KEXTUNLOAD(8) System Manager's Manual KEXTUNLOAD(8)

kextunload — terminate driver I/O Kit driver instances and unload kernel extensions (kexts)

kextunload [options] [--] [kext ...]

The kextunload utility has been deprecated. Please use the kmutil(8) equivalent: kmutil unload.

The kextunload program is used to terminate and unregister I/O Kit objects associated with a kernel extension (kext) and to unload the code and personalities for that kext. kextunload must run with superuser privileges.

If another loaded kext has a dependency on the kext being unloaded, the unload will fail. You can determine whether a kext has dependents using the kextstat(8) tool.

kextunload is a formal interface for unloading kexts in the Darwin OS and in macOS. Software and installers can rely on its presence and invoke it in order to unload kexts. Note that long options are present as of Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard).

The arguments and options are:

kext
Unload the loaded kext whose bundle identifier matches the CFBundleIdentifier of kext. All instances of IOService subclasses defined by the loaded kext and in the IOService plane of the I/O Registry are terminated; the kext is checked to make sure no instances of its libkern C++ classes remain; the kext's C++ static destructores and module stop routine are invoked; then the kext's executable and IOKitPersonalities are unloaded from the kernel. Failure at any stage prevents kext unload.
identifier, -bundle-id identifier
Unload executable and IOKitPersonalities (as described immediately above) for the kext whose CFBundleIdentifier is identifier.
classname, -class classname
Terminate all instances of class classname that are in the IOService plane of the I/O Registry, if possible, but do not unload the defining kext or its IOKitPersonalities. New load requests for devices that were driven by these terminated instances may result in the same class being instantiated at any time.
, -help
Print a help message describing each option flag and exit with a success result, regardless of any other options on the command line.
identifier
Same as -b (remains for backward compatibility).
, -personalities-only
Terminate services and remove personalities only; do not unload kexts.
, -quiet
Quiet mode; print no informational or error messages.
[0-6 | ], -verbose [0-6 | ]
Verbose mode; print information about program operation. Higher levels of verbosity include all lower levels. By default kextunload prints only warnings and errors. You can specify a level from 0-6, or a hexadecimal log specification (as described in kext_logging(8)). The levels of verbose output are:
0
Print only errors (that is, suppress warnings); see also -quiet.
1 (or none)
Print basic information about program operation.
2
Prints information about unload stages.
3
Prints information about removal of personalities.
4
Prints information about module stop functions and C++ class destruction.
5
Prints detailed information internal operations such as bookkeping.
6
Identical to level 5 for kextunload.

Unlike in other kext tools, the -verbose flag in kextunload applies to all kexts (that is, it turns on hexadecimal bit 0x8 by default). See kext_logging(8) for more information on verbose logging.

kextunload exits with a zero status upon success, or prints an error message and exits with a nonzero status upon failure.

Many single-letter options are inconsistent in meaning with (or directly contradictory to) the same letter options in other kext tools.

kmutil(8), kernelmanagerd(8), kextcache(8), kextd(8), kextload(8), kextstat(8), kext_logging(8)

March 6, 2009 Darwin