system extension cannot be used AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext

Hi Tevseric,

It seems as though it was more so my iPhone that became corrupted via the iTunes update. Normally, when iTunes recognized my iPhone, it would show the what amount of my storage is being used and by what (i.e. 2 gb music, 0 gb videos, 512mb photots, etc.). After attempting to sync my iPhone, all of that data was erased from my phone and became "Other" storage; in addition, the sync button was no longer available when I unplugged/plugged in my iPhone via USB. I had to restore my iPhone after each sync attempt.

Same with me only I did not Restore my iPhone. I also tried to restore the previous version of iTunes (11.3.1) form Time Machine along with the AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext from that same Time Machine backup date and still can't sync my iPhone...SYNC button is grayed out and all data is showing as OTHER. Next step might be a full restore to a date when all was working right, for me was 9/8/2014. Went to the Apple store and they had no idea what I was talking about and started to read our posts. There suggestion was to insert my Snow Leopard 10.6.8 disc and to a INSTALL not RESTORE. That kinda scared me so I thought I'd try a few other less drastic fixes first. Any thoughts???

Just to add my ditto - got the same error message following the software update to iTunes 11.4. I'm running OSX 10.6.8 on a late 2009 2 Ghz MacBook. HELlooooo Apple.... is a fix coming?

Hey Jeff Ree,

Your situation is exactly what I was dealing with. I eventually inserted the Snow Leopard disc and RESTORED (via the Utilities option on the disc) to a previous backup of my computer. My system was restored to the day before I updated to iTunes 11.4 so everything is as it was -- no problems. Pain to deal with? Yes, but it worked fine for me. I described my process earlier in this thread if you dig through the pages.

Jeff Ree wrote:

Same with me only I did not Restore my iPhone. I also tried to restore the previous version of iTunes (11.3.1) form Time Machine along with the AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext from that same Time Machine backup date and still can't sync my iPhone...SYNC button is grayed out and all data is showing as OTHER. Next step might be a full restore to a date when all was working right, for me was 9/8/2014. Went to the Apple store and they had no idea what I was talking about and started to read our posts. There suggestion was to insert my Snow Leopard 10.6.8 disc and to a INSTALL not RESTORE. That kinda scared me so I thought I'd try a few other less drastic fixes first. Any thoughts???

Restoring iTunes from Time Machine doesn't restore all the associated system files that the iTunes installer splatters all over the place. Reverting to an earlier version of iTunes is a complicated task that involves restoring your iTunes library, deleting the full current iTunes version and then using Pacifist to install the earlier version. You'll need to source the 11.3.1 installation DMG to be successful with this. You cannot manage it strictly from an application-level Time Machine restore.

This article is oriented around going from iTunes 11 back to iTunes 10.7, but is an accurate roadmap of the steps involved. The only things that differ are the starting version (11.4) and target version (11.3.1). http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/03/how-to-downgrade-from-itunes-11-to-version- 10-7-on-your-mac/

I've done such a version back-step and it's a pain in the butt that is only one step less of a bother than a full system restore. Before being that drastic, I would:

1. Restore the iTunes 11.3.1-era AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext from your Time Machine backup.
2. Download the iTunes 11.4 installer DMG from: http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
3. Run the iTunes installer and then reboot the system.

That should, hopefully, restore your ability to sync/backup your phone.

Just wanted to give an update.

Recap: As some know, yesterday, I called phone support b/c one of our genius bars had never heard of this error Saturday and I got a couple of cold shoulders by my 2nd 1st line phone support call. The senior engineer wasn't too interested either after the 1st suggested fix at 1st call phone support didn't work by reloading os and reupdating iTunes (corruption they thought). The error was thought possibly not a "problem" because throwing an exception instead of causing a problem...though issue in an area they were afraid to play in as I referenced ya'll's thoughts and attempts mentioned.

Surprise! This Apple newbie say thanks for renewing some faith in Apple. Yesterday left me wondering about choice to convert. :-)

Late, this afternoon, the senior engineer called me out of the blue, captured my system information as the error repeated itself via iTunes update, followed by saying to do what some have had luck doing here...1. trashing existing kext and 2. re-installing iTunes 11.4. Success...no error. :-) I understand what they did might seem easy to those of you who understand mac world.

The senior engineer said the ticket would remain open for now. Capturing what is throwing the errors was a worthy attempt...hoping it means they are hearing from more folks and dedicating resources to this issue.

For those who are trying to help others (and even themselves if still broken)... thanks for trying to educate and help others.

Newbie

Thanks for the update, I was hopping you'd get back to us. I previously did what the Apple engineer recommended to you, trash the kext and reload ( I used the dmg file), alls fine so far.

Some have reservations that the old kext (contains some info the new kext lacks) needs to be in place (restored) before reloading again. For this reason I follow along here, there could be more to come. Although, working fine at my end but maybe I'll find a problem yet, I haven't used my Epson printer as yet, nor have an iPad to deal with, working with my iPhone 5 though-

Thanks again

Sounds like we both sort of did the wait and see approach....and I am with you on the its is working so far...time will tell.

It as nice to have Apple take the responsibility yesterday if crashed or caused another problem I just haven't seen yet. The senior engineer says nervous about ever doing anything at the system level with customer because "you break it; you buy it" sort of thought. She didn't want to have to own the break.

I am glad it worked for you so far. Crossing fingers and toes keeps working for all who it happened to work for as I try more things with time machine, iPhone, printer (hardwiring it instead of wifi).

Would be curious to find out if a new release or a support fix for another customer that helps those this didn't work for. Always nice to hear good news after the bad.

Got the same message, now iTunes keep stopping and crashing. Any idea how to correct this, or go back to the previous version of iTunes. This is really annoying, cannot listen to my music.

I've checked and found out that on my iMac I have the same extension (version 7.0, created/modified the 16 may 2011!) as on the last TimeMachine backup before the 11.4 update (with error message)… strange!

Trane Francks,

After completing this, have you been able to SYNC your iPhone5 and is your data showing something other than OTHER? Wouldn't downloading the 11.4 DMG get us back to what started this problem? Or did Apple fix the 11.4 DMG download? Will a new version of the AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext be included with the 11.4 download?

Update...Well I tried every combination of the solutions given...iTunes 11.4 with old working .kext..Did not work. Old iTunes 11.3.1 with old .kext did not work. re downloaded new iTunes 11.4 and trashed existing .kext and let iTunes reinstall new .kext file all did not work. When I connect my iPhone 5 it is recognized but all the data is shown as OTHER and not divided between Music, Photos, Video... The SYNC button is still grayed out and will not let me sync. I am at a total loss here and will have to hope that Apple fixes this soon. I hope that they look at these. This is not an isolated problem with one persons system. It was all caused by the new iTunes 11.4 So we wait.....

Jeff Ree wrote:

Trane Francks,

After completing this, have you been able to SYNC your iPhone5 and is your data showing something other than OTHER? Wouldn't downloading the 11.4 DMG get us back to what started this problem? Or did Apple fix the 11.4 DMG download? Will a new version of the AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext be included with the 11.4 download?

Hi, Jeff.

Yes, I'm able to sync my iPhone and all the data values in the graph are correct for the various storage types. From what I could see, the Software Update installer did something different with the kernel extension than the DMG downloaded from the Apple iTunes page. With the installation from Software Update, I saw the kernel extension error dialogue and the contents of the extension were missing code signatures. Restoring the extension prior to the 11.4 Software Update install and then reinstalling iTunes 11.4 from the downloaded DMG results in the kernel extension containing different contents, having the code signatures in place that were missing from the Software Update install. I don't know exactly what the DMG is doing differently from the Software Update install, but the behaviour is absolutely different on my OS X 10.7.5 system. With the Software Update install, the kernel extension had bits deleted. With the DMG download, the kernel extension was updated.

For the record, I did not connect my iPhone between the initial problem and my 'fix', so I don't know whether there's a relationship between that and what you're seeing on your end. I have yet to try tethering, so I cannot be 100% certain that everything works as it's supposed to work, but so far, so good.

This seems to be the new Apple Support approach. Just because you get an error message, doesn't mean that anything really is wrong, other than that the error message might be wrong about there being an error. Orwellian, no? I remember a similar encounter with Apple Care. I described something that wasn't working as it should. The agent had me create a new account, then attempt to recreate the problem in that account. When I was able to do so, he concluded that that must be how whatever wasn't working properly was intended to work. He wasn't even swayed by the question, "And if I had complained about a program crashing when I start it, and I could recreate that in a new account, then that would mean that the program was intended to crash?!" I think Apple Support is being staffed with wannabe lawyers. Why should a customer have to prove that something is wrong. When he calls, he thinks there is. That's what Customer Support is for. And if Customer Support knows otherwise, it simply has to say so; however, if they don't, they should not waste the customer's time demanding he prove that it's wrong.

OK, in the meantime I have another "data point" in this mystery.

I, too, made the mistake of allowing Software Update to update iTunes to 11.4 and received the "system extension cannot be used" error message. On the first page of this thread tingly made the suggestion to delete the .kext, download iTunes from the Apple site and install it. I did that before realizing that there were four more pages to come, i.e., that this might not be the generally accepted solution; for me, however, it seems to work.

The error message did not appear during installation. iTunes 11.4 started without a problem and both my iPhone 4S and my 2nd generation iPad appeared under Devices, both being connected by Wi-Fi. I plugged each of them into my MacBook Pro using a USB cable and synchronized each with iTunes without any problem. I checked both devices. New photos appeared on each, so the sync apparently worked. I did have a problem trying to make a backup to my computer after the sync, which I wanted because the automatic backup is being made to iCloud and I wanted a fuller backup. iTunes reported that it could not start the sync on the device, despite the fact that it was still displayed under Devices. I was able to "solve" this problem by ejecting the device, powering it off, then back on, then reconnecting it via USB cable. After ejecting both devices, then connecting them to power sources, they did not automatically appear under Devices, even though they were connected to Wi-Fi. I'm not sure whether that is expected behavior; however, when I restarted iTunes they both appeared. It seems that tingly's suggestion worked for me.

I am running OS X 10.7.5 and iOS 7.1.2.

Richard