How to remove "restricted" folder?

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Level 1

9 points

How to remove "restricted" folder?

I have an Adobe folder in /Applications/Utilities/ that I need to remove. After upgrading to Catalina (10.15.3) I have a "Adobe Creative Cloud Experience" folder that is read only permissions for my account. (The only account on the system.)

I tried to fix permissions, purge all adobe products, no luck. Spent 2 days with Adobe support and they haven't figured it out. Pictures attached to see the 'restricted' status on this folder. I can't install or update any Adobe product as this folder is used in the install process and then a error is generated. (Error 146)

Any ideas on how to gain access for this folder, or delete it so I can use Adobe products (Not Acrobat stuff) again?

MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.13

Posted on Feb 19, 2020 10:06 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

VTX1800 Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 25, 2020 11:02 PM in response to archienorman

Yes, I fixed the issue. Was a easy 4 min fix:

Turn off your Mac (Apple > Shut Down).
Hold down Command-R and press the Power button. Keep holding Command-R until the Apple logo appears.
Wait for OS X to boot into the OS X Utilities window.
Choose Utilities > Terminal.
Enter csrutil disable.
Enter reboot.

Your Mac will reboot and start up with SIP disabled. You can check the status of SIP by opening Terminal and entering csrutil status. You should see "System Integrity Protection status: disabled."

Delete the folder and restart.

Turn off your Mac (Apple > Shut Down).
Hold down Command-R and press the Power button. Keep holding Command-R until the Apple logo appears.
Wait for OS X to boot into the OS X Utilities window.
Choose Utilities > Terminal.
Enter csrutil enable.
Enter reboot.

Now open Terminal and enter csrutil status to check the status of SIP. It should say "System Integrity Protection status: enabled."

You should be all set now, with the folder deleted and installs will work now without issue.

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Answer 2

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,162 points

Feb 19, 2020 11:19 AM in response to VTX1800

Restricted is a System Integrity Protection (SIP) flag. You would need to disable SIP to remove it. However, On Catalina, part of the system is mounted read only. This includes the built-in applications. I don’t believe it should’ve affected added applications. Since it has the restricted flag, I would imagine it was scooped up by the system and is on the read only Volume.

If that is the case, you would have to boot from another drive and modify the folder from there.

chflags norestricted <path to folder> should remove the flag.

Macintosh HD is the read only system volume, and Macintosh HD - Data is the user Volume.

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Answer 3

HWTech

Level 9

68,792 points

Mar 25, 2020 6:27 PM in response to VTX1800

If you are familiar with the command line, then you can boot into Recovery Mode and use the command line to remove the items. You may still need to disable SIP first. If you are not familiar with the command line then you could easily delete everything on your system so I am not providing any further instructions. Even if you are familiar with the command line be careful as even those extremely familiar with the command line can accidentally delete everything with one typo.

If the items you want to delete are really located on the read-only volume, then the above method or @Barney-15E's suggestion are the only two ways to delete this item. @Barney-15E's method would be the easiest and safest way to accomplish the task with minimal risk to the system.

I highly recommend you have a good verified working backup before attempting any of this just to be safe.

Good luck.

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Answer 4

VTX1800 Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 19, 2020 11:42 AM in response to Barney-15E

Barney, thanks for the reply.

I tried to change the flag, get a 'operation not permitted' error. Sure it is because the folder is read only for me.

Adobe support says it should be accessible to me and it is an Apple problem. Apple says it is locked in the read only side of the drive and is not touchable. Yet it isn't a system folder, it is an application folder created by a user. I suspect it is an Apple issue as they can't explain why it is read only.

So far, both are 'researching' but blame the other for the issue. For now, I am holding off upgrading other systems until I can resolve this, as I do use these products daily for my job. Thankfully I updated my home machine and not my work one.

The exact error from Adobe during install of any could product:

I will give them a few days before I research the best steps to access the read only drive from another system.

Any other ideas or suggestions are appreciated.

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Answer 5

Mar 25, 2020 3:45 AM in response to VTX1800

Hi @VTX1800,

Did you get any updates on this issue? I am facing exactly the same problem.

Many thanks,

Archie

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Answer 6

Mar 26, 2020 5:31 AM in response to HWTech

Thank you both for the help. Up and running again with Adobe. Much appreciated

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How to remove "restricted" folder?

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