VirtualBox: NS_ERROR_FAILURE error on MacOS Sierra

Question

I am using virtualbox+vagrant for running a virtual machine for development purposes. It was running perfectly fine before I made the stupid mistake of upgrading to Sierra. Here's the trace:

nkohlis-MacBook-Pro:vagrant nkohli$ vagrant up Bringing machine 'default' up with 'virtualbox' provider... ==> default: Clearing any previously set forwarded ports... ==> default: Clearing any previously set network interfaces... There was an error while executing `VBoxManage`, a CLI used by Vagrant for controlling VirtualBox. The command and stderr is shown below.  Command: ["hostonlyif", "create"]  Stderr: 0%... Progress state: NS_ERROR_FAILURE VBoxManage: error: Failed to create the host-only adapter VBoxManage: error: VBoxNetAdpCtl: Error while adding new interface:   failed to open /dev/vboxnetctl: No such file or directory VBoxManage: error: Details: code NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005), component HostNetworkInterface, interface IHostNetworkInterface VBoxManage: error: Context: "int handleCreate(HandlerArg*, int, int*)" at line 66 of file VBoxManageHostonly.cpp 

I tried one of the solutions suggested elsewhere:

nkohlis-MacBook-Pro:vagrant nkohli$ sudo /Library/Application\ Support/VirtualBox/LaunchDaemons/VirtualBoxStartup.sh restart Password: /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxAutostart => /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxAutostart-amd64 /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxBalloonCtrl => /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxBalloonCtrl-amd64 /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxDD2GC.gc => /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxDD2GC.gc-amd64 /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxDDGC.gc => /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxDDGC.gc-amd64 /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxExtPackHelperApp => /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxExtPackHelperApp-amd64 /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxHeadless => /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxHeadless-amd64 /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxManage => /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxManage-amd64 /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxNetAdpCtl => /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxNetAdpCtl-amd64 /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxNetDHCP => /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxNetDHCP-amd64 /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxNetNAT => /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxNetNAT-amd64 /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxSVC => /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxSVC-amd64 /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxXPCOMIPCD => /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxXPCOMIPCD-amd64 /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VMMGC.gc => /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VMMGC.gc-amd64 /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VirtualBox => /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VirtualBox-amd64 /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VirtualBoxVM => /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VirtualBoxVM-amd64 /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/vboxwebsrv => /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/vboxwebsrv-amd64 Loading VBoxDrv.kext /Library/Application Support/VirtualBox/VBoxDrv.kext failed to load - (libkern/kext) not loadable (reason unspecified); check the system/kernel logs for errors or try kextutil(8). Error: Failed to load /Library/Application Support/VirtualBox/VBoxDrv.kext Loading VBoxUSB.kext /Library/Application Support/VirtualBox/VBoxUSB.kext failed to load - (libkern/kext) not loadable (reason unspecified); check the system/kernel logs for errors or try kextutil(8). Error: Failed to load /Library/Application Support/VirtualBox/VBoxUSB.kext Loading VBoxNetFlt.kext /Library/Application Support/VirtualBox/VBoxNetFlt.kext failed to load - (libkern/kext) not loadable (reason unspecified); check the system/kernel logs for errors or try kextutil(8). Error: Failed to load /Library/Application Support/VirtualBox/VBoxNetFlt.kext Loading VBoxNetAdp.kext /Library/Application Support/VirtualBox/VBoxNetAdp.kext failed to load - (libkern/kext) not loadable (reason unspecified); check the system/kernel logs for errors or try kextutil(8). Error: Failed to load /Library/Application Support/VirtualBox/VBoxNetAdp.kext (kernel) Kext org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp not found for unload request. Failed to unload org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp - (libkern/kext) not found. (kernel) Kext org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt not found for unload request. Failed to unload org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt - (libkern/kext) not found. (kernel) Kext org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB not found for unload request. Failed to unload org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB - (libkern/kext) not found. (kernel) Kext org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv not found for unload request. Failed to unload org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv - (libkern/kext) not found. Fatal error: VirtualBox 

...to no avail.

Here's the stack trace when I ran vagrant up after reinstalling VirtualBox:

