system extension cannot be used AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext

"If you look at Apple Support Downloads now you'll see now that version iTunes 12.0.1 is out they also have an 11.4 for OS X 10.6 also available.

Apple - Support - Downloads"

ALERT! ALERT! DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!

Do not ... I repeat *** DO NOT *** download/install this 'new' "iTunes 11.4 for OS X 10.6" version!!!

IT IS THE SAME OLD/BAD VERSION THAT WAS ORIGINALLY RELEASED ON SEPTEMBER 9TH.

IT IS NOT THE 'FIXED' "iTunes 11.4++" version from September 23rd!

Look for yourself:

[14:58] nightowl:/<2>Disk images/iTunes % ls -lt iTunes11.4*

-rw-r--r--@ 1 earle  staff  242940774 Oct 18 04:44 iTunes11.4 Oct-18-2014.dmg

-rw-r-----@ 1 earle  staff  242433227 Sep 25 13:17 iTunes11.4++.dmg

-rw-r--r--@ 1 earle  staff  242940774 Sep  9 05:52 iTunes11.4.dmg

Apple does it again! <facepalm>

Okay... The above is awesome advice. However, I was forced to update to iTunes 11.4 because I could not connect my iPhone 5 via USB to my MacBook Pro mid 2009 with OS X 10.6.8. I still could not connect my iPhone after doing that because obviously there is a problem with kext file. After searching the internet I found this solution:

DopeyDupe Apr 25, 2012 7:30 AM

Re: USB tethering lost after installing iphone configuration utility

in response to FastGTR

FastGTR's solution works extremely well with The File Fab11 Posted.

Here's what I did. Rather simple.

1: Download

The File Fab11 Posted

2: Go to Finder and press

cmd + shift + G

3: Paste in this and hit enter:

/System/Library/Extensions/AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext/Contents/MacOS/

4: Replace this file with downloaded one

AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext

5: Search for disk util in spotlight and

run disk utility > select your root drive (Macintosh HD) > Repair Permissions

This may take a few minutes.

6:

Restart and done.

I did not even reinstall or uninstall anything. Confirmed it works, solved 2 sets with the same issue. All the best. If it doesn't work. try uninstalling iphone config util like they said above.

Ohh right System profile.

Mac OS X Lion 10.7.3, iPhone 4 16GB White, with my iPhone Configuration Utility 3.5(289) still installed.

Message was edited by: DopeyDupe

From this Apple Support Community forum thread:

USB tethering lost after installing iphone configuration utility

This solved my issue and I had no problems until I decided to upgrade to Lion so that I could use the latest Airport Utility. The upgrade per say did not break my USB connectivity but allowing Software Update to once again update my iTunes to 11.4 again did (Even though I had 11.4 installed already). When I tried the above fix to fix the issue again, it did not work. However when I downloaded iTunes 11.4 for OS X 12.6, deleted the old iTunes 11.4 and the kext file, and then reloaded 11.4 via the iTunes 11.4 for OS X 12.6 download and applied the above fix, I was able to once again tether my iPhone via USB. As far as I can tell, I also have none of the other issues described in this thread.

I only suggest that people go this route if they are using Snow Leopard, Lion, or Mountain Lion and are having issues with iTunes and their kext file. If they are having issues like not being able to connect their iPhone via USB to their MacBook Pro or any other Mac and they want to try the above fix before rolling back to an earlier Time Machine version and/or reloading their whole OS again, they might then give it a try. Otherwise sit and wait for Apple to issue a fix (good luck)!

