How do I delete a "System Integrity Protection"'d file?

Question

How do I delete a "System Integrity Protection"'d file?

When I empty my Trash, there's one item left, a folder labeled "Applications". I get this error message when I try to empty trash:

I've tried changing the permissions on it. I've looked for "Force Empty Trash", which apparently no longer exists in MacOS Sierra. I tried right-clicking on the folder and choosing Delete Immediately, which resulted in the file disappearing when I answered the "Are You Sure You Want To Do This" question, then reappearing less than a second later.

Mac mini, macOS Sierra (10.12), 10.12.2, boots fr 120 GB SSD

Posted on Jan 10, 2017 10:46 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Jan 10, 2017 4:10 PM in response to Russ Kirkpatrick

In order to delete a file protected by System Integrity Protection you can disable it. However, before I tell you how, I'd check your trash and make sure that what you are trying to delete is what you think it is. System Integrity Protection was designed to keep your computer safe so that you can't accidentally delete something important. If you are absolutely sure of what you are deleting, then you can disable System Integrity Protection by booting into the recovery of your Mac. This is done by rebooting and holding Command + R. If That fails you can also boot Internet Recovery by holding Command + Option + R at boot. Once in recovery go to Utilities > Terminal. In the terminal run this command: "csrutil disable" (without the quotes). I'd highly recommend re-enabling it after you are done with whatever you are doing by going back into recovery and running "csrutil enable".

Reply