I use El Capitan 10.11.6. I keep getting this alert when I tried to empty the trash:
I've tried all the keyboard combinations to force empty trash. I also use the terminal instructions for Maverick. None worked.
I found these terminal instructions at: https://www.imore.com/how-force-empty-trash-your-mac-using-terminal
I found the following terminal instructions that are supposed to work on El Capitan and Sierra. Please see the pic.
You can also try this:
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on solving Trash issues. You can also try using Trash It! 5.1 to fix the problem. Or you can try this:
Open the Terminal in the Utilities' folder and paste the following at the prompt:
sudo rm -Rf ~/.Trash
Press RETURN. Enter your admin password when prompted. It will not echo to the screen. Press RETURN again.
(Should anyone tell you this is dangerous or unnecessary, please ignore the comment.)
I cannot help with your Admin password. In the Terminal it is not echoed to the window, so, you need to enter it carefully to avoid errors. It is safe to quit Terminal to start over.
You can also try this:
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on solving Trash issues. You can also try using Trash It! 5.1 to fix the problem. Or you can try this:
Open the Terminal in the Utilities' folder and paste the following at the prompt:
sudo rm -Rf ~/.Trash
Press RETURN. Enter your admin password when prompted. It will not echo to the screen. Press RETURN again.
(Should anyone tell you this is dangerous or unnecessary, please ignore the comment.)
I cannot help with your Admin password. In the Terminal it is not echoed to the window, so, you need to enter it carefully to avoid errors. It is safe to quit Terminal to start over.
Fix permissions on Trash folder
Select your Home folder and press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. Be sure you have "read & write" privileges in the Sharing & Permissions panel. Check under "General" panel to be sure it isn't locked. If that is correct, launch the Terminal on the Utilities folder, and at the prompt copy and paste this command:
mkdir ~/.Trash
Press RETURN.
If you get a message that the folder already exists, copy & paste this command:
sudo chown $UID ~/ .Trash
Press RETURN. Enter your admin password (it will be invisible) Press RETURN.
Then copy and paste this command:
chmod u+rwx ~/.Trash
Press RETURN.
Log out and back in, or restart.
Thanks, Kappy, for your prompt reply to my issue!!😕 I could not get Terminal to accept my Admin Password. And now I have a Terminal window with all the instructions. Should I just quit Terminal to wipe the window clean? Enclosed
please find a pic of my Admin page while in Users & Groups.
The "Allow user to administer this computer" is disabled/greyed out, even though the box has a little arrow in it.
It is disabled/greyed out because you only have one user. If you were to uncheck the box, you'd have no admin user.
How to force empty trash using terminal
