Can't unload kext while installing VirtualBox 4.3.6

Asked 19/2, 2014 at 19:38 Answered 27/7, 2015 at 19:21

Downloaded VirtualBox 4.3.6 and after attempting to install in Mavericks (OSX 10.9.1) I get a generic error "The installation failed".

Going through the logs and after running the uninstall tool I arrived at the conclusion that VirtualBox cannot unload there particular kernel extensions: org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB, and org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv.

The exact errors are:

(kernel) Can't unload kext org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB; classes have instances:
(kernel)     Kext org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB class org_virtualbox_VBoxUSB has 1 instance.
Failed to unload org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB - (libkern/kext) kext is in use or retained (cannot unload).
(kernel) Can't remove kext org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv; services failed to terminate - 0xdc008018.
Failed to unload org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv - (libkern/kext) kext is in use or retained (cannot unload).

Manually attempting to unload the kexts with sudo kextunload -b org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB produces exact results.

Is there any way to remove these? I ran the VirtualBox uninstaller so I'm positive I don't need these for anything else yet they are preventing me from doing a clean VirtualBox install.

Sebrinasebum answered 19/2, 2014 at 19:38 Comment(0)

Repaired disk permissions, rebooted, ran uninstall script again, and the next installation was successful.

Sebrinasebum answered 19/2, 2014 at 19:46 Comment(4)

How did you repair the disk permissions? – Pegeen 21/10, 2014 at 14:31

@Pegeen Open Disk Utilities (find it in Spotlight). Click a partition on the left (not the disk itself but a partition) and you'll see that at the bottom left "Repair Disk Permissions" becomes active. – Sebrinasebum 21/10, 2014 at 17:47

In fact it turned out, that just rebooting worked for me. Rerunning the install script succeeds. – Pegeen 21/10, 2014 at 21:16

Advice from forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=61765 worked for me within minutes: just download the latest version of virtual box ... after opening the dmg ... instead of the pkg ... run the VirtualBox_Uninstall.tool and it will clean up – Logistician 10/4, 2015 at 0:43

I was able to clean install 4.3.22-98236-OSX (which I had originally), but upgrading to 4.3.30-101610-OSX OR 5.0.0-101573-OSX would fail and throw an error during installation.

Removing /mach_kernel folder solved the "Failed to install" issue for me.

Macdougall answered 27/7, 2015 at 19:21 Comment(1)

try to describe something more – Filtration 27/7, 2015 at 19:23

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