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sudo rm -rf

RoadRuner

RoadRuner

Suspended
Original poster
Dec 20, 2020
7
0
Vienna
Hello,
in my trash there are old and EMPTY 0kb folders from a Time Machine backup.
Apparently, my system has particularly "fallen in love" with them and refuses to delete them with the trash message: "The operation could not be completed because the object "Library old" is in use."
Neither after rebooting in safe mode, nor a terminal command: sudo rm -rf lets delete the folders.
Terminal message reads:

rm: illegal option -- /
usage: rm [-f | -i] [-dPRrvW] file ...
unlink file
Also a renaming doesn't help... I'm at the end with my "Latin" ;-)
Please for your help, I am NOT a specialist!!!
Bildschirmfoto 2020-12-20 um 19.59.18.png
 
MacBird said:
I had this problem with an installer file that was always listed as 'in use' and could not be deleted. The only way to fix it was disabling SIP: https://developer.apple.com/documen...ling_and_enabling_system_integrity_protection
Click to expand...
thank you very much for this tip, has helped!!! BUT.... now everything is deleted without name and only with warning ... "Do you really want to delete XY? Although in the Finder the warning is disabled and delete objects after 30 days enabled... !?
Bildschirmfoto 2020-12-21 um 02.09.02.png
Bildschirmfoto 2020-12-21 um 02.12.06.png
 
MacBird said:
Have you re-enabled SIP? This is an important step after deleting items.
Click to expand...
Yes I did, right after the reboot under "csrutil disable", to my surprise the trash was already empty. In the same minute I restarted in recovery mode as described and executed the command "csrutil enable"...
 
Does it make a difference if you check 'show warning before emptying the trash'? I'm wondering if you changed a setting with those other sudo commands. If it really bothers you, you might have to reinstall the OS.
 
MacBird said:
Does it make a difference if you check 'show warning before emptying the trash'? I'm wondering if you changed a setting with those other sudo commands. If it really bothers you, you might have to reinstall the OS.
Click to expand...
No, that's not why I'm going to reset the system ;-) But it's just annoying... It makes no difference at all in Finder - Preferences - Advanced - whether the items:

"Ask before emptying" or
"delete after 30 days"

are checked or not ;-) What the heck, the most important thing for me was the possibility to get the recycle bin empty again!

If you could still tell me which useful things there are to make the Mac life easier?

In this sense greetings from Vienna and thanks for your help and the associated time!
Michael
 
MacBird said:
It also depends on the macOS version, in Big Sur 'delete immediately' is not available by default, just 'move to trash'. If you want to see a discussion of the feature, here is a link: https://osxdaily.com/2015/11/23/delete-files-immediately-bypass-trash-mac-os-x/ and here is a link how to disable the 'delete immediately' in Terminal: https://www.macworld.com/article/30...-from-deleting-trashed-files-immediately.html

Viele Grüße nach Wien!
Click to expand...
... aaah no, have ancient OSX system look here:
Bildschirmfoto 2020-12-21 um 22.00.11.png
 
Yay it worked, that was my Christmas present, thank you so much!!! This helped: "sudo rm -ri ~/.Trash" then logged out and logged in voila!
AND the Finder settings for warning and deletion 30 days also work! ;-)
I really appreciate your efforts MacBird!
 
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