kextunload

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

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

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

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

DESCRIPTION
     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.

     -b identifier, -bundle-id identifier
              Unload executable and IOKitPersonalities (as described immediately
              above) for the kext whose CFBundleIdentifier is identifier.

     -c 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.

     -h, -help
              Print a help message describing each option flag and exit with a
              success result, regardless of any other options on the command
              line.

     -m identifier
              Same as -b (remains for backward compatibility).

     -p, -personalities-only
              Terminate services and remove personalities only; do not unload
              kexts.

     -q, -quiet
              Quiet mode; print no informational or error messages.

     -v [0-6 | 0x####], -verbose [0-6 | 0x####]
              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.

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

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

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

Darwin                            March 6, 2009                           Darwin