Installing Metasploit on Windows

Ok, we have downloaded the installer.

Now, find where it has been saved and right click on it.

Run this as Administrator. Without, many things will not work. Do the normal bit to accept this and then you will come up with the install banner:

Click next and accept the agreement:

Select the location to install this:

Select the port to run Metasploit on:

Generate an SSL cert:

Then leave it as default as allow it to update:

And we are ready to install by clicking “Next”:

Make a coffee as it installs:

You should also check that the files are not being stopped by your Anti-Virus program:

Well it is installed:

Let us click “Finish” and run it.

Click Start –> Run and select the console (“Metasploit Console”):

From the console we have the start of our CLI:

Tomorrow we go through using it.

Some Specs:

There are a number of specifications on the Metasploit site for the current Windows version. I would take these with a grain of salt. Like all developer specs, they relate mildly to a base install and a slow run. I would personally say the following as a minimum:

• 2.8 GHz+ processor
• 4 GB RAM  (If there are any VM targets on the same device just keep adding RAM)
• 500MB+ available disk space
• 100 Mbps/ 1 Gbps network interface card (add wireless for tests over wireless)

Less than this and it may run, but it is slow as a dog with a broken leg and it can crash making the process a waste of time.

On top of this, I would change the systems to:

• Windows XP SP2 or SP3,
• Windows 2003 Server,
• Windows Vista SP1 + (and 8 GB ram),
• Windows 2008 Server (with WAY more specs), and
• Windows 7 (make it 6 GB ram)

In addition, you need to have a web browser. I would stick with one of the following (and prefer it not to be IE):

• Mozilla Firefox 5.0+
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 +
• Google Chrome 10+

Tomorrow we will start to use Metasploit on a target.