UPDATE:

I do not know which version of AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext that Fab11 uploaded (I suspect version 2.3.6) but it works in both Snow Leopard and Lion from my experience. However, previously in the above mentioned thread someone purported that a person should use one version for 10.6.8 and another for 10.7 and 10.8. I'd say try the 2.3.6 version with iTunes 11.4 for OS X 12.6 download and if that doesn't work try version 2.2.0. They are as follows:

Version 2.2.0 (Working on 10.6.8) http://db.tt/Fahk9VBe

Version 2.3.6 (Working on 10.7 & 10.8) http://db.tt/U674UcOV

P.S. Fab11 upload the above mention kext file on this date:

fab11

Mar 27, 2012 12:31 PM

Re: USB tethering lost after installing iphone configuration utility

Curious about those who downloaded the fixed "iTunes 11.4++" before it was pulled again.

What does the Where from: in the "More Info" section of Get Info (command-I) of the downloaded dmg say?

Wondering if it's still there at that url, but just no longer linked from apple.com.

(And yes I'm running 10.6.8 32 bit for a variety of reasons.)

Thanks.

Edit: Whoops. Just checked the iTunes 11.4 for OS X 10.6 download site - and the 242433227 bytes version is back at http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1774 which linked to https://secure-appldnld.apple.com/iTunes11/031-07683.20140923.rewr3/iTunes11.4.d mg - Will try it tonight.

Curious about those who downloaded the fixed "iTunes 11.4++" before it was pulled again.

What does the Where from: in the "More Info" section of Get Info (Command-I) of the downloaded dmg say?

Wondering if it's still there at that url, but just no longer linked from apple.com.

Great idea! It says

https://secure-appldnld.apple.com/iTunes11/031-07683.20140923.rewr3/iTunes11.4.d mg

(I have no idea why this displays in the post as ".d mg" but click on the link anyway, it works.)

https://swdlp.apple.com/iframes/82/en_us/82_en_us.html

The Frame link now points to the 12.0.1 download, but the direct .dmg link still works and it's the "iTunes 11.4++" .dmg!!!

Bookmark it people!!!

Edit: Whoops. Just checked the iTunes 11.4 for OS X 10.6 download site - and the 242433227 bytes version is back at http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1774 which linked to https://secure-appldnld.apple.com/iTunes11/031-07683.20140923.rewr3/iTunes11.4.d mg - Will try it tonight.

Wha...?

Maybe it's a Firefox page cache issue or something, but I just went to that DL1774 page and for me the Download link is showing it still linked to the old "9/09" version .dmg.

The latest iTunes 11.4 for OS X 10.6 at:

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1774

dated: Post Date: Sep 9, 2014

has 242433227 bytes, so I assume it to be a fixed version from the 10.4 version I downloaded earlier, which had 242,940,774 bytes and did not sync my iOS devices.

I think it is either dishonest or sloppiness that the version date on the website does not get corrected, when they are fixing their oversights/mistakes. It's also odd, that when I download the current dmg, the creation date must have been left empty and gets filled by the user's download date, meaning one can't really tell when this dmg was re-created or changed by Apple. There is no change log either.

I was following the tips in this thread to successfully get rid off the error message. However my iOS devices are still not recognized. My bigger problem was that after each system shutdown/reboot, I had to re-install iTunes to get my iOS devices recognized. Apparently some sync-related iTunes 11.4 files go either missing or get changed during reboot.

The latest iTunes 11.4 for OS 10.6 has not changed this odd behavior.

Although I'm using Snow Leopard, I'm pretty sure variations of this approach can be used on Lion, Mountain Lion and Maverick.
I believe I found (one) way to fix this error...well, at least it worked for me (see below):

There seem to be various threads addressing this issue and no "one" way is the right way for everyone. I'm running my Macbook on OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard). Once I installed the iTunes update, two things happened: my iPhone became corrupted when I sync'd via USB and then my iTunes stopped recognizing the iPhone as a "sync-able" device -- meaning it would show up on iTunes but when you went to click sync, the sync button was unavailable.

