The Kali filesystem structure

The first thing that you need to start to understand is the Kali Linux filesystem structure, which is based on the Debian distribution filesystem. If you have used Microsoft Windows OS before, then the Linux structure will be a bit similar to it. For example, Windows starts with the C:\ directory, while the Linux OS starts with /, which is called the root directory.

The root directory (/) and the root home directory (/root) that you use in Kali are not the same. The latter is used as a home directory for the root user.

In Kali, we always use the root user to log in to our machine, and that means that you have no limits to what you can do in the OS. Every single piece in the Linux system is based on files; it's okay to look around, but be careful if you decide to change any of the configuration files.

The directory structure in Kali is based on the Unix Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS), which defines the Linux directories, and their contents, as well: