VirtualBox – Odd Behavior After Updating Host to OS X Mavericks

macmacososx-mavericksvirtualbox

I've just updated my Mac to OS X Mavericks. However, after doing so, I'm facing a couple of issues with my VirtualBox program including the following:

1 – The virtual machines (guest OSes) fail to load with the following error message:

-Kernel driver not installed (rc= 1908); Make sure the kernel module has been loaded
successfully

I can solve this problem by the following command line from the terminal:

sudo /Library/Application\ Support/VirtualBox/LaunchDaemons/VirtualBoxStartup.sh restart

However, I have to do this every time my Mac starts up!

2 – The USB devices are no longer recognised (I've tried using a filter and also looking for the devices specifically, both didn't work).

3 – I can no longer mount shared folders through the guest (I cannot access shared host files from the guest virtual machine).

Any idea on how I can overcome these issues?

Best Answer

Reinstalling is your best bet.

VirtualBox installs drivers in your host kernel that enable it to function. When your kernel is changed -- such as by an OS upgrade -- those drivers are in the old one, but not in the new one. The easiest way to get them into your new kernel is to reinstall VirtualBox, which conveniently will also repair anything else that may have been "damaged" during the OS upgrade.

As @rxt mentioned in his comment, reinstalling VirtualBox won't lose any of your settings or VMs. It's the most expedient route to repairing your issues and getting you running again.

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