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I downgraded my MacBook Pro from Sierra back to Yosemite following the online instructions, selecting 'Restore from a Time Machine Backup' and then choosing the most recent backup that occurred before I installed Sierra. This appears to have been suc

I downgraded my MacBook Pro from Sierra back to Yosemite following the online instructions, selecting 'Restore from a Time Machine Backup' and then choosing the most recent backup that occurred before I installed Sierra. This appears to have been successful, and when I now go to the Apple menu and click on 'About This Mac' it does indeed tell me that my MacBook is running under OS X Yosemite, Version 10.10.5. However… Sierra appears to have infected my system nevertheless: (1) my Trash behaves differently (the Empty trash and Secure empty trash options in the File menu are grey, i.e. no longer clickable, and emptying the Trash is done in the new 'Sierra way') and (2) my Time Capsule won't backup automatically anymore. I am really ****** off with this, having tried all sorts of ways to get around these problems. I'm afraid yesterday's answers to my earlier questions about this did not help. It looks as if Sierra has infected my laptop like a virus. How can I get rid of these Sierra features and make my MacBook really run again with Yosemite ONLY?

iMovie '11, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Oct 29, 2016 8:27 AM

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Oct 30, 2016 2:14 AM in response to jaapfromgroningen

Completely restoring a Mac's startup volume from a Time Machine backup erases it first. A complete erasure will removal all remnants of any earlier installations.


Confirm the appropriate selection in the Finder menu > Preferences... Advanced. "Show warning before emptying the Trash" should be selected, assuming that is what you want it to do.


Confirm that you can drag a file to the Trash consistent with the behavior you expect, and that you can empty the Trash without being asked for a password.


If that does not work as described please write back.


Reconnecting to the existing Time Machine backup is another matter that I suggest leaving aside until resolving the above.

Oct 30, 2016 2:27 AM in response to John Galt

Many thanks for your reply. Last night I completely erased my Time Capsule; creating a complete new backup took 9 hours, and when I got up this morning, it was finished; since then, it has done further automatic backups, so this part of the problem appears to have been solved. But the Trash still operates as if running on Sierra, no matter what I do, including selecting "Show warning before emptying the Trash". When I drag an item (e.g. "untitled folder") to the trash, a warning pops up alright; it says: "Are you sure you want to delete "untitled folder"? This item will be deleted immediately. You can't undo this action". This I never had when working with Yosemite, which kept the file to be deleted in the trash until you emptied it manually, which you could do either immediately or by selecting Secure Empty Trash in the Finder menu. This option has disappeared; they are grey and can't be selected anymore. I still don't understand how this is possible, having erased Sierra and downgraded back to Yosemite.

Oct 30, 2016 8:16 PM in response to jaapfromgroningen

I still don't understand how this is possible, having erased Sierra and downgraded back to Yosemite.

Neither do I. The only explanation that makes sense to me is that the problem you describe existed prior to upgrading. I don't know what causes it. Fix it with the following instructions.

I am assuming that you are attempting to delete items on that Mac's startup volume, and not on an externally mounted volume or partition. If that's not the case let me know.


If restarting your Mac does not solve the problem, proceed as follows:


Go to the Finder - click anywhere on your Mac's desktop, and choose File > New Folder.


If a folder appears on your Desktop then continue reading. If not, stop reading.


Open Terminal - it is in your Utilities folder and looks like this


User uploaded file


You can find Terminal by using the Finder's Go menu and choosing Utilities, then double-click the Terminal icon.


Copy (drag or triple-click to select the line) and Paste the following commands into the Terminal window, each one followed by the Return key:


mkdir ~/.Trash


If you get the message "File exists" you can ignore it.


Next Copy and Paste the following line, followed by the Return key:


sudo chown $UID ~/.Trash


This time Terminal will ask for your Admin password - the same one you use when you log in to your Mac. Type it and then press the Return key. What you type will not appear, not even with •••• characters.


Next Copy and Paste the following:


chmod u+rwx ~/.Trash


To summarize the above you will be doing this:


Last login: Wed Feb 12 03:21:53 on ttys000

Johns-iMac:~ john$ mkdir ~/.Trash

mkdir: /Users/john/.Trash: File exists

Johns-iMac:~ john$ sudo chown $UID ~/.Trash

Password: (type your password then press Return)

Johns-iMac:~ john$ chmod u+rwx ~/.Trash

Johns-iMac:~ john$


You will be typing the entries in red exactly as shown.


Quit Terminal.


Drag the empty folder you just created to the Trash, confirm that it appears in the Trash, and that you can empty the Trash without requiring your password.

Oct 31, 2016 7:48 AM in response to jaapfromgroningen

Your User Account has no Trash folder, and its Permissions are such that it will not allow you to create one.


More information is needed. Please open System Preferences > Users & Groups, and click the "lock" icon to authenticate with your login password. Then, select your User Account. Confirm that "Allow user to administer this computer" is selected. It should be grey, meaning you should not be able to modify that setting. If it is different than that, stop there.


Then, control-click your User Account and select "Advanced Options..."


Please describe the entry in the field adjacent to Group: Ideally, please copy and paste what is there in a reply.


Next, please examine the Account Name. In your case, it is probably your name in the window title exactly as posted in your screenshot. If it is not, stop there. Your "Full name" is not relevant to this concern.


Next, please examine the entry in the field adjacent to Home directory: It should also be that exact name, but preceded with /Users/ If it is not, please describe what is different.


Do not make any changes to anything. Click Cancel. Close System Preferences, and describe your results.


Oct 31, 2016 9:26 AM in response to jaapfromgroningen

Resetting permissions in OS X is complicated and I do not know of any single procedure that works in all cases. Start with this simple procedure.


  1. Boot OS X Recovery by restarting the computer while holding the (Command) and r keys with two fingers, while starting your Mac with a third finger. Keep those two fingers where they are until the OS X Utilities screen appears. Then, release those two fingers.
  2. Select Utilities from the menu, then click Terminal.
  3. In the Terminal window that appears, type resetpassword and press Return.
    • The password reset utility window will appear.
    • Do not select a new password.
  4. Instead, click the icon for your Mac's hard disk at the top. From the dropdown below it, select the user account with the problem.
  5. At the bottom of the window, you will see Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs. Click the Reset button.


The reset process may take a couple of minutes. When it finishes quit the programs and restart your Mac.


Then... please repeat the mkdir ~/.Trash procedure you followed earlier. You may get the same results (Permission denied) in which case there is no point in continuing with the rest of those instructions. I will have additional suggestions.

Nov 1, 2016 12:06 PM in response to John Galt

Dear John,

I tried following your suggestions last night (Dutch time), but got stuck at (4). There is no icon for my Mac's hard disk at the top, so can't click it, and opening another window is impossible at that point.

An hour ago, however, my son was here, a computer programmer himself (but one who doesn't have any experience with Apple); he solved the problem by typing in al sorts of things in the Terminal window, too fast for me to reproduce. It took about three minutes. So my old Trash is back now and it functions exactly as it used to.

Thank you very much indeed for your help - I have not the slightest doubt you would have been able to solve the problem just as fast if only you had sat next to me on the couch like my son did. Thank you for all your time!

Sincerely,

Jacobus van Dijk

I downgraded my MacBook Pro from Sierra back to Yosemite following the online instructions, selecting 'Restore from a Time Machine Backup' and then choosing the most recent backup that occurred before I installed Sierra. This appears to have been suc

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