virtualbox.org

I tried to uninstall VirtualBox 4.3.22.0 from 64-bit Windows 8.1 Update 1.

Uninstall did not succeed. Instead, the uninstall process froze shortly after it started and made Windows completely unusable. I had to restore Windows from a backup image.

With no other choice I uninstalled VirtualBox manually. This worked although it was very labor intensive. Now Windows is working again.

Only one item remains from VirtualBox: an Unknown Device in Device Manager. The device is actually the VirtualBox Bridged Networking Driver Miniport - the well known VBoxNetFlt.

I was able to remove the driver from Windows but I cannot remove its keys from the Windows registry no matter how I fiddle with key permissions. As a result I continue to have this Unknown Device in Device Manager. How can I get rid of this curse once and for all?

Problem solved but not exactly sure why it worked.

In Device Manager I 'showed hidden devices' and saw some networking components that I did not recognize. I uninstalled these one at a time and upon restart, the Unknown Device in Device Manager was gone and the VBOXNETFLT registry key was also gone.

Staying away from VirtualBox for the present.