VirtualBox Network Adapter fails to install

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The Host-Only Adapter fails to install in Windows 8.1 x64 with VirtualBox-4.3.20-96997.

  1. When VirtualBox is installed, Host-Only appears in the Device Manager as a failed device.

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  1. Therefore Host-Only is not visible in the Network Connections window.

  2. Reinstalling the device through VirtualBox returns:

Failed to create the host network interface.

E_FAIL (0x80004005).

enter image description here

  1. Reinstalling VirtualBox duplicates the device as failed in the device manager:

enter image description here

  1. Deleting the driver or a clean installation won't change the mentioned results.
virtualbox
drivers
windows-8.1
network-adapter
asked on Super User Dec 23, 2014 by Gabriel • edited Dec 23, 2014 by Gabriel

3 Answers

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This seems like a known bug : Ticket #12182 : Failed to create the host network interface.

The only claimed workaround is given by David.Requena :

In fact going back to 4.2.24 and creating some h/o adapter allows its use after upgrading to any 4.3.x release. Said adapter can be removed in 4.3.x but not modified. Under no circumstance can it be re-created.

Try going back to version 4.2.24 to create the adapter, or wait for the bug to be fixed by the developers.

Be careful to fully uninstall the current VB version and ensure that all its devices are deleted before installing version 4.2.24.

answered on Super User Dec 27, 2014 by harrymc
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The issue is known to persist no matter what. Make sure you perform the following steps: - uninstall VirtualBox; - remove Host-Only network interfaces from Device Manager in Control Panel;

After that, you will have to run regedit.exe, and search and remove all entries with keys containing VBox, VirtualBox and Oracle (excluding the ones related to Oracle DB). After doing that I was able to install VB with all default options.

answered on Super User Aug 31, 2015 by phil pirozhkov
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My solution was to download and install version 5.0.6 of VirtualBox and it's Extension Pack. Tried various versions and methods before that without any luck. Now I'm virtual again ;)

answered on Super User Oct 16, 2015 by superodde

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