Can't delete DivX Player

Question

Can't delete DivX Player

I have DivX Player 2.0 and can't seem to get rid of it. When I migrated from my PowerBook to this computer, it 'came over' with it.

I was able to delete the preference pane, but even after a safe boot, I am still not able to delete the file. When I try, I get a message saying "The operation can’t be completed because you don’t have permission to access some of the items."

There is no uninstaller I know of.

HELP!!!!

Dual core MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Dec 28, 2009 1:20 PM

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Answer 1

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Dec 28, 2009 1:31 PM in response to Steve Gallisdorfer

what file are you trying to delete that's giving you this error message? the application itself in the main Applications folder?

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Answer 2

Dec 28, 2009 1:34 PM in response to V.K.

Yes... it's "DivX Player.app", as well as an associated ap, "DivX Converter.app".

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Answer 3

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Dec 28, 2009 1:42 PM in response to Steve Gallisdorfer

I don't know why this is happening. we can deal with this of course but first please look for an uninstaller. there really ought to be one. I checked and this app uses an installer and puts various stuff around the system that you have to purge. is there a folder for it in Applications? there could be an uninstaller there.

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Answer 4

Dec 28, 2009 2:08 PM in response to V.K.

There seems to be installers/uninstallers for versions 5 and newer, but this is version 2, and I can't seem to find any for it. I am hesitant to d'load and install the new version to see if THAT will remove old ones, and then get doubly stuck. Is that what you are recommending?

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Answer 5

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Dec 28, 2009 2:22 PM in response to Steve Gallisdorfer

Steve Gallisdorfer wrote:
There seems to be installers/uninstallers for versions 5 and newer, but this is version 2, and I can't seem to find any for it. I am hesitant to d'load and install the new version to see if THAT will remove old ones, and then get doubly stuck. Is that what you are recommending?

no, that's not what I'm recommending. I was talking about looking for an uninstaller currently on your system. as i said, is there a folder for DivX player in the Applications folder? look in there. also look in DivX player menus and Help and in the preference pane DivX installs.
post back if you really can't find anything.

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Answer 6

Dec 28, 2009 2:34 PM in response to V.K.

The pref pane had nothing except 'adjustments' in it, and it also kept crashing the system preferences if you tried changing anything. The aps weren't in any folder... they were just 'loose' in the Applications folder.

When you try to launch DivX, it says "You can't open the application DivX Player.app because it may be damaged or incomplete."

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Answer 7

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Dec 28, 2009 2:50 PM in response to Steve Gallisdorfer

Steve Gallisdorfer wrote:
The pref pane had nothing except 'adjustments' in it, and it also kept crashing the system preferences if you tried changing anything. The aps weren't in any folder... they were just 'loose' in the Applications folder.

When you try to launch DivX, it says "You can't open the application DivX Player.app because it may be damaged or incomplete."

ok then manual deletion it is. look in the following locations and delete anything DivX related:
/Library/Application support
/Library/preference panes
/library/frameworks
/Library/Internet plugins
/Library/Quicktime
Here /Library is the Library folder at the top level of the drive, not in your home directory.
and of course delete the DivX application from the main Applications folder. do it from an admin account. then it should let you do it but will ask for your admin password.

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Answer 8

Dec 28, 2009 3:48 PM in response to V.K.

All a no go. Here is the result of attempting to do this:

/Library/Application support= +Can't be deleted, as it reports "The operation can’t be completed because you don’t have permission to access some of the items."+

/Library/preference panes= +Can't be deleted, as it reports "The operation can’t be completed because you don’t have permission to access some of the items."+

/library/frameworks= +Can't be deleted, as it reports "The operation can’t be completed because you don’t have permission to access some of the items."+

/Library/Internet plugins= +Can't be deleted, as it reports "The operation can’t be completed because you don’t have permission to access some of the items."+

/Library/Quicktime= +Can't be deleted, as it reports "The operation can’t be completed because you don’t have permission to access some of the items."+

I am logged in as THE administrator, and have checked the individual files/folders permissions, and I have 'Read & Write' privileges.

Now what do you suggest?

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Answer 9

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Dec 28, 2009 3:52 PM in response to Steve Gallisdorfer

just to clarify, you are not trying to delete the actual folders /Library/Application support
/Library/preference panes
/library/frameworks
/Library/Internet plugins
/Library/Quicktime

you are only trying to delete the DivX player stuff inside those folders, right?

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Answer 10

Dec 28, 2009 3:58 PM in response to V.K.

That's correct. For example, in /Library/preference panes I am trying to delete the file "DivX.prefPane".

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Answer 11

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Dec 28, 2009 4:00 PM in response to Steve Gallisdorfer

I don't know what's going on then. something seems to be wrong with your user account. make a new admin account, log into it and try deleting from there.

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Answer 12

Dec 28, 2009 4:20 PM in response to V.K.

OK, that worked just fine. But it raises another question: Why?

I also see that every file I have deleted on my admin account is not in the trash... it is deleted immediately. In this user account, the files I just deleted are sitting in the trash, waiting to be emptied. So, how do I either 'fix' the broken user account, or transfer all the files to a new admin account?

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Answer 13

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Dec 28, 2009 4:24 PM in response to Steve Gallisdorfer

I don't know what's happening with your main account. ew can fix the trash on it but I can't explain why you were having all those other authentication issues. try removing admin right from that account and then adding them back. as for trash, log into your main account and run the following terminal command (copy and paste please)


sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash

you'll have to enter your admin password (which you won't see). that's normal. then log out/in and trash should work.

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Answer 14

Dec 28, 2009 4:38 PM in response to V.K.

I did this, and can't tell if the account is working properly or not, but the trash is still 'broken'.

When I go to delete something, I get a window that says:

"Are you sure you want to delete 'file name'", and below that is smaller text that says "This item will be deleted immediately. You can't undo this actions." The command was copied & pasted, and password required, and all went as expected. I logged out, logged back in, and it seems the same.

😟

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Answer 15

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Dec 28, 2009 4:44 PM in response to Steve Gallisdorfer

ok, I don't know what's really happening but let's recreate your main account. log out of it and log into the other admin account you just made. then run the following terminal command


sudo dscl . delete /users/username

put the short user name of your main user (the one that's having all those problems) instead of username in the above command. make sure to get it right. we don't want to delete the wrong thing here. this will delete the directory services entry for that user but not its home directory. restart the computer, log into the other admin user again. go to system preferences-.accounts. unlock the lock at the bottom and create a new admin user with the same short user name as your main user that we just deleted. you'll get a popup saying that a home directory by that name already exists and asking if you want to use it. say 'yes". then log into the newly recreated user and see if it behaves normally.

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