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I have a Macbook Air(6,1) that I am trying to install kali linux on. The installation goes smoothly until the partitioning section in which the only drive detected is the flash drive with the installation media on it. I am currently testing to see if disks are detected within a ubuntu live install, but while I waited I thought I would just post a question here to see if anyone has had any similar experience and knows a solution.

mm3
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    Does this answer your question? [How can you get any version of Linux to see the 2018 MacBook Pro SSD?](https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/463422/how-can-you-get-any-version-of-linux-to-see-the-2018-macbook-pro-ssd) – muru Oct 19 '21 at 13:34

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Edit: I'm going to completely restructure my answer because my original answer did not necessarily answer the question at hand. I referred to trying it in VirtualBox and went off on a rant about how they shouldn't really use Kali. Apologies to the OP.

Maybe try different ISO files (or whatever the file format is)

I've found that the Kali website has a live and installer file. Try both of them, and tell me how that goes.

Edit 2: I've suggested to OP to contact the Kali team to check if Macbooks are supported (as in being able to install Kali on one). I hope this helps.

Edit 3: I'd like to add a disclaimer. OP already clearly knows the intent of Kali, but this is for whoever else reads this. Kali Linux is not a distro for daily use. Kali is a distro for security experts. You should NOT perform any activities which are malicious with this. No one takes responsibility for your actions but YOU.

fr0stbyte
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  • This is an old laptop that I currently do not use and I am installing kali on as a joke. – mm3 Jul 20 '20 at 19:50
  • Did you try it in a virtual machine? – fr0stbyte Jul 20 '20 at 19:51
  • Also, not relevant to the question at hand, really. If you were going to install a distro as a joke, I would choose one that's NOT made for hackers and security experts. – fr0stbyte Jul 20 '20 at 19:53
  • I am able to install Kali in a virtual machine but the question specifically relates to actual hardware so I don't see how that is relevant. Also I am aware of what Kali is and what it's purposed for I really only mentioned it because this is the only distro that fails at detecting the internal ssd. – mm3 Jul 20 '20 at 20:00
  • Apologies for not answering directly. I would suggest try different isos, as they have a live iso and an installer iso. Maybe try that, and get back to me with results. – fr0stbyte Jul 20 '20 at 20:10
  • No worries. I've been trying on the live iso and just tried on the installer iso and ran into the same problem where the only available disk to install on was the flashdrive. – mm3 Jul 20 '20 at 20:29
  • It's very unusual. You could check the SHA256 keys, although I doubt anything's wrong with the iso itself. This is very confusing that Linux doesn't actually recognise your disk. You said that you checked on an Ubuntu USB to check if the problem still existed. Did it get detected on Ubuntu or was there still a problem? If Ubuntu works, then it's most likely a software issue. If neither work, something is probably configured on your SSD that disables it from being recognised. I don't know for sure though. That's just my take on it. – fr0stbyte Jul 20 '20 at 21:14
  • Yeah I was able to detect the disks with ubuntu and I went ahead with the install thinking that maybe it would have an easier time recognizing an ext4 partition but still the same issue. – mm3 Jul 20 '20 at 21:20
  • This makes me think that this is most likely an issue with Kali. A file system does not improve or decrease ease of recognising it. I really don't know what to do. I don't know what could be in Kali that makes it incompatible with your Macbook's SSD. But, all I can say is, I'm almost certain that something's wrong with Kali. I get the feeling that there is some firmware missing in Kali for your SSD, but I can't be certain. – fr0stbyte Jul 20 '20 at 21:29
  • May I suggest you contact the Kali team and ask if Macbook Airs (and other Macbooks) are supported (in a sense of being able to install Kali on it)? Clearly Ubuntu has something that Kali doesn't. – fr0stbyte Jul 20 '20 at 21:32