Unable to delete files on desktop

Do the following very carefully. Items will be deleted immediately and not put in the Trash.

1 - Open Terminal

2 - Copy and paste the following to the Terminal window

sudo rm -r

3 - press the space bar

4 - drag an unwanted file or folder to the Terminal window

5 - hit return key

6 - supply an admin password when asked

7 - hit return key again

Encountered this issue on my mom's imac running os 10.6.8. Checking Get Info on the Desktop in Finder showed it was locked. I unlocked it and was able to delete from the Desktop. Not sure how the Desktop got locked to begin with, but thanks for helping solve the issue.

I have the same problem. It's an RAR file with a question mark as the name that appeared there after I was trying to "unzip" RAR files. I was able to delete everything else, but this file still appears on the desktop. It will not delete no matter what I do. I have tried what Neville Hillyer suggested, and even that comes back with "no such file or directory."

Anyone have a suggestion?

Many thanks!

P.S. I read some of the earlier suggestions and just checked, and my desktop is not locked.

Hi William,

First do a Get Info in the Finder to see if that Users Desktop folder is locked.

Solving Trash Problems...

http://thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html

Hi I've tried this, but the file on my desktop won't drag anywhere. Can I try typing in the file name as such: /desktop/filename.pdf without being worried about anything else being deleted?

You'd need to be very careful & use the ~ in front of it, which is short for yourusername's folder.

~/desktop/filename.pdf

Thanks! 🙂

on the terminal prompt: killall finder

after that deleting the file works overhere

I had the same problem and this solved it!
Thx Neville 😉

I used your Terminal directions to delete undeleteable files. Can I drag more than one file at a time?

What if I followed these directions exactly as written and it says "operation not permitted"?

I believe that you must be in an admin account for this to work.

This advice absolutely worked. Remember to encase the file address with quotation marks: " " 🙂

I had the exact same problem - followed all of these tips and nothing solved my problem - by complete accident i then discovered i couldn't save a folder to the desktop either (I know you shouldn't really clutter the desktop so no lectures please)

When i investigated the unable to save problem and waded through all the lectures on why you shouldn't i eventually found someone who had actually read the guys issue and he suggested the following.

Right click on the desktop, go to get info and check that the desktop isn't locked

Really - can it be this simple a fix - well yes it was now i can delete the old folders no problem

Hope this helps

Thank you! This helped me.

Regards,

Fb.