Cannot empty trash of a stubborn item

Here's where I am stuck at.

I boot from the Yosemite USB and see -bash-3.2#

I run /sbin/fsck -fy and it runs appropriately and says there are no errors.

/sbin/mount -uw / runs OK without errors, but when I run ls /Users it says there is no folder like Users or something like that.

I run cd .. several times to try and get to the top of the stack and see:

I then run cd Volumes to look in there and see:

So the question is, how does one navigate to your own user folder from "-bash-3.2#" ??? I'm totally befuddled.

If it helps, there are 3 startup disks listed: "Untitled Windows", "OS X Yosemite..." (the Yosemite USB stick purchased discussed above) and "MyComputer Encrypted Disk" (I am assuming it is saying Encrypted Disk since FileVault is enabled).

Much appreciated.

Great tips. Thank you!

1) Tried the option key and same unsuccessful result.

2) Was intrigued by this text in your link since in my ignorance I think this is where the problem lies:

Does the file or volume have special characters?
Usually, Mac OS X can delete files whose names contain special characters, but sometimes you might need to follow this advice.

1. Note the name of the volume which the files are being deleted from. If you are not sure of the item's location, you can verify that by selecting it then choosing Show Info from the File menu. If the name of the volume contains any special ASCII characters, such as a bullet or trademark character, temporarily rename the volume so that it does not contain these characters.
   Example: If you cannot delete files from a volume named "·Dox", rename the volume to "Dox". After the Trash is empty, restore the volume's original name as desired.
2. Examine the name of the files or folders you cannot delete. They should not contain a solidus ("slash", "/") character or any other special ASCII character such as a trademark, quotation mark, or copyright symbol. If the file does, remove the special character or slash from its name, then delete it.
   Example: If you cannot delete a file named "Things/stuff", rename the file to just "t", then delete it.

But even under Get Info it still doesn't let me change the name- I get the same error message as when I try and change the name in Finder.

3) Tried the nuclear option and unfortunately this still doesn't work:

[mycomputername:~] myusername% sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash*

Password:

rm: /Users/myusername/.Trash/MSU/Acute calcific periarthritis␀/1009964.jpg: Invalid argument

rm: /Users/myusername/.Trash/MSU/Acute calcific periarthritis␀: Invalid argument

rm: /Users/myusername/.Trash/MSU: Directory not empty

rm: /Users/myusername/.Trash: Directory not empty

[tw-g4-home:~] myusername%

4) Tried the "Really Stuck" as well as usual options of TrashIt with no luck.

It seems like the weird character at the end of this phrase is causing the difficulty, but it's a Catch 22 since one cannot change nor delete this character for love nor money!!!

OK, got a great little USB with Yosemite on it from Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00S4ZIO88/ref=cfb_at_prodpg

Then booted from it and opened terminal.

The command line prompt read: -bash-3.2# (means nothing to me!)

Did ls -l and it showed:

.forward Library

Did rm -rf /Users/UID/.Trash/MSU and nothing happened

Did cd /Users/UID/.Trash/MSU and it said "no such file or directory" or something like that.

So my questions are:

1. How does one navigate to the Trash folder in my user account?
2. Does having Fireguard turned on impede this in any way?

Again, thank you so much!!!

Thanks again for taking the time to reply!

That's a great thought. The problem file/folder did indeed come from a disk image, so I was very hopeful with your suggestion. So I mounted that disk image, and now I have two copies of the problem file/folder in my trash 🙂

And trying to empty the trash gives the same set of problems as it tries to delete each of the two copies, again with no luck at the end of the day.

Looks like we found a real bug, and not sure how to fix it.

Great detailed answer; thank you so much!!!

Booting from a Yosemite (or earlier) USB stick will really challenge my quite basic computer skills, so if you think of anything easier I'd really appreciate it. But will try this next W/E if I can figure out how to do so and post back.

Much appreciated!

All always, thanks much for advice and guiding me through this!

I can't seem to get the terminal lines above to work, likely cuz I don't know the terminology.

You list:

cd /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/Users/yourshortname/.Trash

But in terminal the terms used on my computer are: [text1:~] text2%

I'm assuming that "text2" goes into "yourshortname", but where do I put "text1"?

Also, is there a space between \ and HD in "Macintosh\ HD" above, or is this a mistake and there should be no space?

Much appreciated.

Woo hoo/ Solved! Thanks to all for their help, especially Viking regarding the bootable, Yosemite USB Stick.

The final trick necessary was to decrypt the disk (i.e., turn off FileVault). Once that was done you could boot from the Yosemite USB stick, then use "cd .." and "ls" repeatedly to rise to the top level, then navigate back down to the now available (unencrypted) drive using cd "directory name" and finally get to .Trash. Once there the remove command worked like a charm.

This was a lot of work but fun learning stuff. Again, appreciate all who chimed in with hints!

Nope unfortunately. With disk mounted I see the multiple copies, with disk ejected # of file goes down to just one file per above. But delete fails in either situation. Frustrating!