How to completely remove VirtualBox on Mac

Posted in Mac, macbook, tips on Nov 06, 2008

You have been using VirtualBox, but you don’t need it anymore. Or you need free space as I did. Well, in that case you might want to remove VirtualBox from your Mac. Uninstalling is easy, drag-drop-done, right? Yes it is, but it won’t take long for you to figure something is wrong. Eventhough you removed VirtualBox, not much free space you got back. Next thing, you went to VirtualBox Forums and they told you to look for /Library/VirtualBox directory, or look for VDI files. However, damn, you could not find any?!? Well, welcome to the club :)

I had a similar issue and figured out that, after removal, VirtualBox doesn’t erase all files/folders created and also these files and folders are not visible on Finder. What you have to do is simple:

1. Open Terminal

2. Type cd /Users/<user_name>/Library

3. Type ls an see if VirtualBox directory is there (should be)

4. rm -rf VirtualBox

Now you should get the free space you deserve :)

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13 Responses to “ How to completely remove VirtualBox on Mac ”

  1. # 1 Thibaut Barrère Says:

    Thanks – that was totally useful. I had to revert from the latest version of VirtualBox to an earlier one a was stuck.

  2. # 2 Max Howell Says:

    Do

    lsbom /Library/Receipts/VirtualBoxCLI.pkg/Contents/Archive.bom

    too. You need to remove those files.

  3. # 3 Pratik Says:

    Does that delete the partition that it made too?

  4. # 4 John B Says:

    Very helpful. I had the same problem after running the uninstall script provided but this recovered the HDD space nicely.

  5. # 5 Adam Logan Says:

    Dude thanks Max Howell. That was a sweet tip.

  6. # 6 Evan Says:

    Perhaps I’m a dunce, but to what do you refer by opening Terminal?

  7. # 7 Crookle Says:

    Not even close. You need to remove a bunch of other directories and virtual device drivers. Just get the distributed image and run the provided uninstall script.

  8. # 8 Intekhab Choudhury Says:

    If you installed the application from a package file such as *.dmg, then simply go to Application and drag the application to your Trash. You will be prompted to provide your admin password and that’s it. You can then remove any other custom shortcut you may have created on the Dock or other places.

  9. # 9 Intekhab Choudhury Says:

    I should mention that above instruction than applies afterwords .. Usually uninstall would not remove any data file (such as those *.vdi) created by a specific program/Application.

  10. # 10 bubba Says:

    It’s not that simple. What about the kernel extensions?

    114 2 0×35ffc000 0×1d000 0×1c000 org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv (2.1.0)
    115 0 0×2e5da000 0×7000 0×6000 org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB (2.1.0)
    116 0 0×2e56c000 0×4000 0×3000 org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt (2.1.0)

  11. # 11 De todo un poco » Blog Archive » Removiendo VirtualBox de una mac Says:

    [...] Visto en | Kuneri bloggy [...]

  12. # 12 the_knight Says:

    Just run the “VirtualBox_Uninstall.tool” that comes with the VirtualBox DMG file. Safer and you know it’ll all be removed as intended by the makers of the program… or you want to gamble and have stuff laying around and potentially give you problems or conflicts in future? Be Smart. ;)

  13. # 13 How to Uninstall VirtualBox - Mac-Forums.com Says:

    [...] the following LINK. [...]

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