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Windows - An error has occurred while trying to create a virtualbox host-only network interface

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Windows 7 and Windows Server

Genymotion Desktop does not support Windows 7, nor Windows server systems. Please use a supported Windows system. For more details, see Genymotion Desktop requirements.

You are running Genymotion Desktop in a virtual machine

Genymotion Desktop has been designed to run in a physical environment, not in a virtual machine. For this reason, Genymotion Desktop will not work if run in a Windows VM.

For more details, please refer to Can Genymotion Desktop run in a virtual machine?

You are using a VPN and/or Firewall

If you are using a VPN or a firewall, please refer to these articles:

Windows 11

Genymotion Desktop has not been tested with Windows 11 when it was released, but it has been reported to work with VirtualBox 6.1.30.

For more details, please refer to Does Genymotion Desktop work on Windows 11?

Other Windows system issues

1. Reboot your PC

If you installed VirtualBox alongside Genymotion, make sure to reboot your PC before launching Genymotion.

2. Verify your Windows security settings

Every time Genymotion Desktop is started, it calls VirtualBox to perform several operations:

  • verify the availability of at least one VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
  • create a VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter if the above fails
  • list all the deployed virtual devices

These operations require administrator rights to be performed successfully. If your Windows user account has too tight security settings, they will fail.

To avoid this, make sure that:

  1. your Windows user account has Administrator rights (i.e. it is a member of the Administrators group)
  2. your Windows security settings are not too tight

Note

If you get many User Account Control (UAC) pop-ups prompting for Administrator permission, you may also consider turning them off. For instructions, please refer to this article: Enable or Disable User Account Control (UAC) in Windows

3. Disable Hyper-V

If you are using Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise, this error may be caused by Hyper-V which interferes with VirtualBox. We recommend disabling Hyper-V when using Genymotion Desktop.

Please refer to Genymotion Desktop and Hyper-V (Windows 8/8.1/10) for more details.

4. Fix possible Host-only interface bugs

Method 1: Disable and re-enable VirtualBox Host-only interface

There may be an issue with VirtualBox Host-Only interfaces. To fix this, please follow these instructions:

  1. Open Windows Settings > Network & Internet > Change adapter options
  2. Right-click on VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
  3. Select Disable
  4. Right-click on the interface again and select Enable

Fix_Host_only_interface.gif

Method 2: Re-install VirtualBox Host-only interface driver

If the above doesn't work for you, try the following:

  1. Open Windows Settings > Network & Internet > Change adapter options
  2. Right-click on VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
  3. Click on Properties and then Configure
  4. Click on the Driver tab
  5. Click on Update Driver
  6. Select Browse my computer for drivers. Now choose Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer.
  7. Select VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter from the list and click on Next.
  8. Click Close to finish the update

Method 3: Remove all the VirtualBox Host-only interfaces

If it still doesn't work and you have more than one or two VirtualBox Host-only Ethernet Adapter, remove all the VirtualBox Host-Only interfaces:

  1. Open VirtualBox
  2. Go to File > Host Network Manager...
  3. Remove all the VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
  4. Run Genymotion

Remove-host-only.gif

5. Upgrade VirtualBox

    1. Uninstall VirtualBox
    2. Download VirtualBox 6.1.30 from here
    3. Right-click on VirtualBox installer and select Run-as-Administrator, even if you are the administrator
    4. Reboot your PC
    5. Run Genymotion Desktop

6. Downgrade VirtualBox

Warning

  • VirtualBox 6.0.24 is no longer maintained by Oracle. This solution should only be used as a last resort.
  • VirtualBox 6.0.24 is not compatible with Windows 11.
    1. Download VirtualBox 6.0.24 for Windows hosts here
    2. Uninstall your current VirtualBox and reboot your PC
    3. Right-click on VirtualBox 6.0.24 installer and select Run-as-Administrator, even if you are the administrator
    4. Reboot your PC
    5. Run Genymotion Desktop

Switch to Genymotion SaaS (Cloud)

If none of the above helped, your Windows OS installation or user account may have parameters which are not compatible with VirtualBox. To avoid re-installing Windows entirely or using a different PC/OS, you may consider switching to our Genymotion SaaS cloud solution:

  • Genymotion SaaS does not require any 3rd party software - you just need a modern web browser
  • It has the same features as Genymotion Desktop
  • It can be accessed from anywhere with any computer with a working network connection
  • It is compatible with most IDE, such as Android Studio or VSCode, via ADB

For more information, feel free to visit our website at https://www.genymotion.com/ and Genymotion SaaS user guide.

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