Trash Action Has Changed

Question

Trash Action Has Changed

Forever, I have been using Command-Delete to move files to the Trash -- the files were moved instantly where they say until I did an Empty Trash every few days.

A couple days ago, I began having to enter my system password every time I delete a file to trash, whether moving it manually or by keystroke command. Then, after deleting a bunch of files, I look in the Trash and the files are not there; somehow they're already deleted.

My Mac is a one-user/administrator set-up (me), so it's not like I've gotten into another account somehow.

Any ideas on how to avoid this password-enter step when deleting files? And why is the Trash emptied automatically whenever I move a file to Trash?

Thanks!

Mac mini, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4), 8 gigs RAM

Posted on Jul 21, 2013 8:36 AM

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Answer 1

CT

Level 7

24,275 points

Jul 21, 2013 8:41 AM in response to William Kruidenier

Maybe this.

Fixing OS X Empty Trash Permission Error

How to fix the OS X empty trash permissions error

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Answer 2

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Jul 21, 2013 3:32 PM in response to William Kruidenier

1. Triple-click the line below to select it:

~/.Trash

2. Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select

Services ▹ Show Info

from the contextual menu.* An Info dialog should open.

3. The dialog should show "You can read and write" in the Sharing & Permissions section. If that's not what it shows, click the padlock icon in the lower right corner of the window and enter your password when prompted. Use the plus- and minus-sign buttons to give yourself Read & Write access and "everyone" No Access. Delete any other entries in the access list.

4. In the General section, uncheck the box marked Locked if it's checked.

5. From the action menu (gear icon) at the bottom of the dialog, select Apply to enclosed items and confirm.

6. Close the Info window and test.

*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard ( command-C). Open a TextEdit window and paste into it ( command-V). Select the line you just pasted and continue as above.

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Answer 3

Jul 21, 2013 6:12 PM in response to Linc Davis

Thanks for this guidance, Linc.

The Get Info box was already configured as you suggested: Read/Write for me, No Acess for everybody, uncheck the LOCKED box, etc. I didn't have an "Apply to Enclosed Items" option in the gear icon, I guess because there is nothing in the trash.

I am curious about this in the Get Info window: the folder icon representing the trash has a red circle with a minus sign in it in the lower right corner of the folder icon. This is on the small folder icon at the top of the Get Info window and the large folder icon under the Preview section of the Get Info window. Any idea what that red circle with the minus sign means?

After these actions, I tested and nothing has changed. Still require password to empty trash, etc.

Thanks again for your help.

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Answer 4

Jul 21, 2013 6:14 PM in response to CT

CT -- thanks for the links to the articles.

The articles say this was a problem in "Lion," not "Mountain Lion." Does that make a difference when applying the actions in Terminal?

I'm not a programmer or experienced Terminal user -- just wanted to make sure the instructions for fixing this in Lion will also apply to Mountain Lion before I mess something up.

Tx,

William

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Answer 5

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Jul 21, 2013 7:43 PM in response to William Kruidenier

Back up all data.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

ls -@Oaen .T* | open -f -a TextEdit

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).

Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.

Paste into the Terminal window (command-V).

A TextEdit window will open with the output of the command. If the command produced no output, the window will be empty. Post the contents of the TextEdit window (not the Terminal window), if any — the text, please, not a screenshot. The title of the window doesn't matter, and you don't need to post that.

If any personal information appears in the output, anonymize before posting, but don’t remove the context.

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Answer 6

Jul 22, 2013 7:44 AM in response to Linc Davis

Linc,

Following is the output in the TextEdit window following your instructions (I put it in italics):

.TemporaryItems:

total 0

drwxrwxrwt@ 3 501 20 hidden 102 Jul 3 14:11 .

com.apple.FinderInfo 32

drwxr-xr-x+ 25 501 20 - 850 Jul 19 08:32 ..

0: ABCDEFAB-CDEF-ABCD-EFAB-CDEF0000000C deny delete

drwx------ 2 501 20 - 68 Jul 8 19:29 folders.501

.Trash:

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Answer 7

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Jul 22, 2013 8:33 AM in response to William Kruidenier

That output doesn't look complete. Try this:

ls -@Oaen .Tr* | open -f -a TextEdit

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Answer 8

Jul 22, 2013 8:41 AM in response to Linc Davis

That one produced a blank TextEdit window with nothing in it.

WK

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Answer 9

macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

Jul 22, 2013 8:50 AM in response to William Kruidenier

Try it this way...

Choose your Home folder "Get Info" (command-i) and be sure you have "read & write" in the Sharing & Permissions section. Check under "General" section to be sure it isn't locked. If that is correct, launch Applications/Utilities/Terminal and at the prompt copy & paste this command…

mkdir ~/.Trash

Press return.

If you get a message that the folder already exists, copy & paste these commands...

sudo chown $UID ~/ .Trash

Press return.

Enter your admin password (it will be invisible)

Press return.Then enter

chmod u+rwx ~/.Trash

Press return. Log out and back in, or restart.

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Answer 10

Jul 22, 2013 9:11 AM in response to macjack

That worked! I can now delete files with keyboard commands without entering my password. Plus, all the previously deleted files which were not showing up in the Trash are now visible. I was able to Empty Trash with keyboard command -- all is back to normal.

Thanks Linc and MacJack for the help!

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Answer 11

macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

Jul 22, 2013 9:34 AM in response to William Kruidenier

Glad to help! 🙂

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Answer 12

Jerri G

Level 1

4 points

Dec 27, 2013 11:18 AM in response to Linc Davis

Many Thanks, Linc! You solved my problem! - Jerri

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