VirtualBox fails to run on macOS High Sierra - kernel driver not loaded

[michaln]

Well according to Apple, it only needs to be trusted once, not for VirtualBox, but for each and every Oracle product. Honestly, that's what they say. I'd call that an Apple bug, wouldn't you?

Slight correction -- the approval is based on "Team ID", which is the ID of a developer account registered with Apple. Oracle has several, but not every product has a separate Team ID. So approving the VirtualBox Team ID might also approve some but not all Oracle products.

What's relevant here is that all the VirtualBox kexts use the same Team ID of course, so there's no obvious way how the several VirtualBox kexts could be approved separately. That would definitely be a bug in macOS.

[socratis]

Thanks Michal for the clarification and the correction. Just wanted to point out that it's not just VirtualBox. I took a stroll last night in the webs, and others are complaining. It seems that there is a problem with the database(?) of the allowed TeamIDs. That will be fixed AnyTimeNow™...

[michaln]

That sounds very unsurprising It may be worth pointing out that VirtualBox itself does not and can not do anything related to the kext approval. That is entirely handled by the OS, and it is certainly not expected that an application would be able to load unapproved kexts or automatically approve them. So if the approval isn't working, there's nothing Oracle can do about it.

[socratis]

VirtualBox itself does not and can not do anything related to the kext approval

Of course not, that would defeat the whole purpose. Something is wrong with the way that the flagship security feature of 10.13 has been implemented. I created a 10.13 VM, took a snapshot as soon as I installed it, so it is as clean as possible. I started installing things left and right to see if I could break it, then I would revert back, install a different app, revert, rinse and repeat. I haven't seen any "corruption" yet.

I did the 10.13 installation on a "clean" second HD, which then became my primary. Now that means that this HD hadn't even seen 10.12 which would have been necessary to download 10.13 and install over it. I'm not sure if this is causing the no-problem behavior that I'm seeing. Because in 99.9% of the cases, 10.13 is going to be installed over an existing 10.x, there's no way around it, unless you choose to install 10.13 in a 2nd HD, like I did.

I'm going to try and install 10.13 over an existing 10.x if I can. So far, all my attempts to install it like this were failing miserably, that's why I chose the 2nd HD method...

[AALLeeXX]

For those who still follow, pretty good new here ! I finally succeeded installing Virtualbox on HighSierra !

As I expected, some security rules were set without I could check/find them. The Security and Confidentiality panel does not give any details, only one app were sometimes shown as blocked by the system and even I allowed it, it failed (message remained in the GUI for the blocked application and the application could not be used better). Some apps were prevented from starting but I had no way to find which ones and thus to fix them...
By chance, I could progress when starting my mac in Safe mode. Here, the Security and Confidentiality panel works much better. When trying to "Allow" the app that is is showed in the panel, this opens a list box with the list of currently blocked applications !! Here you can tick the one(s) you want to release and effect in the GUI is immediate. In my case, releasing "Oracle" triggered a restart and once back in normal mode, the Security and Confidentiality panel showed no more blocked application AND installation of Virtualbox succeeds !
Even better, Virtualbox works ! kernel extensions are properly loaded and running !

So, it's of course a set of High Sierra troubles and its a pity the information reported in safe mode is not the same as in normal mode. I requested that to Apple for days and no one could tell me the list of applications that were blocked... It's all here in safe mode.

I hope this also helps others who face the kernel driver loading error, since the root cause seems to be the same...

[loukingjr]

As I mentioned in this thread viewtopic.php?f=8&t=84778#p402556…
worked for me.

[AALLeeXX]

I read that thread too but I don't see you mention to do so in Safe mode... this, in my case, makes a huge difference - since it just does not work in Normal mode (read the full story here )...
Safe mode offers options that you don't have in normal mode...

[loukingjr]

I didn't mention Safe Mode because I didn't need to use Safe Mode.

[AALLeeXX]

Then it's not the same situation....

[loukingjr]

Indeed. You apparently have something installed that prevented VirtualBox from installing which doesn't load in Safe Mode.

[AALLeeXX]

Yes, and Safe mode provided me with that list of those possible "something" which allowed then to release all of them...

[loukingjr]

Yes, and Safe mode provided me with that list of those possible "something" which allowed then to release all of them...

Perhaps you meant something else. Safe mode does not provide a "list".

At any rate, glad you have it resolved.

[socratis]

@AALLeeXX
Can you provide a picture of what do you mean by that "list" in Safe Mode? I haven't seen anywhere else that safe mode trick (not that I've looked hard ), so it would be interesting to see and have a reference. I think I know what you mean from your description, but the visualization in my head may not be enough...

[ChipMcK]

My interpretation:
In Safe Mode, SysPrefs Security & Privacy lists all products blocked, not just the "most recent".

[socratis]

That's my interpretation as well, but I'm much better watching a "movie" compared to reading a "book", I'm better with visuals