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
- 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
- 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
