Unable to empty lockdown folder

Hi SravanKrA,

As far as I know it is not encrypted; file is not in .dmg folder/file. I am familiar with the steps outlined in the link you sent: that is actually where it seems to be broken. I can unlock the permissions as shown in your link (padlock icon becomes unlocked), but still get "you don't have permissions" when it comes time to actually change them for a particular user group ("everyone" in this case). Nor can I add another user such as my Admin account. I'm not sure how I can have permissions to allow changes, but then lack permissions to actually make these changes...

OK, finally got it: you can't edit the lockdown folder in Catalina: it's in the read-only system partition. However, step 7.4 in this article did the trick: you need to delete the com.apple.finder.plist file in ~/Library/Preferences/, which seems to do the same thing as emptying the lockdown folder without mucking in the system files directly.

FWIW, I also had a file names com.appl.finder.plist.59wiq1C in that directory which may or may not have been an old/corrupted version; I deleted it as well. Once done I plugged the phone in and it worked fine; I just had to go through the "Trust this device" routine again.