Install AMD ATI proprietary driver (fglrx) in Kali Linux 1.0.6 running Kernel version 3.12.6

UPDATE: 05/03/2015 – Please follow the final guide instead of this one to Install AMD ATI proprietary fglrx driver in Kali Linux 1.0.6 running Kernel version 3.12.6 – Final

Install AMD ATI proprietary driver (fglrx) in Kali Linux 1.0.6 running Kernel version 3.12.6.

Kali Linux release it’s new version 1.0.6  which installed new Kernel 3.12.6 in early January 2014. Since then every AMD proprietary graphics card driver stopped working as the existing version in repository was not compatible with new Kernel. Well, to be honest, the existing AMD ATI proprietary fglrx driver in repo was broken anyway and needed patching for Kernel 3.7. We’ve tried anything and everything that we could find and finally found a workable solution that worked for new Kernel 3.12.6 in Kali Linux 1.0.6. Obviously this solution is still new and we would like more people to test it and confirm that this is working for them. Like any solution, there’s a fair chance this might not work for you, but then again, fglrx proprietary driver is already broken and there’s no sign that either AMD or Kali developers going to work on it and release a fix. The main problem with AMD ATI fglrx driver was that it was breaking CAL++ and Pyrit as Kali Linux 1.0.6 couldn’t detect a fglrx driver and didn’t use the graphics card properly. But this is not entirely Kali Linux issue, this is actually an AMD driver issue. Open source driver (vesa) worked just fine in Kali Linux 1.0.6, but from the discussions and digging what we found that AMD pretty much repacked an old driver and modified a few files without checking it against some of the big names in Linux (Debian). I am not sure if we can blame AMD either, the driver did work in Ubuntu based distributions and I guess because Ubuntu is more supported and focused by Hardware vendors, that’s all that matters to them.

But like every similar case, Debian guru’s jumped in and started testing it in Debian Jessie (Jessie is the new testing release after Wheezy). I accidentally found that AMD ATI proprietary fglrx driver from Debian Jessie works in Kali Linux. I wanted to test it first myself and ensure it wasn’t breaking anything else in my existing Kali Linux installation. So far I have found no issues.

I have tested the following applications after I’ve implemented this change and they worked just fine:

• Metasploit Framework
• SQLmap
• Burpsuite
• Aircrack-ng
• Wireshark
• nmap
• owasp-zap
• maltego
• wpscan
• john
• hydra
• wifite
• pyrit
• oclhashcat
• beef
• Armitage
• Setoolkit

Following instructions were tested on 64-bit Kali Linux 1.0.6 running Kernel version 3.12.6:

lsb_release -a

Output:

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Debian
Description:    Debian GNU/Linux Kali Linux 1.0.6
Release:    Kali Linux 1.0.6
Codename:   n/a

Step 1 (add official Kali Linux Repositories)

Check your /etc/apt/sources.list. If it’s anything different to the following, you need to fix it. You can follow this guide to add official Kali Linux Repositories if you’re not too sure on how to do it. For the sake of clarity I will keep things simple here.

leafpad /etc/apt/sources.list

Remove or comment out existing lines and add the following:

## Kali Regular repositories
deb http://http.kali.org/kali kali main non-free contrib
deb http://security.kali.org/kali-security kali/updates main contrib non-free
## Kali Source repositories
deb-src http://http.kali.org/kali kali main non-free contrib
deb-src http://security.kali.org/kali-security kali/updates main contrib non-free

Step 2 (update with apt-get)

Now we need to update and make sure we get the latest list from Kali Linux official repositories. So perform an apt-get update.

apt-get update

STOP: NVIDIA users after driver installation and cuda/pyrit related issues go here: How to Install Nvidia Kernel Module Cuda and Pyrit in Kali Linux

Also those who would like to use Graphics card processing power to crunch data (such as recovering wii password faster) see the following posts:

1. Helpful ATIconfig fglrx commands
2. How to install Pyrit in Kali Linux?
3. How to install CAL++ in Kali Linux?
4. How to install AMD APP SDK in Kali Linux?

Step 3 (install Linux headers and recommended softwares)

Now that we have the correct repositories we can add these following recommended apps. The most important part is to add the correct headers.

apt-get install firmware-linux-nonfree 
apt-get install amd-opencl-icd 
apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

NOTE: You should be able to get all these from Kali Linux repositories as added/updated from Step 1 above. When this guide was written, all these were available in the Kali Repositories.

Step 4 (change repositories to Debian Jessie).

So far so good.

This part I wouldn’t usually recommend, but we will only add few specific software’s from Debian Jessie Repositories and quickly remove them once we’re done. I have added this myself and removed them once the following steps are completed. I went in and checked as many software’s I could, but it seems only updating a few packages doesn’t break anything. (So far!! You are most welcome to try it).

Now comment out Kali Repositories in your /etc/apt/sources.list and add Debian Jessie (Another name for Debian Jessie is Debian testing) repositories.

You should be able to use leafpad to do it quickly.

leafpad /etc/apt/sources.list

Remove or comment out existing lines and add the following:

## Kali Regular repositories
#deb http://http.kali.org/kali kali main non-free contrib
#deb http://security.kali.org/kali-security kali/updates main contrib non-free
## Kali Source repositories
#deb-src http://http.kali.org/kali kali main non-free contrib
#deb-src http://security.kali.org/kali-security kali/updates main contrib non-free

## Debian Main
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free
## Debian Updates
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates main contrib non-free
## Debian Security
deb http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates main contrib non-free

Step 5 (update with apt-get)

Now we need to update and make sure we get the latest list from Debian Jessie repositories. So perform an apt-get update.

apt-get update

Step 6 (install fglrx drivers and control)

Almost done, just install fglrx drivers and control. The best part is that it’s all you need to do. Debian Jessie fixed the issues with fglrx and latest driver, so once you install these drivers, everything just works.

apt-get install fglrx-atieventsd fglrx-driver fglrx-control fglrx-modules-dkms -y

NOTE: At this point, you will see bunch of popups (we see those hardly in Linux, but aptitude pops up with request to update some libraries(opencl and glx) and restart services such as network etc., I have chosen YES to all of them. My installation of Kali is still working and I am yet to find a problem. Your experience might be different.

