Removing stubborn files using Terminal not permitted

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smartin2021 Author

Level 1

18 points

Removing stubborn files using Terminal not permitted

Hi, (I'm running Sequoia 15.2...) I'm having to manually clean up an old Wacom installation. There are a few directories that need to be removed but won't delete, even with Admin rights.

I'm not comfortable in the Terminal really but trying both sudo and su rmdir <directory> gives me "Operation not permitted" even when I log in as an Admin.

What do I do? :-)

Thanks

S

(If it matters, the paths in question are:

/Library/Frameworks/WacomMultiTouch.Framework

/Library/Preferences/Tablet

/Library/PreferencePanes/WacomTablet.prefpane

)

Mac mini, macOS 15.2

Posted on Jan 8, 2025 2:54 AM

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Answer 1

smartin2021 Author

Level 1

18 points

Jan 8, 2025 7:18 AM in response to Zurarczurx

Zurarczurx wrote:

Disc doctor - repair disc. I know that Safe Mode should have done this, but the fact that Finder isn't responding correctly (passwords, drag and drop, etc.) points to something else and it's way above my pay grade now. Have you got good backups of everything?

Disk Doctor...? Is that still a thing? I've tried the Drive Utility and even Onyx...

I do have backups but it's more of an issue of getting rid of files :-)

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Answer 2

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,048 points

Jan 8, 2025 4:18 AM in response to smartin2021

What is the error you receive when you move them to the trash and try to empty it?

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Answer 3

smartin2021 Author

Level 1

18 points

Jan 8, 2025 3:17 AM in response to Zurarczurx

Zurarczurx, thanks for responding... Terminal commands give me the sweats too...

The directories are actually already empty. I managed to remove the contents by conventional means but the directories themselves won't shift.

If I do "ls" when in those directories, it confirms that they are empty.

Any other thoughts...?

S

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Answer 4

Zurarczurx

Level 4

2,582 points

Jan 8, 2025 4:20 AM in response to smartin2021

It's empty - the . and .. are normal - they are sort of references to the current and next level up folder - If you do cd . it will stay in the same directory. cd .. will take you up one level.

I'm stuck. They're not taking any space so you could just leave them - although it would annoy my OCD if it were on my Mac. It might be related to the permissions of the folders above. If you're really keen on getting rid of them then you could investigate enabling the root user and try logging in as root to delete them, but in theory sudo should do the same thing and I wouldn't bother if I were you - you can cause all sorts of problems if you mes up when logged in as root.

Someone more knowledgable might be along soon to help. If not give this thread a boot later when the US wakes up or this evening when more people might be on.

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Answer 5

smartin2021 Author

Level 1

18 points

Jan 8, 2025 4:29 AM in response to Barney-15E

There's no error, simply won't move :-) The other two directories are the same...

Something is interfering with a new installation of the Wacom driver, it's failing. I can only thing that these three files might be the issue...

Thanks for your input though! :-)

S

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Answer 6

smartin2021 Author

Level 1

18 points

Jan 8, 2025 4:43 AM in response to Barney-15E

Barney,

There's no sound and it doesn't really move at all when I drag it to the trash, not as you'd expect it to move. Same if I do Command+Backspace. No sound, nothing.

It's as if it never gets to the Trash.

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Answer 7

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,048 points

Jan 8, 2025 6:36 AM in response to smartin2021

smartin2021 wrote:

Barney,

There's no sound and it doesn't really move at all when I drag it to the trash, not as you'd expect it to move. Same if I do Command+Backspace. No sound, nothing.

It's as if it never gets to the Trash.

That doesn’t indicate a permission problem. There is something else going on. My thoughts are you have wasted more time than it is worth. They will have no effect on your Mac unless you need to reinstall the tablet software.

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Answer 8

smartin2021 Author

Level 1

18 points

Jan 8, 2025 6:42 AM in response to Barney-15E

Barney-15E wrote:

smartin2021 wrote:

Barney,

There's no sound and it doesn't really move at all when I drag it to the trash, not as you'd expect it to move. Same if I do Command+Backspace. No sound, nothing.

It's as if it never gets to the Trash.

That doesn’t indicate a permission problem. There is something else going on. My thoughts are you have wasted more time than it is worth. They will have no effect on your Mac unless you need to reinstall the tablet software.

I *do* need to reinstall the software :-) At the moment the new installation fails with no useful error message. The only thing we can think of is to completely clean up the old files...

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Answer 9

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,048 points

Jan 8, 2025 8:40 AM in response to smartin2021

I discovered that there's such a thing as "Directory Utility" How to enable the root user or change the root password on Mac – Apple Support (UK)

*Still* doesn't do the trick...

I told you it wasn’t a permission issue. There is never any reason to enable the root user. Admin-capable users can temporarily elevate their privileges to that of root. root is also not particularly special on macOS.

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