Troubleshooting VirtualBox on macOS Big Sur

Upgrading to macOS Big Sur (11.1, 20C69) can bring about its share of challenges, especially when it comes to running VirtualBox as a development machine. For those who rely on VirtualBox for Vagrant development boxes, the transition to Big Sur can be particularly frustrating.

The Issue:

After upgrading to Big Sur, VirtualBox stopped working altogether. The symptoms include a crashing VM process (EXC_CRASH, SIGABRT) and an error message indicating that the support driver is not installed (VERR_VM_DRIVER_NOT_INSTALLED, -1908). Even attempting to start VirtualBox results in a 'Kernel driver not installed' error.

Troubleshooting Efforts:

I tried various troubleshooting methods, including:

* Dismissing pre-release version issues and situations that cannot occur on Big Sur

* Following advice from the VirtualBox forums, such as using the VirtualBox_Uninstall.tool script to remove any trace of VirtualBox and rebooting before installing the latest stable version (VirtualBox-6.1.16-140961-OSX.dmg)

Unfortunately, none of these efforts yielded a working solution.

It seems that kernel extensions are no longer supported in Big Sur, which is likely the root cause of the VirtualBox issue. Until a fix or workaround is available, VMware Fusion and the Vagrant VMware plugin may be viable alternatives for now. For those who require VirtualBox, re-installing Catalina from scratch or purchasing both a VMware license and Vagrant plugin may be necessary.

Potential Solutions:

* Explore alternative virtualization solutions like VMware

* Wait for VirtualBox to release an update compatible with Big Sur

* Consider purchasing a license for both VMware and the Vagrant plugin

If you have experienced similar issues or found a solution, please share your insights in the comments below.

Virtualbox osx big sur