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

[socratis]

For all those affected, could you please try to install the 10.13 Supplemental update that came out on 2017-10-05? From the release notes:

• Improves installer robustness
• Fixes a cursor graphic bug when using Adobe InDesign
• Resolves an issue where email messages couldn’t be deleted from Yahoo accounts in Mail

So, it would be worth it to install the update and see if the installer starts behaving properly. Feedback is appreciated...

[rogerrw]

Just ran into the same issue with the same error log messages.

Code: Select all

./postflight: /Library/Application Support/VirtualBox/VBoxDrv.kext failed to load - (libkern/kext) system policy prevents loading; check the system/kernel logs for errors or try kextutil(8).

Turns out that "system policy prevents loading" for my Mac meant security settings for using software downloaded from third-party developers. These were my steps:

1. Try to install VirtualBox like normal. Run into the "Installation Failed" error.
2. Go to System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> General, under the section that starts with "Allow apps downloaded from:". If there's an option below that, about Oracle, click "Allow".
3. Run sudo kextload '/Library/Application Support/VirtualBox/VBoxDrv.kext' from your command line.

Then you should be able to run the VirtualBox application and start spinning up VMs! Hope this helps anyone who runs into the same issue in the future.

[socratis]

@rogerrw
I moved your post from the "Installation failed on macOS Sierra" because you were not facing this problem with Sierra, you were facing this problem with High Sierra, or otherwise you were not facing this problem with 10.12, you were facing this problem with 10.13. That's why I prefer to always use the numeric representation of the OSX version, less room for confusion.

As for the solution, if you read the thread that I moved your post to, it has been discussed several times. Repetition didn't hurt anyone

Now, for part 3 of your solution. You shouldn't need to manually start the kext. Not that it hurts, but a reboot would do exactly the same thing, and since I prefer the system doing things in order, I would suggest a reboot.

BTW, did you install the Supplemental Update before you installed VirtualBox or not?

[FJRosa]

Kernel error after update to High Sierra

Need a new version of VBox? When we can get the new version to fix this issue?

Another suggestion?

[socratis]

@FJRosa
Could you please use the "Search" functionality next time before posting a question? Even in the same page that you posted, if you had searched (Cmd+F) for "Kernel" or "High Sierra" you would have found this thread "VirtualBox fails to run on macOS High Sierra - kernel driver not loaded".

In order to save duplicates and concentrate the discussion in one place, I will merge your thread with the thread above. Please read the thread from the beginning. Especially in the first post there is some advice about the Supplemental update.

[oschrenk]

Maybe its because I'm running the latest beta (10.13.1 Beta (17B35a)) but clicking on "Allow" in the "Security & Privacy" preference pane, didn't do anything. And I mean, that I could click it as many times as I want but the message that "System software from developer "Oracle America, Inc." was blocked from loading never went away. I actually opened a bug report for having poor user interface experience with Apple.

[socratis]

I actually opened a bug report for having poor user interface experience with Apple.

Do you have a link to that bug report that you filed with Apple handy so we can see its progress?

[loukingjr]

AFAIK, bug reports are private and only the poster can follow them.

[socratis]

Bummer... Is this policy so that other people don't know what's going on behind closed doors? That's a real shame for Apple...

[loukingjr]

I have no idea. Apple has their own logic.

I should add, they don't post progress. What happens is they may ask for further logs but they don't actually say, "here's where things are". So not much point in following a report.

[socratis]

I know that developers don't post their progress, at least if they have some understanding that if you promise something and you don't deliver, hell breaks loose. I was thinking more in the lines of how many people are going to contribute. If it's a single isolated case, it's one thing. If everybody and their brother are complaining, that's a different game...

[loukingjr]

No one else can contribute to a bug report. If someone does create another bug report regarding the same issue, it's marked as a duplicate and closed.

[rcatyvr]

The following allowed me to install and run VirtualBox-5.2.0-118431-OSX on my clean (formatted the HD) install of OS X 10.13, highSierra after it repeated failed to run or re-install.

This has to be done in repeated steps because there are four(4) kext files that have to be authorized, but they only appear one at a time, one after the other, after each failed install. It takes a total of four failed installs to accumulate the four kext files, but each one has to be authorized before then next will appear.

I opened four windows:
1. the System Preferences, but not the Security Tab as it needs to be refreshed at later points.
2. the VirtualBox-5.2.0-118431-OSX.dmg
3. a finder window at "/Library/StagedExtensions/Library/Application\ Support/VirtualBox/". You should see one (1) file named VBoxDrv.kext left over from the first failed attempt to install/run & see as new kext files show up after each failed install.
4. a terminal window as root (open a terminal window and enter " sudo -s " and then your password) and arrange your four windows so you can see them all at the same time.
Then navigate: " $ cd /Library/StagedExtensions/Library/Application\ Support/VirtualBox/ "


There you should find [enter " ls " at the prompt] one (1) named VBoxDrv.kext, left over from the first failed attempt to install/run. Whether or not you caught the failed message driver loading message, at this point enter the command: " kextload *.kext " This will fail. Now go to the System preferences and click the Security and Privacy function. Near the bottom of that tab you will see a temporary dialogue about a failed installation from a Oracle driver. Click on the allow button. Leave this tab and click on the all functions button [ the one with 12 tiny dots on it near the top left ]. Go back to the mounted .dmg window and relaunch the installation package. Say yes in all the right places and as it starts installing, watch the finder window that shows the ..../Application\ Support/VirtualBox/ files. As the installation fails to error, you will see a second kext file pop into existence. Return to the terminal window and press the up key which should reload the previous command, " kextload *.kext " and press enter. You now have two (2) drivers authorized.

Repeat: install fail, another kext file appears, terminal, press the up key, re-enter the kextload command
Repeat: install fail, another kext file appears, terminal, press the up key, re-enter the kextload command

The four files are: VBoxDrv.kext, VBoxUSB.kext, NetAdp.kext, & VBoxNetFlt.kext

You should now be ready to go ahead again and launch VirtualBox.

I have also attached the four kext files from my installation as you may want avoid the four failed installs and setup the kext files in the right place and authorize them all in a root terminal [ kextload *.kext ] at once before ever trying to install VBox. I make no claim as to the condition of the files I have attached other than to say they passed my bitdefender scan.

[socratis]

1. Did you install the Supplemental Update for 10.13 that is reportedly fixing the installer issues?
2. Did you try with the 10.13.1 betas that are reportedly fixing the installer issues?
3. Do you realize that even Apple says that you have to authorize a developer only *once*, hence proving that this is a 10.13 issue and that you should wait for a proper fix? With either the Supplemental Update (no one has confirmed or denied if it fixes the installation problems), or with 10.13.1 when it becomes publicly available?
4. Have you read the warning about copying manually the kexts? If not, please let me repeat it:

   It's not a simple copy/paste.
   Do NOT manually copy the kexts.
   Do NOT mess with your system in ways you don't understand!

5. At a bare minimum, take a look at the following files to understand what the installer is doing. If you can't understand the scripts below, you better leave the installer to do its job, rather than you trying to manually outsmart it:
   • Makefile for the installer.
   • Preflight checklist.
   • Postflight checklist.
   • Distribution file for the meta-package.
   • Postflight checklist for the kexts.

[BillG]

Indeed. There is not much point in having a pristine system install. It doesn't do anything!