macOS Remove a System Extension
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QMigrating to my new M1 Mac mini went well, but I’ve noticed a file in the SystemExtensions folder I want to remove, and macOS won’t let me do that. How can I get rid of it? byNEILNICHOLSON
ASystem Extensions are progressively replacing kernel extensions in the most recent versions of macOS, as they’re far safer and should cause fewer problems. In the past, you could add and remove kernel extensions in the /Library/ Extensions folder, but on Apple silicon Macs in particular that no longer works, because of the way they must start up.
One of the requirements for apps that install System Extensions is that the app must enable both their installation and their removal. So your first step is to discover which app owns that System Extension. If you’ve already removed that app, then you shouldn’t need to remove its System Extension, as that can no longer do anything and can’t be loaded by macOS.
Most of us like to tidy up, though, and the only way to do that is to run the app responsible for that System Extension. and use its uninstall or remove feature to do its housekeeping by removing the System Extension for you.
Sometimes running the uninstall feature in the responsible app still doesn’t remove it from the SystemExtensions folder. Trying to do that manually is an even more frustrating experience, as macOS normally protects the contents of that folder using System Integrity Protection (SIP), which is so difficult to disable on Apple silicon Macs that it’s far simpler just to leave the System Extension where it is.