Once the installation if finished, we need to test if it was all good.

Step 7 (testing your installation and generate xorg.conf file)

Now that our installation is all good and went without an error, we need to test fglrx drivers. You can test fglrx using the following two commands:

fglrxinfo 
fgl_glxgears

But I would like to go a bit far and test glx as well. Use the following commands to test GLX. (The reason I tested this is because original AMD Drivers broke them previously.

glxinfo
glxgears 

If everything worked well, you can generate xorg.conf file using the following command

aticonfig --initial -f

xorg.conf file will be located at /etc/X11 folder.

Step 8 (update grub.cfg file and reboot)

Almost there. AMD cards needs the following parameters passed into grub.cfg during boot. Let’s do that: Edit the grub.cfg file:

leafpad /boot/grub/grub.cfg

you see this:

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 3.12-kali1-amd64' --class debian --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
    load_video
    insmod gzio
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ext2
    set root='(hd0,msdos5)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 129deb3c-0edc-473b-b8e8-507f0f2dc3f9
    echo    'Loading Linux 3.12-kali1-amd64 ...'
    linux    /boot/vmlinuz-3.12-kali1-amd64 root=UUID=129deb3c-0edc-473b-b8e8-507f0f2dc3f9 ro initrd=/install/gtk/initrd.gz quiet
    echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
    initrd    /boot/initrd.img-3.12-kali1-amd64
}

add radeon.modeset=0 in the end of the following line

linux    /boot/vmlinuz-3.12-kali1-amd64 root=UUID=129deb3c-0edc-473b-b8e8-507f0f2dc3f9 ro initrd=/install/gtk/initrd.gz quiet radeon.modeset=0

So the line above becomes this:

linux    /boot/vmlinuz-3.12-kali1-amd64 root=UUID=129deb3c-0edc-473b-b8e8-507f0f2dc3f9 ro initrd=/install/gtk/initrd.gz quiet radeon.modeset=0

Note: 129deb3c-0edc-473b-b8e8-507f0f2dc3f9 UUID would be different for every PC. Use your one here.

Save and exit. Then reboot.

reboot

Once you reboot, your should be able to login in GUI and enjoy your AMD ATI proprietary driver (fglrx) in Kali Linux 1.0.6 running Kernel version 3.12.6.

Step 8.a (interesting findings)

I found something interesting while doing this change. If you check your lsb_release -a output, it shows

Description:    Debian GNU/Linux testing (unknown.new.testing)

root@kali:~# lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:    Debian
Description:    Debian GNU/Linux testing (unknown.new.testing)
Release:    testing
Codename:    unknown.new.testing

Other version details shows Kali GNU/Linux 1.0.6

root@kali:~# cat  /etc/issue
Kali GNU/Linux 1.0.6 \n \l

root@kali:~# linux-version list
3.12-kali1-amd64
3.7-trunk-amd64

root@kali:~# cat /proc/version 
Linux version 3.12-kali1-amd64 ([email protected]) (gcc version 4.7.2 (Debian 4.7.2-5) ) #1 SMP Debian 3.12.6-2kali1 (2014-01-06)

Really puzzling.

Step 9 (Revert to official Kali Linux Repositories)

At this point you should be logged in to your Kali Linux. But remember that we still have Debian Jessie repositories in our /etc/apt/sources.list file. We need to change it back to Kali Linux Repositories as otherwise you will end up getting testing updates which WILL BREAK STUFFS.  So just open your sources.list using your favorite editor and remove all Debian Jessie repositories.

leafpad /etc/apt/sources.list

Remove or comment out existing lines and add the following:

## Kali Regular repositories
deb http://http.kali.org/kali kali main non-free contrib
deb http://security.kali.org/kali-security kali/updates main contrib non-free
## Kali Source repositories
deb-src http://http.kali.org/kali kali main non-free contrib
deb-src http://security.kali.org/kali-security kali/updates main contrib non-free

This is what your sources.list should look like after this change.You might want to remove Debian Jessie Lines completely.

Now let’s check lsb_release -a output again to confirm version is shown correctly:

lsb_release -a

Output:

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Debian
Description:    Debian GNU/Linux Kali Linux 1.0.6
Release:    Kali Linux 1.0.6
Codename:   n/a

Looks good to me.

Step 10 (run ATI Catalyst Control Center)

Run ATI Catalyst Control Center from Applications Menu > System Tools > Preferences > ATI Catalyst Control Center.

You should be able to launch amdcccle and make changes as required.

There’s more that you can do using Aticonfig. You can change fan speed or setup multiple monitors or directly check GPU temperatures. I have show them in another post with a compilation of useful aticonfig commands. However, I found that some commands were removed from this version aticonfig. (AMD does it everytime they release a new driver). But most of the commands work. So feel free to check and report them back.

Disclaimer: This guide uses Debian Jessie which is testing repositories to make fglrx work. You are advised to remove these from your sources.list file as soon you implement this change. We have tested this method as much as possible, but as always there’s always a possibility something else might be affected. We take no responsibility. Like Linux itself, you use these information’s as it is.

Thanks for reading.

If this helped your issue running AMD ATI proprietary driver (fglrx) in Kali Linux 1.0.6 running Kernel version 3.12.6, then please share and like us on Facebook/Twitter.