Trash won't delete files, says they're "in use"

BWCampbell wrote:
Hoping it is a one time fix.

It should be.



-mj

Does not work for me. Created mail, tried to deleted the screenshot attachment I used and a warning that item will be deleted immediately and that I cannot undo the action. OK, not happy with this but if I choose to Delete any way I get the usual MessageBox that the item is in use and the operation not completed. So now I cannot trash the attachment because of the first warning unless I shut down Mail and I cannot retrieve the file.

Anyway of reversing the sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash

Ignore my previous machine & OS Spec, now amended to read 10.6.2 and MacBook Pro.

So, to test you are creating an email attachment then trying to use your Desktop Trash to delete it? Why your Desktop trash, it wasn't intended intended for email?

Try your Trash with a file or folder you've created on the desktop.
After you copied the command at the prompt, pressed enter and wait for the prompt to return to a fresh line? Were you closed out of System Prefs.

The symptom you describe now, sounds like permissions.
Choose your Home folder and "Get Info" (command-i). Under "Sharing & Permissions" be sure you have "Read & Write" privilege.

Let us know.




Message was edited by: macjack

bdobson wrote:
If you have repaired permissions, double checked that no programs are running. Even rebooted and it is still there you could try holding down the Option key while you empty trash. That should force it to empty, in use or not.

Exactly. That usually works for me.

No, I saved a screenshot of my desktop to use as an attachment and it is this that will not delete, which is the same problem being encountered in the first place. Created a mail using the said attachment and sent to my other email account, now tried to delete the file on my desktop (that was used as the attachment) and the errors previously mentioned occur. This is why I am looking to reverse the sudo command you gave.

"Warning that item will be deleted immediately and that I cannot undo the action. OK, not happy with this but if I choose to Delete anyway I get the usual MessageBox that the item is in use and the operation not completed".

Hope this makes it clearer.

Hi Eddie,

I posted this advice to the OP alansky1. You came in with a trash problem that was not the same as the OP, took my solution and ran with it.

You never mentioned the nature of your problem until after you tried rebuilding the Trash. You cannot undo the command, but you can run the command again. In effect, it is an undo command. What it does is return your Trash to default.

The nature of your problem indicates permissions. When you run "Repair Permissions" it doesn't touch anything in your Home folder. Those you have to fix either by hand or via a utility on your install disk.

Please begin a new thread on this topic. This one is too crowded, you'll get quicker responses and there'll be no confusion about what your problem is.

You can post it here, Eddie.
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1339



-mj