Help, Soundflower killed all audio on my Mac (even after uninstall)

[jeffheaton]

I am running macOS High Sierra version 10.13.2. I installed SoundFlower and was unable to get it to work. I also noticed that my Mac no longer had the ability to produce audio, no matter which output I selected. So I gave up on SoundFlower and tried to uninstall, following this:

https://www.applevis.com/forum/macos-mac-app-discussion/uninstalling-soundflower

SoundFlower is gone, but I still have no audio. SoundFlower seems to have damaged my audio output. Is this fixable?

[hansgohr]

Same here, any solution yes?

I tried:
sudo killall coreaudiod
sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext
sudo kextload /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext
as wells as n SMC and NVRAM reset, unfortunately this didn't solve the issue, even TimeMachine wasn't working.

The only fix that worked for me was to reinstall macOS completely, the install crashed once, I then did a NVRAM reset, finished the install and got my internal audio working again.

[mattingalls]

Soundflower cannot "damage" your audio output. i would open up AudioMIDI Setup and verify that your output device is set properly and all volume sliders are up and the mute buttons are off. By the way, the front page of the github repo https://github.com/mattingalls/Soundflower has the following: (the link you direct to only tells you to look in the old directory)
THE MOST RELIABLE WAY TO UNINSTALL

From the Finder, HIT Shift-Cmd-G and TYPE:
/Library/Extensions

Then inside that folder, look for a "Soundflower.kext" file. If there is one, DRAG it into the trash (you may be asked for the admin password)

REPEAT, typing in this folder path:
/System/Library/Extensions

RESTART your computer

[mattingalls]

@hansgohr i don't know where you got that script, but it is completely wrong!!! It's not even unloading soundflower!!!!!! the safest way to manually uninstall is with the instructions above.

[hansgohr]

I downloaded Soundflower from here: https://github.com/mattingalls/Soundflower/releases/tag/2.0b2

the undload and load AppleHDA.kext was a suggestion found for ex. here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6429500
I tried to bring back the internal audio with this. the soundflower.kext was already deleted at this point.

I'm still not quite sure what exactly deleted my internal audio, but it was definitely after the soundflower installation, may something else was interfering with it and after all HighSierra seams to be the worst OS in a long time :)

[EdmundsEcho]

I think Soundflower is a solid contribution. Nonetheless, I have to uninstall it. I ran the uninstall script but still see the entries in my Audio MIDI Setup app. I cannot seem to remove them despite confirming the deletion of the Soundflower.kext file in the two locations mentioned. I hope this issue is considered in the next version of the app.

Solved - but cause remains ambiguous

I may have found the issue. I had SoundFlowerBed in my Applications folder. Once I deleted that AND the MIDI related plist in my ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.audio.AudioMIDISetup the SoundFlower related entries were finally removed from my MID Setup app.

[jeffheaton]

By the way, Soundflower does no physical damage to your actual Mac (hardware). I was able to fix mine by wiping the hard drive and reinstalling OSX. Everything was fine after that. I never did get the uninstall to work. I will leave this open, since ideally, a more graceful uninstall should be provided for something this low-level.

[AskFeeds]

From 10.11 onwards, macOS protects certain folders by using SIP (System Integrity Protection). You may not be able to 'rm' the kext from terminal.

Scanning my hard drive I've found that I've used a different installer, "Soundflower-2.0b2.dmg". The Soundflower for mac Uninstall scrip is:
on run
do shell script "sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions/Soundflower.kext" with administrator privileges
do shell script "sudo rm -rf /Library/Extensions/Soundflower.kext" with administrator privileges
do shell script "sudo rm -rf /Library/Receipts/Soundflower*" with administrator privileges
do shell script "sudo rm -rf /var/db/receipts/com.cycling74.soundflower.*" with administrator privileges
do shell script "sudo rm -rf /Applications/Soundflower" with administrator privileges
"Done!"
end run

[zhangzhibin]

From 10.11 onwards, macOS protects certain folders by using SIP (System Integrity Protection). You may not be able to 'rm' the kext from terminal.

Scanning my hard drive I've found that I've used a different installer, "Soundflower-2.0b2.dmg". The Soundflower for mac Uninstall scrip is:
on run
do shell script "sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions/Soundflower.kext" with administrator privileges
do shell script "sudo rm -rf /Library/Extensions/Soundflower.kext" with administrator privileges
do shell script "sudo rm -rf /Library/Receipts/Soundflower*" with administrator privileges
do shell script "sudo rm -rf /var/db/receipts/com.cycling74.soundflower.*" with administrator privileges
do shell script "sudo rm -rf /Applications/Soundflower" with administrator privileges
"Done!"
end run

Solve my issue, thanks!

[Qinxiaomili]

I followed some of the tips and have successfully uninstalled the sunflower speaker. Thank you so much!

[rowe-morehouse]

like @zhangzhibin said, here's what to do from terminal:

sudo su
rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions/Soundflower.kext
rm -rf /Library/Extensions/Soundflower.kext
rm -rf /Library/Receipts/Soundflower*
rm -rf /var/db/receipts/com.cycling74.soundflower.*
rm -rf /Applications/Soundflower

… then probably good to restart your machine.