Delete a few user files from Single User Mode

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Level 3

881 points

Delete a few user files from Single User Mode

Hello! I'm trying to provide support to a user that has a 2017 iMac. They are running Catalina and I am having a heckuva time trying to direct them remotely to remove a few files off of their system drive which is COMPLETELY full.

We navigate to the file which is in a sub folder on the desktop with no problem. However, when I use the rm command (even with -rf), we get an error starting that the volume is read only and the files remain. I tried starting the command with sudo and that didn't help.

So, can someone please tell me, from start to finish, the command we should be using to delete user files? I thought it would be as simple as navigating to the files and using rm. I feel kinda dumb now.

Thanks

Posted on Jun 22, 2020 3:28 PM

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Answer 1

r_scheid Author

Level 3

881 points

Jun 22, 2020 4:02 PM in response to Barney-15E

Yes, I am in single-user mode. Not simply terminal from within a user session.
I strongly doubt FileVault was enabled as we were able to fully browse the volume and even navigate to the files on his desktop that we wanted to remove.
I suspected the issue might have to do with the fact that I missed a step to mount the drive as read/write. How should I go about mounting his Macintosh HD volume as read/write?
Perhaps a foolish question, however, I'm not attempting to delete files off of the system volume, which I know to be read only. Why would the user folder, on the Macintosh HD-data volume be read only?

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Answer 2

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,620 points

Jun 22, 2020 3:41 PM in response to r_scheid

Are you actually in Single-User mode?

If it says the volume is mounted read-only, there is no level of permissions that can allow you to delete from a read-only volume.

Was FileVault enabled? Did you Mount the drive as read/write?

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Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,620 points

Jun 22, 2020 4:36 PM in response to r_scheid

Did you get into Single-User mode with Cmd-S and getting text terminal screen?

If so, you need to run this command to mount the drive read/write:

/sbin/mount -uw /

If you got to Single-User mode by booting into Recovery and using Terminal, you have to first go into Disk Utility and mount the drive. That is normally only required if you have FileVault enabled.

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Answer 4

r_scheid Author

Level 3

881 points

Jun 22, 2020 4:47 PM in response to Barney-15E

I'll give that a try. I got into Single-User mode through Cmd-S. Before I do this, is his desktop located at Users/UserName/Desktop? or System/Volume/Users/UserName/Desktop?

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