Deleting User Account has now taken 24 Hours, Why?

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Level 1

7 points

Deleting User Account has now taken 24 Hours, Why?

How long should it take for a user account without admin privileges take to delete? I recently created a user account for our Son to use on the iMAC to edit some photo's (375 JPEGs nothing else). He had been using iPhoto, Elements 11 and Google Chrome, nothing else. After two weeks I wanted to remove the account. I have done nothing special, just a normal account delete via Users and Groups within System Preferences, unfortunaley I note that the selection for delete securly was set by default. I have now been waiting for over 24 hours for this very small user account to delete. How much longer am I likely to wait, can I stop the process and deselect the secure delete feature? Thank you. Oh and I have over 1TB free on the iMAC drive.

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Oct 28, 2013 11:29 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 12, 2015 12:01 AM in response to mende1

Thanks Mende1

I think I know where it went wrong... Once is did the alt command esc ... I went back to delete the user again. this time I left system preferences unlocked until the operation was complete, then I locked it. It took about two minutes but went through fine.

So it seems I lock the system preferences too soon.

many thanks

Kim Hamilton

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Answer 2

mende1

Level 10

93,618 points

Oct 28, 2013 11:32 AM in response to Tigeragon

Welcome to Apple Support Communities

A secure delete takes much more time, and depending on the secure erase mode Mac OS X is using, it may take more or less. Some secure erase modes may take a day, depending on the amount of files to delete.

I recommend you to wait a bit more. If you see that the process doesn't finish or that it's stuck, use Force Quit (press Alt, Command and Esc keys) to close System Preferences, restart and try to delete the user again. If it doesn't appear in System Preferences > Users & Groups, check if it's in /Users, and if so, delete it

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Answer 3

Jul 16, 2015 8:09 AM in response to Kim Sharon

Thanks for the information. I had the same thing happen. I locked changes too soon. I forced quit, saw that the user was gone out of Users. When I opened Sys Pref back up, the old user was gone.

Thanks!

Bill F

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Answer 4

Tigeragon Author

Level 1

7 points

Oct 28, 2013 12:21 PM in response to mende1

Hi Mendel, thank you for your fast response. I shall keep the mac going again overnight with sleep disabled, I do not wish to disturb the mac if it has not got stuck by doing a force quit. I do note that from browsing the drive, that the specific user account folders have been removed already. I shall let you know how things are tomorrow.

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Answer 5

mende1

Level 10

93,618 points

Oct 28, 2013 12:32 PM in response to Tigeragon

Tigeragon wrote:

I do note that from browsing the drive, that the specific user account folders have been removed already.

In this case, I would close System Preferences, as everything has been deleted

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Answer 6

Nov 3, 2015 1:43 AM in response to Kim Sharon

Hello,

I am wanting to delete this account. Please assist me in anyway you can by posting the steps on how to download it thanks

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