Soundflower won't install..
Hi all.
I used to have sound flower installed, but yesterday it had uninstalled and disappeared?! (for clarity, I mean the purple logo was in the applications launcher but it had a question mark over it and clicking it did nothing). I tired downloading the package anew but it won't install, and if I try running the uninstall script (just in case there were any remnants from the old version) I get an error message there too...
I'm running a MBP (late 2011) with Sierra 10.12.6
Apologies if this is a noob question. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance
the fact that something dissapears by itself means you have some kind of problem
on the mac, like corrupted hard drive, or that you delete files without noticing it.
It is an easy thing to check where the files are.
Soundflowerbed.app is in Applications/Soundflower
Older extension is on Sierra in
System/Library/Extensions
Peek in there and see if files are there.
Read instructions about new and old version here :
https://github.com/mattingalls/Soundflower/releases
Your problem could be that you have old version installed in /System/Library/Extensions
and new version 2.0b2 installs into /Library/Extensions/
If uninstaller managed to delete Soundflowerbed.app, you have to get it at
https://github.com/mLupine/SoundflowerBed/releases
That sudo rm ... does not work, is probably because
Soundflower extension is loaded.
You have to unload it first, then delete.
I mean if you want to update to new version at all.
Maybe all is ok and you only deleted Soundflowerbed.app...
But it could be also due to enabled SIP.
check it by typing in the terminal
csrutil status
if you get enabled , get rid of SIP.
There is a newer freeware audio router :
https://github.com/ExistentialAudio/BlackHole/releases
In case you get tired fixing soundflower
Thanks for the reply @Source Audio
After searching I have found SoundFlower.kext located in /System/Library/Extensions. However, if I try to move it to trash/delete it I get a popup message saying:
“Soundflower.kext” can’t be modified or deleted because it’s required by macOS.
Apologies, but I have more questions if you don't mind...
Is that kext file the thing that could be bringing up the install error/ preventing the fresh install of Soundflower?
Do I want to delete it or should I leave it if it is required by macOS?
Would the popup be due to the SIP being enabled? (I ran the command in terminal as suggested and it came up enabled).
If disabling SIP would allow me to remove that kext file how do I disable it? Would disabling SIP damage my mac or put it at risk and should I re-enable SIP after?
Apologies again for all the questions... I'm afraid I'm your typical tech user that does't have much knowledge of code and programs... So thanks for your patience and your time.
No problem, I am glad to help
I am running all my macs with SIP disabled without problem,
but you can leave it on, SoundFlower should be removable even if SIP is on.
As you probably read on instructions page, one has to unload kext
before deleting it.
But now I have questions for you before proceeding.
Is Sound Flower working as usual ?
I mean does it route audio ?
If yes, than no need to remove it.
If it is just Soundflowerbed.app that got lost, than install it
from the link I posted, and all should be fine.
If on the other hand, SoundFlower does not work at all,
then one should remove the old extension and install new one.
In that case I would post exact instructions how to do it.
So I revisited your first post and took my time at the links you provided.. I had missed a bit the first time. I have managed to reload SoundFlowerBed and from there I managed to run the terminal commands for the .kext zip file. I now have SoundFlower back!
THANK YOU.
A final question: the last terminal command given, the one to remove the old SoundFlower after installing the newer version won't work - see pic (showing successful SoundFlower install and Terminal Command fail)... seeing how it's now back and working, can I just leave the two .kext files in both locations?
If you now use new kext - located in /Library, try
sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Soundflower.kext
that should work
I think it worked.... This is the result:
I can't see SoundFlower in the Applications, but it is there in the Audio Preferences and works with a screen recording app I've got... so I'm gonna call this a success!!! Thanks so much for your help!
SoundFlowerbed.app is out of business actually, I don't know what it does with new extension version.
If you used that uninstall script - it wiped it.
You must read that stuff really, it says :
sudo rm -rf /Applications/Soundflower
that means delete the whole soundflower folder from applications,
including whatever is inside
for what its worth, I've switched to Blackhole-
https://github.com/ExistentialAudio/BlackHole
It seems less error prone, and you can configure it to use a ton of channels if you're not afraid of rebuilding it from source