iCloud Drive: 'Resource busy' error removing downloads

I get the same "Resource is busy" alert when trying to "Remove Download" if that .pdf is open in Preview.app. So quit any app that might have opened the file.

It's quite clear what you're trying to do. I thought that my question was also quite clear-- you just look in System Settings>General>Storage and see if you have more than 10% of your storage free. It just doesn't seem to be such a hard thing to answer that I should have to ask 3 times.

The Mac is doing all sorts of things at once, many in the background, and they require free storage space in order to manipulate files. Your request to Remove Download will require more of that space. Without enough free storage, you can't even delete files. While Apple recommends that we keep 10% free, I have seen strange behavior when I've had less than 15% of my storage free, less than 150 GB free of 1 TB, which cleared up when I freed up space. So, to eliminate this possibility, can you try to let us know if you have less than 10% of your storage free?

So you trying to "Remove Download" i.e. just remove the local complete file from your Mac BUT leaving it in iCloud Drive web so the Mac has only a zero byte placeholder for that file, right? So you are NOT trying to delete that file completely, right?

I have occasionally had similar glitch that was fixed by fiddling with related options like "Keep Downloaded" and then choosing the desired option. Notice that iCloud Drive limits some such operations to max 10 similar objects (folders, similar files etc) at a time. A detour to safe mode might also help.

What happens if you re-boot into Safe Mode?

 Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support 

WilliamL wrote:

No, the files are not open in any application. I found a .png that exhibits the same behavior. I don't know what the png and the pdfs have in common.

I tested also a locked file and it did not trigger this issue.

Maybe an EtreCheck report would give use some clue what might cause this. Follow the instructions below and post the report:

Using EtreCheck to Troubleshoot Potential… - Apple Community

Here is the report.

<EtreCheck report.log>

Thanks.

> Insufficient permissions - EtreCheck running under a standard user. Diagnostic information may not be available.

Full Disk Access is recommended when running EtreCheck so that report misses those details.

> Antivirus software: Apple and Intego

I'd recommend uninstalling Intego. macOS built-in anti-virus is all you need. 3rd party virus apps and "cleaners" only produce obscure errors.

I'd also uninstall DuckDuckGo VPN. VPN is usually not needed unless the work or school so requires to be able to connect.

A few months ago Little Snitch caused some trouble in updated macOS but AFAIR that was fixed in later Little Snitch version.

I let others chime in if they notice something in that report.

It could be a storage problem. Do you have at least 10% of your Mac's storage free? Do you have at least 10% of your iCloud storage free?

WilliamL wrote: … Thanks for writing back. No it is not a storage problem. I have 200GB of iCloud Drive space and I am only using less than half, of which iCloud Drive is only using 6%. And I am not trying to add a "new" document or file; I am simply trying to remove the local version from my Mac. The file/document is already in my iCloud Drive.

My question was about your storage situation, especially on the Mac. Do you have at least 10% of your Mac's storage free?

From your uploaded file:

VPNs:

[Loaded] DuckDuckGo VPN Network Extension - /Applications/DuckDuckGo.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/DuckDuckGo VPN.app

[Loaded] PacketTunnel - /Applications/VPN Unlimited.app

[Loaded] WireguardPacketTunnel - /Applications/VPN Unlimited.app

Looks like your Applications folder.