this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2025
7 points (100.0% liked)

macOS

1132 readers
1 users here now

The home for all things macOS on LW.

Rules:

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
kylewritescode@lemmy.world
7
Undeletable files (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by TomMasz@lemmy.world to c/macos@lemmy.world
13 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I've got a couple of files (empty directories) in the Trash I can't delete. I own them, the mode is 777 and whether I use Empty Trash or use rm from the command line (with sudo or running as root) I get "Permission denied". I tried booting into recovery mode and setting csrutil to disabled but that did nothing. Any ideas? It's not the end of the world but every time I empty the trash I have to deal with the dialog box about not being able to delete them.

top 13 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] nicerdicer@feddit.org 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

There was a bug once that affected files which had been write-protected by user. Once a file had been made write-protected, it coudn't be either moved into trash, or be deleted at all - because, it was write-protected. Even fixing file permissions didn't help.

Could it be possible that you moved such a protected file into trash? Try the following command in Terminal:

sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash/* then enter your password. This should empty the trash by force.

Alternatively:

  1. Open Terminal and enter sudo rm followed by a space. Do not press the Enter key afterwards (this is important).
  2. Now open the recycle bin in the dock and drag the files in the recycle bin into the Terminal window.
  3. Press the Enter key and enter your password to confirm. Press the Enter key again.
    .
    Edit: After reading my comment once again: The second sentence should read:
    Once a file had been made write-protected, it coudn't be either moved into trash, or be deleted at all. Even, removing the write-protection by unchecking the tick box in the file information was not possible - because, it was write-protected.
[–] TomMasz@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

None of these worked.

[–] nicerdicer@feddit.org 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'm sorry to hear that. What about another attempt:

  • move the files from Trash onto your Desktop
  • mount a (otherwise empty) thumb drive or a hard disk
  • now move these files onto your thumb drive

Are you able to move the files from your Desktop onto the thumb drive? If not, I'm out of ideas. If yes:

  • open Disk Utility
  • delete (format) the thumb drive in order to get rid of the files.

Perhaps this works. Good luck.

[–] TomMasz@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That didn't work either but the error message said something about needing it to be downloaded. That reminded me it was originally on OneDrive so I put it back when it started, went to the OneDrive site in a browser and was able to delete it from there. Thanks!

[–] nicerdicer@feddit.org 1 points 1 month ago

That's the nasty thing with OneDrive: Usually, your file that you have created is on your computer. So this is considered as "original". A copy of that file is then uploaded into the cloud.

With OneDrive it is reversed. The file you created on your computer probably is saved to OneDrive immediately, making this the original file. On your computer there is just a copy that acts as an alias.

If you have Microsoft Office as a stand-alone version (e.g. home or student version) installed on your computer, go settings and look where you can change that files are saved onto your computer in order to avoid this in the future (this might not be an option if you use Office 365, as they do not support to change the save location any longer, as far as i recall).

[–] heavydust@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Have you tried to repair the permissions or the file system from the Disk Utility?

[–] TomMasz@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Yes.

[–] rammjet@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Try booting into Recovery and use Terminal to rm -rf.

[–] TomMasz@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Did that, as mentioned in the question.

[–] rammjet@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You said you disabled SIP in Recovery. You did not say you actually tried to delete from Recovery.

[–] TomMasz@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I did indeed try deleting them from Recovery with no success.

[–] rammjet@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Try: sudo chflags nochg the_file

Then try to delete the_file

[–] TomMasz@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

The command should be nouchg and it didn't do anything.