Oct 25, '02 09:51:01AM • Contributed by: Anonymous
To me, an installer's request that I please close everything and reboot is like my office supply store saying "Please clear everything off your desk to use your new legal pad." However, it turns out that it is possible to avoid reboots even after installing new kernel extensions! (I'll leave higher-level cop-outs, like manually launching startup items, as an exercise to the reader.)
As with any process requiring root privileges, there's plenty of room to hose your system to the point of needing a forced reboot (or maybe worse if you're creative), so use discretion, keep backups, and don't blame me. If you know what you're doing, though, this can save you a lot of reboots.
By way of example, I'll use my recent upgrade from v2.1 to v3.1 of the MS IntelliPoint driver:
- Save all your open stuff in case you blow your machine away.
- Quit any programs that are likely to be using the old version of the kernel extension. For instance, I used ProcessViewer and the kill command to quit MicrosoftMouseHelper.
- Become the root user, and unload the old kernel extension. If you don't have the root account enabled, you probably shouldn't be trying this anyway.
% su
% kextunload MicrosoftMouse.kext/ - Run the MS IntelliPoint installer (or the installer you're dealing with).
- Load the new version of the kernel extension which the installer just plopped into your /System -> Library -> Extensions folder:
% kextload MicrosoftMouse.kext/
- Don't reboot! Enjoy your new extension! :-)
