If you're running
VirtualBox on Windows, you may have seen this fun problem: 40 "VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapters" listed next to your normal network connection in Device Manager and network Settings.
What's worse, when you try to delete them, it works... until a few minutes - or maybe a reboot - later, et voila! They've gone forth and multiplied.
You delete, they spawn
again... The minute you disable them, your Windows networking works again, until... MORE of them appear!
What gives? How do you fix this seriously annoying issue?
What won't work - and some key details
First, you can use VirtualBox itself to try to delete the extra Host-Only Adapters. It will work, but - again - only for a short time.
What's worse, you'll be bombarded with fun questions like this:
From these messages, you might conclude that VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapters are
essential to the networking functionality of your virtual machines.
It turns out that isn't the case at all!
You can also use the
VBoxManage.exe command to remove the extra adapters, but they'll still respawn - sometimes instantly!
So what's the solution?
Easy! You need to uninstall and reinstall VirtualBox - or just wait for an upgrade to install next time.
The one trick is to DISable the
VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter in the installer options:
Just click the "disk" icon next to
VirtualBox Host-Only Network and choose
Not installed.
Then click
Next and install/upgrade as usual!
When you're done, open
Device Manager and expand the
Network Adapters section.
If you see any pesky VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapters listed, note the exact name(s). Also,
right-click each one and make sure they're
enabled (otherwise, you can't remove them).
To delete each one, open
Command Prompt as an administrator, and navigate to:
C:\Program Files\VirtualBox.
For each adapter still listed, run this command:
VBoxManage.exe hostonlyif remove "VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter #5"
Change the "
#5" to whatever number is shown, or remove the number entirely. You may have multiple copies of the same number. In that case, run the command as many times as necessary to delete each of them.
You can watch them disappear in
Device Manager as you run each command... It's actually highly satisfying! 😁
That's it - you're done!
I no longer have ANY Host-Only adapters, no more Windows networking issues, and my 3 virtual machines (all different OSes) run just fine - with full networking capabilities.
So, yeah... THAT is how you really get rid of them,
and keep them from coming back!
Related
If you're running VirtualBox on Windows, you may have seen this fun problem: 40 "VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapters" listed next to your normal network connection in Device Manager and network Settings.
What's worse, when you try to delete them, it works... until a few minutes - or maybe a reboot - later, et voila! They've gone forth and multiplied.
You delete, they spawn again... The minute you disable them, your Windows networking works again, until... MORE of them appear!
What gives? How do you fix this seriously annoying issue?
From these messages, you might conclude that VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapters are essential to the networking functionality of your virtual machines. It turns out that isn't the case at all!
You can also use the VBoxManage.exe command to remove the extra adapters, but they'll still respawn - sometimes instantly!
Just click the "disk" icon next to VirtualBox Host-Only Network and choose Not installed.
Then click Next and install/upgrade as usual!
When you're done, open Device Manager and expand the Network Adapters section.
If you see any pesky VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapters listed, note the exact name(s). Also, right-click each one and make sure they're enabled (otherwise, you can't remove them).
To delete each one, open Command Prompt as an administrator, and navigate to: C:\Program Files\VirtualBox.
For each adapter still listed, run this command:
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