Troubleshooting Your VirtualBox Lab

In this module, we will take a look at some common problems you may experience in your VirtualBox lab and how to begin fixing them.
In: VirtualBox, Home Lab

This module is a part of a larger series of building a security lab in VirtualBox. Click here to be taken back to the series landing page.

Building a Security Lab in VirtualBox
In this post, we we will take a look at an in-detail process of setting up an entry-level cybersecurity lab using VirtualBox




pfSense is stuck at configuring WAN interface

  • Make sure you’re bridged to the Internet-connected interface




My Internet-facing VMs can’t get out to the Internet

  • Make sure pfSense is running (should always be the first to boot)
  • Make sure pfSense is bridged to the Internet-connected interface
  • Is your VM on the right LAN?
  • Check your firewall rules in pfSense




My VM’s screen is tiny

  • Go to View > Virtual Screen > Turn up the scaling
  • Or, try changing the view to Scaled Mode (won’t work for all VMs)




When I try to ping Kali’s DNS name I get its old IP address

  • In pfSense, go to Services > DNS Resolver and restart the service




I am having trouble running some attacks in the AD lab

  1. Make sure your Kali VM is on the same subnet
    • Stop the VM
    • Go to VirtualBox settings for Kali VM
    • Change the network adapter to be on the AD_LAB LAN
    • Start Kali again
  2. Make sure you have Windows Firewall completely disabled on the Windows 10 clients
    • Check the Tamper Protection setting
    • Ensure SMB is enabled on all parties
    • Google around on how the attacks work
    • Ask your peers




Next Step: Creating a Windows 7 Buffer Overflow Practice VM

Creating a Windows 7 Buffer Overflow Practice VM in VirtualBox
In this module, we will look at creating a vulnerable Windows 7 VM in VirtualBox that will run some applications which are vulnerable to 32-bit stack-based buffer overflows
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