pi 3

I searched everywhere for this one and really found little in the way of a definitive answer. After some testing, I was able to determine that copying the config.txt from a Raspbian image did work for Kali Linux.

Adding or editing your config.txt on PC

Insert the flashed micro SD card into your PC and you can access the boot directory as the root directory of the sd card.

Adding or editing your config.txt on Kali Linux

The /boot partition isn’t mounted by default (you will be able to navigate to it but there will be no content) so you will need to mount it before you can access it. The system defaults the this partition to /boot when mounted.

mount /dev/mmcblk0p1

You can navigate to /boot to confirm that mmcblk0p1 has been mounted. You will see files if this was successful. Then you will make your config.txt here. File permissions are set automatically if the file is created in /boot.

cd /boot

nano config.txt

Insert the following stock config.txt content into your config.txt file. This was pulled from most recent, at the time of writing this, Raspbian image.

# For more options and information see
# http://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/config-txt.md
# Some settings may impact device functionality. See link above for details

# uncomment if you get no picture on HDMI for a default "safe" mode
#hdmi_safe=1

# uncomment this if your display has a black border of unused pixels visible
# and your display can output without overscan
#disable_overscan=1

# uncomment the following to adjust overscan. Use positive numbers if console
# goes off screen, and negative if there is too much border
#overscan_left=16
#overscan_right=16
#overscan_top=16
#overscan_bottom=16

# uncomment to force a console size. By default it will be display's size minus
# overscan.
#framebuffer_width=1280
#framebuffer_height=720

# uncomment if hdmi display is not detected and composite is being output
#hdmi_force_hotplug=1

# uncomment to force a specific HDMI mode (this will force VGA)
#hdmi_group=1
#hdmi_mode=1

# uncomment to force a HDMI mode rather than DVI. This can make audio work in
# DMT (computer monitor) modes
#hdmi_drive=2

# uncomment to increase signal to HDMI, if you have interference, blanking, or
# no display
#config_hdmi_boost=4

# uncomment for composite PAL
#sdtv_mode=2

#uncomment to overclock the arm. 700 MHz is the default.
#arm_freq=800

# Uncomment some or all of these to enable the optional hardware interfaces
#dtparam=i2c_arm=on
#dtparam=i2s=on
#dtparam=spi=on

# Uncomment this to enable the lirc-rpi module
#dtoverlay=lirc-rpi

# Additional overlays and parameters are documented /boot/overlays/README

# Enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835)
dtparam=audio=on

Save the file and reboot. Kali Linux will automatically load the config.txt on startup.

Conclusion

I spent a few hours looking for this information and found example after example that had me installing things to read the config.txt, locations of the config.txt that didn’t exist and complex directions that didn’t work.

One consistent thing I saw was the suggestion to just make it, add your changes and give it a try to see if it works. I did this to install an lcd hat and I can confirm that adding my settings to the config.txt and completing the steps above worked for me.

Let me know if you have any questions or share your success in the comments below.