Cannot delete gnutar file from Trash

Question

Level 1

8 points

Cannot delete gnutar file from Trash

After I updated to the latest OS, I found a new "Previously Relocated Items" folder. I deleted this folder, but for some reason I cannot permanently delete this folder from my Trash. The only file in here is a "gnutar" file, and when I try to delete it, I get the following message: "'gnutar' can't be modified or deleted because it's required by macOS."

After some online research, I tried deleting this file by typing the following into Terminal, but this did not work.

rm -f /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/Users/[myusername]/.Trash/Previously\ Relocated\ Items/Security/usr/bin/gnutar

Any help appreciated!

Posted on Jan 5, 2021 10:05 AM

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Answer 1

MoonJ.

Community Specialist

Jan 7, 2021 1:05 PM in response to labesamis

Thanks for posting in the Apple Support Communities labesamis,

We understand you're unable to empty your trash, due to a message stating a file contained in Trash is needed by the system. We'll be happy to help!

First, have you tried restarting your Mac normally since encountering the message? This may seem like a simple step, but the reason it's relevant, is macOS won't typically use items that are in the Trash. So you may be able to empty the trash normally after restarting if that hasn't yet been done.

The following page offers some additional steps, including restarting your Mac in safe mode: If you can't empty the Trash on your Mac

If the behavior persists, we recommend connecting with an Apple technical expert here: Contact Apple Support

Cheers!

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Answer 2

Mapache

Level 1

13 points

Jan 8, 2021 6:45 PM in response to labesamis

I have the exact same problem. Went to clean up a pile of "Previously Relocated Items", and there's a gnutar alias from 2015 which the computer refuses to delete, even after a restart, and trying to "sudo rm" it still gives "rm: gnutar: Operation not permitted" even though I'm an admin and it lists its permissions as writable:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root wheel 12B Jan 4 2015 gnutar -> /usr/bin/tar

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