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