Unable to empty trash after upgrading to Lion

I recently updated to 10.7 Lion and now cannot empty my trash either by right-clicking and selecting empty trash and also accessing the Finder menu and selecting empty trash or secure empty trash. I can hear the standard empty trash sound clip but all files and folders still remain in the trash and the trash icon remains full.

Any clues?

I verified and repaired disk permissions after updating to Lion and then downloaded the remaining software updates.

I've run out of ideas.

Any help would be appreciated.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Jul 23, 2011 11:19 AM

36 replies

BrieCam

Level 1

0 points

Feb 20, 2012 6:58 AM in response to The Architex

I reset PRAM and then unlocked files. Resetting PRAM alone was not successful, but after unlocking files, I was able to empty the trash. Good luck - and thanks all for the tips!

ssorgs@

Level 1

4 points

Mar 5, 2012 7:32 PM in response to The Architex

Thanks Architex, Sudo command worked for me. Was able to use secure delete successfully afterwards.

Mar 13, 2012 6:37 PM in response to The Architex

Thanks so much The Architex!! this has been bothering me for 4 months!!

Mar 25, 2012 6:23 PM in response to Moose44

I went to the Apple store today.

The genius simply went to Finder ... Preferences and unchecked "Empty Trash Securely". Then he opened up the trash folder and hit "Empty". The 21k files that were in my trash disappeared immediately.

jezza95

Level 1

1 points

Apr 11, 2012 12:05 AM in response to The Architex

If I empty PRAM, will i loose anything important?

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,090 points

Apr 11, 2012 4:23 AM in response to jezza95

Not much: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1242

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Unable to empty trash after upgrading to Lion