Item in Trash cannot be trashed??

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FunkyPurple

macrumors newbie

Original poster

• Sep 23, 2004

• #1

It says the operation cannot be completed because the item is locked. I've searched hi and low to find a way to unlock the file but I haven't been able to. What should I do? 😕

 

yellow

Moderator emeritus

• Sep 23, 2004

• #2

Hold down Option and then select Empty Trash from the Finder menu.

 

iLikeMyiMac

macrumors 6502a

• Sep 23, 2004

• #3

When I get that I usually try a secure empty trash. I don't know why but it seems to work.

 

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coconn06

macrumors regular

• Sep 23, 2004

• #4

FunkyPurple said:

It says the operation cannot be completed because the item is locked. I've searched hi and low to find a way to unlock the file but I haven't been able to. What should I do? 😕

Click to expand...

Worse comes to come, just open up the Terminal and type "rm -rf ~/.Trash/*" which will delete all items in your trash. Or "rm -rf ~/.Trash/file" to delete only the file or directory "file" from the Trash.

 

yellow

Moderator emeritus

• Sep 23, 2004

• #5

coconn06 said:

Or "rm -rf ~/.Trash/file" to delete only the file or directory "file" from the Trash.

Click to expand...

For the record, the -r flag isn't needed if it's a single file. The -r flag is for recursively removing given directory hierarchy.

 

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coconn06

macrumors regular

• Sep 23, 2004

• #6

yellow said:

For the record, the -r flag isn't needed if it's a single file. The -r flag is for recursively removing given directory hierarchy.

Click to expand...

That's why I said file OR directory. I included -r to cover both cases. Next time read what I wrote (you even quoted it!) before commenting.

 

yellow

Moderator emeritus

• Sep 23, 2004

• #7

coconn06 said:

That's why I said file OR directory. I included -r to cover both cases. Next time read what I wrote (you even quoted it!) before commenting.

Click to expand...

Yep, see that now. Decaf. Seriously. Try it.

 

t300

macrumors 6502a

• Sep 23, 2004

• #8

Most of the time you can just restart and then it will let you delete it.

 

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FunkyPurple

macrumors newbie

Original poster

• Sep 24, 2004

• #9

I tried the 'hold down option' suggestion first and it worked like a charm. Thanks Yellow for that one and thanks to everyone else for your suggestions. I love this site! 😀

 

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Espnetboy3

macrumors 6502

• Sep 29, 2004

• #10

there is also a program called delete it on versiontracker that has worked flawlessly for me a few times. But option delete is easier.