What is MacFUSE and is it Needed?

Question

Level 2

224 points

What is MacFUSE and is it Needed?

I just checked my System Preferences and notices under Other there is
something called MacFUSE version 2.0.3 installed. I do not remember
ever installing something with this name and wonder if it was part of
the 10.5.7 update?

I am reluctant to use the "Revove MacFUSE" button if it was installed
as part of OS X.

24" iMac 2.4 GHz-2 GB Intel Core 2 Duo, Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Jun 13, 2009 6:39 AM

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Answer 1

Jun 13, 2009 7:18 AM in response to aRKay

If you have ever installed Parallels or VM i think they install MacFuse to allow access to the read/write to windows.

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Answer 2

TommyWD

Level 1

21 points

Jun 13, 2009 7:19 AM in response to Keith Doherty3

Bingo. I think Parallels installs it for accessing a Windows VM.

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Answer 3

dwb

Level 7

33,244 points

Jun 13, 2009 7:34 AM in response to Keith Doherty3

I think you are right.

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Answer 4

dwb

Level 7

33,244 points

Jun 13, 2009 6:55 AM in response to aRKay

I know MacFUSE is installed by ExpanDrive. It is an set of APIs and code that lets programmers access data from various sources and make it appear to the user as if that data is on a drive. If you haven't downloaded and installed ExpanDrive you probably have downloaded and installed something similar.

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Answer 5

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Jun 13, 2009 7:04 AM in response to aRKay

do you use NTFS-3g? it's a program to make NTFS drives writable from OS X and it needs McFuse to be installed. MacFuse is not a part of OSX itself but I wouldn't remove it without figuring out what's using it. it's certainly not a malicious program if that's what you are worried about.
http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/

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Answer 6

aRKay Author

Level 2

224 points

Jun 13, 2009 7:31 AM in response to TommyWD

Bingo. I think Parallels installs it for accessing a Windows VM.

Thank you...... it's back thanks to

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/23729/macfuse

I don't trust the Time Machine to know how to reinstall something
like this.

Message was edited by: aRKay

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Answer 7

aRKay Author

Level 2

224 points

Jun 13, 2009 7:08 AM in response to aRKay

I don't know what it does or why I need it so it is history. I just got rid of it as
excess baggage. Thanks for the comments.

Question solved by deletion

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Answer 8

aRKay Author

Level 2

224 points

Jun 13, 2009 7:22 AM in response to TommyWD

Looks like I may have tossed out the baby with the bath water

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Answer 9

aRKay Author

Level 2

224 points

Jun 13, 2009 7:24 AM in response to TommyWD

Looks like it is time to test out the Time Machine's restore feature. I jumped the gun
on trashing it

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Answer 10

Tim Haigh

Level 7

24,198 points

Jun 13, 2009 7:40 AM in response to dwb

MacFuse is a framwork that is also required for the ntfs-3g driver to work. This driver allows the mac to read/write ntfs volumes which otherwise are read only when connected to a Mac.

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