I tried locating the .kext file, deleting it, repairing it, replacing with an older version, entered different commands in terminal but I kept getting the same error. Ultimately, I fixed the problem fairly simply, but it may not be something everyone is willing to do. If you have an external hard-drive and had your computer hooked up to Time Machine, this is what you should do:

1. Hopefully you'd been backing your computer up automatically fairly recently, and you have some this stored on an external hard drive via Time Machine from before iTunes 11.4 was downloaded onto your computer.
2. If you haven't done so already, and your iTunes library isn't corrupt, Backup your entire iTunes library to an external hard-drive (if you don't care about your library, ignore this step...this procedure might not work, however, if your first backup of your iTunes library is via version 11.4. If you go through all of these steps and you encounter the same problem, restore your itunes to an older version via Time Machine, then redo steps)
   • To do this, create a new Folder on your hard drive and call it "iTunes"
   • Go into your iTunes preferences > Advanced > under "iTunes Media folder location" we want it to say /Volumes/(Your Hard Drive Name)/iTunes

     Next to the "iTunes Media folder location" dialogue box, it should read CHANGE or RESET. Click CHANGE, navigate to your external hard drive and locate the newly created iTunes folder...your computer should automatically start to transfer your library to the new destination.

3. Backup and "new files" on your computer that you create since updating your iTunes to version 11.4 (i.e. new iCal entries, documents)
4. Backup your important files (I have mine in dropbox but chose to be safe and backed them up on an external hard drive as well)
5. Once you have everything saved, you're going to want to go through the process of completely restoring your entire computer (essentially wiping it clean).
   • To do this on Snow Leopard, you need to have the Mac OS X Snow Leopard Installing disc.
     1. Insert disc > when the Install screen pops up, select Utilities... > it will then prompt you to Restart your computer
     2. After your computer restarts, it will prompt you to reinstall Snow Leopard or select a different option from Utilities which can now be found at the top of your screen on the toolbar. From there, select the option that is along the lines of Restore from Backup Using Time Machine and then select which backup you want to restore your computer to ... since iTunes 11.4 went live on Sept. 10th, I would restore to any date before that.
     3. When your computer restores itself to your chosen backup, your computer should be exactly as it was on that date, iTunes included. It's as if nothing ever happened.
   • To do this on any later OS X, I believe you have to restart your computer and then hold COMMAND+R before the grey screen appears. From here, I believe it will prompt you similarly to the Snow Leopard procedures 1-3 as listed just above this bullet point.
6. When your computer prompts you to update iTunes to version 11.4 from whatever version you reverted back to, DO NOT UPDATE. Keep your old iTunes version and wait for this thing to be addressed by Apple.

This procedure worked for me and although it's a bit tedious, it fixed both my iTunes and iPhone errors. Note: I did have to erase and restore my iPhone through an old backup via iTunes once iTunes was working again. Try it out. See if it works for you. MAKE SURE YOU BACKUP YOUR FILES BEFORE ATTEMPTING ANY FULL SYSTEM RESTORE.

If you went back to earlier in this thread, your question was already answered:

1. Hopefully you'd been backing your computer up automatically fairly recently, and you have some this stored on an external hard drive via Time Machine from before iTunes 11.4 was downloaded onto your computer.
2. If you haven't done so already, and your iTunes library isn't corrupt, Backup your entire iTunes library to an external hard-drive (if you don't care about your library, ignore this step...this procedure might not work, however, if your first backup of your iTunes library is via version 11.4. If you go through all of these steps and you encounter the same problem, restore your itunes to an older version via Time Machine, then redo steps)
   • To do this, create a new Folder on your hard drive and call it "iTunes"
   • Go into your iTunes preferences > Advanced > under "iTunes Media folder location" we want it to say /Volumes/(Your Hard Drive Name)/iTunes

     Next to the "iTunes Media folder location" dialogue box, it should read CHANGE or RESET. Click CHANGE, navigate to your external hard drive and locate the newly created iTunes folder...your computer should automatically start to transfer your library to the new destination.

