Dual boot vs Vmware: Do I lose Kali functionalities with virtualization?

[pauloferreira]

Hi everyone,

I have Windows 8 as my main OS and I'm used to have a bunch of VMware boxes for specialized functions.
I'm engaged in a self training in Kali Linux what I will use for security study.

At first look I believe Kali Linux would perform better in a dual boot setup, having direct access to the HW.
Software functions like SQL Injection tools and others I believe there will be no problem
However, I'm not sure if HW functions like Wireless attacks can be done in a virtualized box even in Bridge Mode.

Do you have such experience? What will I lose by having VMWare instead of dual box.

And just to explain, I tried to dual boot... https://forums.kali.org/showthread.php?271-How-to-EFI-install-Kali-Linux
but I would like to keep Secure Boot ON and the present solutions for enabling Kali Linux to do it is too complex.

Best regards

[clubmix]

what adapter do you use?

[polyphemus]

Yes you can still do wireless pen-testing in VMs. Same as without a VM, you need to have a compatible wireless adapter with the compatible chipset (there are multiple forums here on this exact topic). I am setting up a dual boot right now because of the processing power. I want to be able to more accurately control how kali utilizes my processors instead of vmware managing them. Also I have read that ARP spoofing software like ettercap works better outside of a virtual environment, and if you think about it, it just might be true as there isn't that extra layer of translation to go through.

[pauloferreira]

(1) Dell Wireless 1705 802.11b/g/n (Atheros Communications)
(2) Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller
RTL8106, 8136 or 8168 (from Windows, I'm not sure which of them)