NTFS-3G with a Macbook Pro 2011

I recently got a 2011 Macbook Pro. It’s my first Mac computer, and so far it’s really great. I was trying to install NTFS write drivers today, but I kept running into an annoying error message:

/Library/Filesystems/fusefs.fs/Support/fusefs.kext failed to load – (libkern/kext) link error; check the system/kernel logs for errors or try kextutil(8).
the MacFUSE file system is not available (71)

To fix this, you may wish to jump to the solution.

In order to use the NTFS write drivers, you need to install 2 things:

1. First, you must install MacFUSE, which enables developers to extend OS X’s native file handling capabilities
2. Second, you must install NTFS-3G, which provides the NTFS file writing capability

Both of these are completely free to use. The cause of this annoying error message is the fact that MacFUSE is not configured to work with a 64 bit kernel, such as the one that my brand new Macbook Pro 2011 has. As I understand it, previous Macbooks had 64 bit kernels that could also run as 32 bit, but the newest ones only run as 64 bit. Thus MacFUSE could properly work in older Macbooks. My understanding of this issue is cursory at best, so I could easily be wrong about this.

The Solution

The solution is easy enough. A developer who works for Tuxera (the company behind NTFS-3G) has been working on a 64-bit version of MacFUSE, since their product relies on MacFUSE (they sell a scaled up version of NTFS-3G for profit). Tuxera has now released commercially available products that make use of this and work in the 64-bit environment.

You can download this 64-bit compatible MacFUSE here. Open the download, and run MacFUSE Core.pkg. Once it’s done installing, simply install NTFS-3G, and you should be good to go!

Note: if you’ve installed previous versions of MacFUSE or NTFS-3G, I’d recommend uninstalling them first and rebooting. After rebooting, install the 64-bit compatible MacFUSE and then install NTFS-3G. This may not be necessary, but just to be safe.