Uninstalling Parallels Desktop 14 - Aren't there drivers or kernel extensions too?

Question

When installing Parallels Desktop For Mac version 14.1.3, I was prompted for a password. I assume that means some kernel extensions or drivers were installed into macOS.

The official Uninstall Parallels Desktop for Mac page says simply to discard the Parallels app.

➥ Does that mean some macOS alteration is left in place?

Also, according to this page there is some other stuff left behind as well.

Answer 1

Aren't there drivers or kernel extensions too?

Yes, apparently Parallels does use kernel extensions.

If in the Finder we select Parallels Desktop.app and context-click to choose Show package contents, we can navigate to nested folder Contents > Library > Extensions > 10.9 to find some .kext files such as prl_hypervisor.kext.

Are such kernel extensions copied somewhere else upon installation? Yes. Doing a sudo find / -name prl_hypervisor.kext in the Terminal.app shows two hits, one inside the app and one copied elsewhere into a StagedExtensions folder:

• /Applications/Parallels Desktop.app/Contents/Library/Extensions/10.9/prl_hypervisor.kext
• /Library/StagedExtensions/Applications/Parallels Desktop.app/Contents/Library/Extensions/10.9/prl_hypervisor.kext

I have not yet tried deleting the app via the Trash yet. So I do not know if doing so removes the copy as well as the original.