3. Backup and "new files" on your computer that you create since updating your iTunes to version 11.4 (i.e. new iCal entries, documents)
4. Backup your important files (I have mine in dropbox but chose to be safe and backed them up on an external hard drive as well)
5. Once you have everything saved, you're going to want to go through the process of completely restoring your entire computer (essentially wiping it clean).
   • To do this on Snow Leopard, you need to have the Mac OS X Snow Leopard Installing disc.
     1. Insert disc > when the Install screen pops up, select Utilities... > it will then prompt you to Restart your computer
     2. After your computer restarts, it will prompt you to reinstall Snow Leopard or select a different option from Utilitieswhich can now be found at the top of your screen on the toolbar. From there, select the option that is along the lines ofRestore from Backup Using Time Machine and then select which backup you want to restore your computer to ... since iTunes 11.4 went live on Sept. 10th, I would restore to any date before that.
     3. When your computer restores itself to your chosen backup, your computer should be exactly as it was on that date, iTunes included. It's as if nothing ever happened.
   • To do this on any later OS X, I believe you have to restart your computer and then hold COMMAND+R before the grey screen appears. From here, I believe it will prompt you similarly to the Snow Leopard procedures 1-3 as listed just above this bullet point.
6. When your computer prompts you to update iTunes to version 11.4 from whatever version you reverted back to, DO NOT UPDATE. Keep your old iTunes version and wait for this thing to be addressed by Apple.

This procedure worked for me and although it's a bit tedious, it fixed both my iTunes and iPhone errors. Note: I did have to erase and restore my iPhone through an old backup via iTunes once iTunes was working again. Try it out. See if it works for you. MAKE SURE YOU BACKUP YOUR FILES BEFORE ATTEMPTING ANY FULL SYSTEM RESTORE.

Confirming the fix shared and tested by many in this discussion WORKS:
- trash the kext file giving the error
- download iTunes from apple.com and install it (don't worry - it will install fine over the existing one and it won't delete any of your iTunes content)

- restart the Mac

Issue that I had:

- my tethering via my iPhone 5S (via USB-cable) suddenly stopped working; when I rebooted (haven't done it for long time), I got the AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext popup error

Issue I did *not* have even during the kext error was still there:
- I did *not* have problems seeing or syncing the iPhone in iTunes

Some important notes:
- do *not* try to move to trash your current iTunes which was on your Mac by default - it doesn't allow you to trash it; just follow the fix steps

- do not stop implementing the fix because you found you already have the latest iTunes version - the reinstall is what is needed, not update to latest one

Config:
- MacBook Pro Retina 15" (2012)

- Mac OS X 10.8.5

- iTunes 11.4 (18), 64 bit (both before and after the reinstall)

- AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext version by date:

• before the fix: April 05 2012
• after the fix: Jul 29 2014

Had the same thing just happen to my iMac. I have Mountain Lion 10.8.5.

I found this older article. I guess this happens on occasion. They probably didn't set the installer to overwrite properly.

Anyways I tried this and it worked. You are basically removing ( or renaming as I did) the old kext and then rerunning the iTunes installer which will then properly install the kext.

http://blog.iphoting.com/blog/2012/09/04/fixing-broken-iphone-usb-tethering-on-o s-x/

Screenshot (error msg) in first post doesnt show up, but i believe its same one i got today, after waking up from sleep:

The system extension “//System/Library/Extensions/AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext” was installed improperly and cannot be used. Please try reinstalling it, or contact the product’s vendor for an update.

I dont have any iDevice connected (i got usb keyboard and mouse, and webcam which is turned off).

One year old iMac with 10.9.4 osx.

I have not approved any (os) updates after last reset (couple days ago). Any other updates in that period is audio editing software (audacity) extension: mp3 export codec library, and a game (unturned) via steam.

I cant see any relation between those, and this is bugging me 🙂

I was having the same issue and had reinstalled iTunes a few times with no success. As an experiment, I redownloaded iTunes from Apple Site this morning and TURNED OFF my iPad. Turned it off not put it to sleep and reinstalled and all went well. I do not have an iPhone and the iPad is my only extra apple device. There was no message this time and so far so good. Mark