Can't delete an item in trash, says it's in use

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Level 3

587 points

Can't delete an item in trash, says it's in use

Hi

In my attempts to install High Sierra on my external SSD drive, and failing, I moved all downloaded installers I found to trash. Most deleted fine.

However there is one remaining and I can't delete it. I have tried everything that has been said. It says the item is in use, but if you look at the attached image it is an installer app that has a .dmg remaining inside.

None of which are active.

I have tried force empty trash, I have tried fsck -fy, and many more.

Is there a way to find out why it says it's in use? So I can narrow down a process of something?

Any help would be great

Thanks in advance

iMac with Retina 5K display, macOS Mojave (10.14), with Cintiq 27QHD Touch

Posted on Sep 25, 2018 11:07 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Ralph-Johns-UK

Level 9

76,795 points

Sep 26, 2018 1:20 PM in response to Rob Snow

Hi,

Restart the computer.

This will end all apps and processes that are running in the background.

This in turn will break any link from moved items that are "in Use"

Then you will be able to delete it.

9:19 pm Wednesday; September 26, 2018

 iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Sierra)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 MacBookPro 15" 2016 (High Sierra 10.13.x)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 iPhone 6 iOS 11.x and an iPad (2)

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Answer 2

Sep 27, 2018 11:32 AM in response to Rob Snow

Hi,

Unfortunately many people post "I have tried everything" and are not clear what their version of everything is.

I am surprised though that a basic Restart did not do it.

Applications/Utilities and launch the Activity Monitor app.

This will tell you all the processes and Apps that are running.

The process could be the Installer app.

However it could also be a process that runs the "script" that Trashes the Installer once the install is done and it was that that was still running.

"Running Scripts" tends to be the message you might see when and Installer is finishing up.

Thanks for explaining what worked for you.

7:32 pm Thursday; September 27, 2018

 iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Sierra)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 MacBookPro 15" 2016 (High Sierra 10.13.x)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 iPhone 6 iOS 11.x and an iPad (2)

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Answer 3

Rob Snow Author

Level 3

587 points

Sep 26, 2018 10:51 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Hi
You missed the part where I said, I tried everything that's been said. First ploy was to restart. That did nothing. This is what confused me.

I ended up finding a 1Tb HDD to make a clone on, deleted the file on that one as it wasn't the running OS, then I booted from that, deleted it from the MainHD and all was good. That was the only way I could find. Took me a whole day!!

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Can't delete an item in trash, says it's in use

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