How do I remove a VirtualBox host only network adapter

Question

On OS X, 10.10, if I start a Vagrant based VirtualBox VM that is configured with a host only network adapter and then destroy that VM and attempt to re-create it with the VMware provider the vboxnet# adapter I used previously is still holding onto the static IP I have declared in the Vagrantfile. (the # at the end of vboxnet is an integer that can vary based on how many VM's have been spun up)

Without rebooting or uninstalling VirtualBox, how do I remove that vboxnet# virtual adapter? It doesn't get presented in the OS X network properties window.

By the way, uninstalling VirtualBox and Vagrant won't clean the list. So, the solutions below are the way to go. :) — Arvid, Feb 20 '17 at 10:07

score 37 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 19 '14 at 00:59

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Looks like the VBoxManage command line tool is how to do it. Couldn't find a way to do it from the GUI, but this seems to work:

VBoxManage hostonlyif remove vboxnet4

(replace the '4' accordingly, of course)

answered Dec 19 '14 at 00:59

Eric Smalling

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See above comment on how to do it via the GUI – Eric Smalling Sep 02 '16 at 10:47
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This woirked for me on my Mac (High Sierra). In addition, you can list the networks with `VBoxManage list hostonlyifs`. – Stefan Lasiewski Nov 30 '18 at 00:58
@EricSmalling It's possible that the GUI doesn't show a network, in which case this answer is more helpful – polynomial_donut Feb 05 '20 at 15:19

score 30 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 31 '16 at 18:27

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Open Virtualbox, click File -> Preferences -> Network -> Host-only Network, remove Vboxnet#

screenshot

edited Aug 31 '16 at 18:27

Kamil Maciorowski

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answered Aug 25 '15 at 18:15

lovelylip07 lovelylip07

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This is just a simple and working way to do it on Win7. You helped me, thanks. – Gondil Nov 05 '15 at 10:13
Sure enough, that looks like it would work. (Not sure how I missed that back when I originally posted the question; did they add this to the GUI between then and now?) – Eric Smalling Sep 02 '16 at 10:47
Even it worked in Fedora too – Dhanu Gurung Sep 09 '16 at 08:25
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This is now at `File -> Host Network Manager` – 13rac1 Dec 28 '17 at 01:31
FYI, this showed nothing on my Mac running High Sierra. – Stefan Lasiewski Nov 30 '18 at 00:57

How do I remove a VirtualBox host only network adapter

2 Answers2