How to Check Kali Linux OS Version installed on PC or VM

Many times we need to check, which version of Linux or Kali we are on, before installing some software or upgrading. Thus to do that, here are some simple commands which one can run using the Linux command terminal to instantly find out the version of Kali Linux he or she is on.

• The simplest command to know the current installation information of Kali.

  grep VERSION /etc/os-release
  
  The output of the above command would be like this:
  
  VERSION="2018.3"
  VERSION_ID="2018.3"
  VERSION_CODENAME="kali-rolling"

• Using dmesg command:

  dmesg | head -1
  
  Output:
  Linux version 4.17.0-5-kalil-amd64 ([email protected])
  (gcc version 7.3.0 (Debian 7.3.0-25) ) 
  #1 SMP Debian 4.17.8-1kalil (2018-07-24)

  

• Alternative command for the above one to check Kali version

  cat /proc/version

• A common command which to check Kali system version which is also applicable for Ubuntu, CentOS and other modern Linux distros.

  cat /etc/os-release
  
  Output for the above command will be like this:
  
  PRETTY_NAME="Kali GNU/Linux Rolling"
  NAME="Klai GNU/Linux"
  ID="kali"
  VERSION="2018.3"
  VERSION_ID="2018.3"
  ID_LIKE=debian
  ANSI_COLOR="1;31"
  HOME_URL="https://www.kali.org/"
  SUPPORT_URL="https://forums.kali.org"
  BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/"

  

So, these are some quick methods to extract Linux system version information of KALI penetration testing distro.

Other Article to read:

• Best available Linux distros for ethical hacking and penetration testing. 
• Different ways to check whether you are using a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Linux

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