failed MSpanList_Insert 0x1e3000 0x215290116bd5 0x0 fatal error: MSpanList_Insert  runtime stack: runtime.throw(0x19816b)     /Users/mitchellh/code/3rdparty/go/src/runtime/panic.go:491 +0xad fp=0x7fff5fbff7d0 sp=0x7fff5fbff7a0 runtime.MSpanList_Insert(0x1b3988, 0x1e3000)     /Users/mitchellh/code/3rdparty/go/src/runtime/mheap.c:692 +0x8f fp=0x7fff5fbff7f8 sp=0x7fff5fbff7d0 MHeap_FreeSpanLocked(0x1b0580, 0x1e3000, 0x100)     /Users/mitchellh/code/3rdparty/go/src/runtime/mheap.c:583 +0x163 fp=0x7fff5fbff838 sp=0x7fff5fbff7f8 MHeap_Grow(0x1b0580, 0x8, 0x0)     /Users/mitchellh/code/3rdparty/go/src/runtime/mheap.c:420 +0x1a8 fp=0x7fff5fbff878 sp=0x7fff5fbff838 MHeap_AllocSpanLocked(0x1b0580, 0x1, 0x0)     /Users/mitchellh/code/3rdparty/go/src/runtime/mheap.c:298 +0x365 fp=0x7fff5fbff8b8 sp=0x7fff5fbff878 mheap_alloc(0x1b0580, 0x1, 0x12, 0x0)     /Users/mitchellh/code/3rdparty/go/src/runtime/mheap.c:190 +0x121 fp=0x7fff5fbff8e0 sp=0x7fff5fbff8b8 runtime.MHeap_Alloc(0x1b0580, 0x1, 0x10000000012, 0x10d39)     /Users/mitchellh/code/3rdparty/go/src/runtime/mheap.c:240 +0x66 fp=0x7fff5fbff918 sp=0x7fff5fbff8e0 MCentral_Grow(0x1b82f8, 0x0)     /Users/mitchellh/code/3rdparty/go/src/runtime/mcentral.c:197 +0x8b fp=0x7fff5fbff980 sp=0x7fff5fbff918 runtime.MCentral_CacheSpan(0x1b82f8, 0x0)     /Users/mitchellh/code/3rdparty/go/src/runtime/mcentral.c:85 +0x167 fp=0x7fff5fbff9b8 sp=0x7fff5fbff980 runtime.MCache_Refill(0x1df000, 0x12, 0x0)     /Users/mitchellh/code/3rdparty/go/src/runtime/mcache.c:90 +0xa0 fp=0x7fff5fbff9e0 sp=0x7fff5fbff9b8 runtime.mcacheRefill_m()     /Users/mitchellh/code/3rdparty/go/src/runtime/malloc.c:368 +0x57 fp=0x7fff5fbffa00 sp=0x7fff5fbff9e0 runtime.onM(0x13d650)     /Users/mitchellh/code/3rdparty/go/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:273 +0x9a fp=0x7fff5fbffa08 sp=0x7fff5fbffa00 runtime.mallocgc(0x120, 0xff4a0, 0x0, 0x0)     /Users/mitchellh/code/3rdparty/go/src/runtime/malloc.go:178 +0x849 fp=0x7fff5fbffab8 sp=0x7fff5fbffa08 runtime.newobject(0xff4a0, 0x1df000)     /Users/mitchellh/code/3rdparty/go/src/runtime/malloc.go:353 +0x49 fp=0x7fff5fbffae0 sp=0x7fff5fbffab8 runtime.newG(0x2520a)     /Users/mitchellh/code/3rdparty/go/src/runtime/proc.go:233 +0x2a fp=0x7fff5fbffaf8 sp=0x7fff5fbffae0 allocg(0x1a33e0)     /Users/mitchellh/code/3rdparty/go/src/runtime/proc.c:925 +0x1f fp=0x7fff5fbffb08 sp=0x7fff5fbffaf8 runtime.malg(0x8000, 0x1a3480)     /Users/mitchellh/code/3rdparty/go/src/runtime/proc.c:2106 +0x1f fp=0x7fff5fbffb38 sp=0x7fff5fbffb08 runtime.mpreinit(0x1a3840)     /Users/mitchellh/code/3rdparty/go/src/runtime/os_darwin.c:137 +0x27 fp=0x7fff5fbffb50 sp=0x7fff5fbffb38 mcommoninit(0x1a3840)     /Users/mitchellh/code/3rdparty/go/src/runtime/proc.c:201 +0xc9 fp=0x7fff5fbffb78 sp=0x7fff5fbffb50 runtime.schedinit()     /Users/mitchellh/code/3rdparty/go/src/runtime/proc.c:138 +0x55 fp=0x7fff5fbffba0 sp=0x7fff5fbffb78 runtime.rt0_go(0x7fff5fbffbd8, 0x2, 0x7fff5fbffbd8, 0x0, 0x0, 0x2, 0x7fff5fbffcd0, 0x7fff5fbffcd8, 0x0, 0x7fff5fbffcdb, ...)     /Users/mitchellh/code/3rdparty/go/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:95 +0x116 fp=0x7fff5fbffba8 sp=0x7fff5fbffba0 

I've looked around but didn't find a similar issue reported elsewhere.

Answer 1

Upgrading Vagrant and VirtualBox fixed the issue for me. For those wondering, no you don't end up losing your existing VMs if you upgrade.

• Vagrant: https://www.vagrantup.com/downloads.html
• VirtualBox: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads