AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext error on installing iTunes update

Your rm command never succeeded. You have an extra "$" when you copy/pasted it from the link you mention. It needs to be run without the "$" from the website. Sudo prompts you for your password.

The kextload also failed similarly.

You would have been better off doing

open /System/Library/Extensions

and then finding the AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext kernel extension icon in the Finder window that came up and moving it to the Trash.

I have similar error message having just installed the iTunes update (Mavericks).

There is a larger thread here which you may want to follow - system extension cannot be used AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext .

I found a 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.

-Cheers

Thanks, Greg. I had the same problem as Mr. Twitchin. I followed your advice and so far so good. iTunes causes me the most grief in the Apple world. I go out of my way not to use iTunes when I don't have to. Sometimes, however, iTunes is the only port in a storm. They just don't seem to care about the problems they cause their users.

Thanks, Greg. 🙂
For all those (like me) not comfortable with using the terminal, just follow Greg's advice:

open /System/Library/Extensions

Find AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext
Move it to the Trash

Now you can reinstall (update to) iTunes 11.4 without any error messages.

Hi,

I am facing the same problem in Mountain Lion.

Before trying the restoration as mentioned here, I would like to know what this specific kext file is responsible for. Does anyone know where I can find more details of this kext? I have tried to search on Google, but all I get are results with problems, bugs, etc, nothing with information about the kext.

Thanks

This extension supports USB devices and USB Ethernet dongle. Issues related to this driver cause iDevices to be not recognized by the computer in iTunes or the System itself, when they are plugged in.

Thanks Loner T.

Strange thing is that in iTunes my iPhone is recognized with no problem.

Is there a way for me to try to reproduce the error?

iTunes recognizes the device but it will not sync with the device. So in essence, the syncing between your phone and your iTunes has been cutoff with this iTunes update. It may still show up on your iTunes, but you cannot update the information on your device without corrupting it. This is an issue that Apple has to fix with a patch update. I still recommend restoring your computer to before you made the iTunes update and to wait for iTunes 11.4.1 to be released. I mentioned the process of restoring your macbook and itunes earlier in this thread. My computer works fine since I reverted back to an older back-up. Consider it.

My original post is below.

----------------------------------------

RE:

I found a 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 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.

-Cheers

Yes. You can reproduce the error by uninstalling iTunes completely and then reinstalling that same update (11.4).
I don't recommend it.
Even if you uninstall iTunes 11.4 and find an earlier version to reinstall, your iTunes will still be corrupted from the 11.4 download.
If you want your iTunes/iPhone to work together as if nothing ever happened, your best bet is to fully restore your computer from an older backup from before you downloaded iTunes 11.4 and don't update iTunes until 11.4.1 is released.

"iTunes recognizes the device but it will not sync with the device. So in essence, the syncing between your phone and your iTunes has been cutoff with this iTunes update. It may still show up on your iTunes, but you cannot update the information on your device without corrupting it."

This is simply not true. I have fixed 2 different machines (a Mac Pro/10.6.8 and a Mac mini/10.8.4) with this error and my Mac Pro has no problems at all syncing to my 3 iDevices.

If you're adept with Terminal.app you don't even have to reboot to fix it.

1. sudo kextunload AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext
2. open /System/Library/Extensions
   
3. move AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext to the Trash
4. Re-install iTunes 11.4 (from the 11.4 .dmg (downloaded from Apple)
5. sudo kextload AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext

worked fine for me on both systems. I really don't understand why this is so difficult for people ...

Tried that procedure. Didn't work.

That's why "this is so difficult for people". There's no "right way" to fix this error on every machine unless every machine is identical. Certain "fixes" simply will not work on all machines due to various upgrades or mechanical differences that users may have implemented.

I'm glad this option worked for you. I'm sure if it worked for everybody, there wouldn't be so many arguments against it. I can honestly say I've tried the terminal commands and it didn't change a thing. Restoring and rebooting worked for me, though it wasn't the preferred option -- I'm just putting another option out there for people who experienced the same disappointments I did after thinking I found a solution via these threads only to see that nothing was fixed after the fact.