I can't delete some folders. it says -- The operation can’t be completed because “untitled folder” needs to be downloaded -- I tried few things from forums but nothing seems to work. pls help as it is so frustrating cos I only now switched to Mac. I have never ever have any problems like this on windows
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 15.1
Also, you may try deleting them with Terminal.
To delete one such folder:
1) open Terminal, and type
"rm -r "
WITHOUT the quotes, but WITH a trailing space; do NOT press enter
2) Drag the folder you want to delete, and drop it on the Terminal window
The command line will look like this:
rm -r /Users/yourname/Desktop/foldername
3) Press enter to run the command
If this gives you an error, copy the error message and paste it here for us to see.
Also, you may try deleting them with Terminal.
To delete one such folder:
1) open Terminal, and type
"rm -r "
WITHOUT the quotes, but WITH a trailing space; do NOT press enter
2) Drag the folder you want to delete, and drop it on the Terminal window
The command line will look like this:
rm -r /Users/yourname/Desktop/foldername
3) Press enter to run the command
If this gives you an error, copy the error message and paste it here for us to see.
DannYnwa wrote:
okey so I did that and it just says :
rm: illegal option -- /
usage: rm [-f | -i] [-dIPRrvWx] file ...
unlink [--] file
This tells me that you did not type the command as indicated.
Options are indicated by a single or double dash.
It would seem that you typed something like
rm -/
This would cause the exact error message that you got.
Say the folder is called "somefolder" and lives on your desktop.
The full command line would then look like this:
rm -r /Users/yourname/Desktop/somefolder
(where, of course, "yourname" would be your actual username (the name of your home folder) and "somefolder" would be the name of the folder that you'd want to delete)
It seems that you may have deleted the "r" and the space, and instead wrote something like
rm -/Users/yourname/Desktop/somefolder
At least, that would explain the error message.
JRo510 wrote:
Same problem on my new MacMini. Actually it is taking all the files from my Documents folder and uploading them to iCloud. Then it just erases the files from my local drive. Annoying because an audio platform I use (UAD Console) defaults to save all the sessions I have accumulated to the local Documents folder. So I had to deactivate iCloud Drive from this computer. I'm guessing the same problem with desktop folders is because of iCloud as well. I am able to delete from Terminal.
That is because "Documents and Desktop in iCloud" was activated - probably without you realizing it, when setting up your mac, you selected that option.
It is not the end of the world.
You can undo this in System Settings.
It is NOT necessary to deactivate iCloud Drive completely.
Just turn this off:
Where are these folders located? Are they being synced to an online service like dropbox, onedrive, or google drive?
Select one of these folders, and press Command-I to open the Info window.
What does it show regarding permissions? It is usually something like the image below.
DannYnwa wrote:
What changed...
Problem seems to accure then i canceled subscripcion to bigger icloud pack, but then again, i deleted everyhting from icloud and icloud is also empty. So not sure what im supposed to do :/
I don't use iCloud so I'm not sure how it works on macOS. But how did you turn iCloud off on macOS?
I believe when you use iCloud on macOS that it relocates the shared/synced folder (or the original one). You may still be seeing the remnants of your iCloud instead of the actual macOS Desktop folder.
Same problem on my new MacMini. Actually it is taking all the files from my Documents folder and uploading them to iCloud. Then it just erases the files from my local drive. Annoying because an audio platform I use (UAD Console) defaults to save all the sessions I have accumulated to the local Documents folder. So I had to deactivate iCloud Drive from this computer. I'm guessing the same problem with desktop folders is because of iCloud as well. I am able to delete from Terminal.
These are just some folders on desktop. I can move in and dele files which are in folder but i cant delete the folder which also seem to be odd. Currently folder is just empty sitting on desktop.
Problem seemed to accure then i canceled subscripcion to bigger icloud pack, but then again, i deleted everyhting from icloud and icloud is also empty. So not sure what im supposed to do :/
No i did not migrate, i basicly created those folders on desktop myself, but now i cant delete them. (Im sure its not locked and it is on write and read)
What changed...
Problem seems to accure then i canceled subscripcion to bigger icloud pack, but then again, i deleted everyhting from icloud and icloud is also empty. So not sure what im supposed to do :/
Correct. I am aware of the Deaktop and Documents sync option. However, in my case it was not selected.
On this topic though I did try to select this option and then deselect it. But it wouldn’t let me select. Upon clicking to select it would instantly zero back to the deselected state.
Did you migrate your Windows user account to the Mac somehow?
Was this folder ever available since you moved to a Mac?
What has changed since the last time you were able to access this folder?
Its read and write and also it is not licked, i checked ot as it was one of the first suggestion in forums. Sadly all settings looks good :/
okey so I did that and it just says :
rm: illegal option -- /
usage: rm [-f | -i] [-dIPRrvWx] file ...
unlink [--] file
Unable to delete folder on my MacBook Air
