Deleting .kext

Hello,

I am trying to remove the IOAudioFamily.kext so that I can remove all sound from my Business Center iMacs as we have people come in all the time and just blast their things as they please AND just leave it there.

However, my issue is when I try to go into sudo su and run the command rm -Rfv /System/Library/Extensions/IOAudioFamily.kext/ I receive "Operation not permitted" What am I doing wrong? I am not very well versed in MAC OS but I am a technician none the less, and have no fear of intermediate or advanced ways to do this.

Below I will post what came out when I ran the command:

Last login: Thu Aug 24 15:34:47 on ttys000
******:~ administrator$ sudo su
Password:
sh-3.2# rm -Rfv /System/Library/Extensions/IOAudioFamily.kext/
rm: /System/Library/Extensions/IOAudioFamily.kext//Contents/_CodeSignature/CodeResources: Operation not permitted
rm: /System/Library/Extensions/IOAudioFamily.kext//Contents/_CodeSignature: Operation not permitted
rm: /System/Library/Extensions/IOAudioFamily.kext//Contents/Info.plist: Operation not permitted
rm: /System/Library/Extensions/IOAudioFamily.kext//Contents/MacOS/IOAudioFamily: Operation not permitted
rm: /System/Library/Extensions/IOAudioFamily.kext//Contents/MacOS: Operation not permitted
rm: /System/Library/Extensions/IOAudioFamily.kext//Contents/Resources/English.lproj/InfoPlist.strings: Operation not permitted
rm: /System/Library/Extensions/IOAudioFamily.kext//Contents/Resources/English.lproj: Operation not permitted
rm: /System/Library/Extensions/IOAudioFamily.kext//Contents/Resources: Operation not permitted
rm: /System/Library/Extensions/IOAudioFamily.kext//Contents/version.plist: Operation not permitted
rm: /System/Library/Extensions/IOAudioFamily.kext//Contents: Operation not permitted
rm: /System/Library/Extensions/IOAudioFamily.kext/: Operation not permitted
sh-3.2#

I wanted to rewrite the permissions to the entire directory or stop the whole audio daemons THEN try and delete? But I figured I'd ask before anything. And manually moving it to the trash can only gives me an error stating that OS needs this to run and rmdir -p doesn't do anything for me either.

Thank you!!!

Welcome to our forums.

You can not remove protected kernel extensions (kexts). And if you did remove them by some unauthorized method, it could prevent the Macs from booting up. You may be able to do the same thing using software or by simply using a dummy headphone plug.

Maybe diasable keyboard keys and remove sound icon from menu bar?

I'm not sure that accomplishes much of anything. Removing the sound icon from the menu bar doesn't stop someone from making changes via the Sound preference pane unless access to System Preferences is also disabled. In fact, even though I have the icon in the menu bar and frequently go the Sound preference pane out of habit.

If you're wanting to "remove all sound from my Business Center iMacs", I'd agree and do as chscag suggested:
by simply using a dummy headphone plug in the headphone/audio out port.




- Patrick
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