When installing Parallels Desktop For Mac version 14.1.3, I was prompted for a password. I assume that means some kernel extensions or drivers were installed into macOS.
The official Uninstall Parallels Desktop for Mac page says simply to discard the Parallels app.
➥ Does that mean some macOS alteration is left in place?
Also, according to this page there is some other stuff left behind as well.
Best Answer
Yes, apparently Parallels does use kernel extensions.
If in the Finder we select Parallels Desktop.app and context-click to choose
Show package contents
, we can navigate to nested folderContents
>Library
>Extensions
>10.9
to find some.kext
files such asprl_hypervisor.kext
.Are such kernel extensions copied somewhere else upon installation? Yes. Doing a
sudo find / -name prl_hypervisor.kext
in the Terminal.app shows two hits, one inside the app and one copied elsewhere into aStagedExtensions
folder:I have not yet tried deleting the app via the Trash yet. So I do not know if doing so removes the copy as well as the original.