Files locked in trash

I've just deleted 600 gig's of data of an eternal drive and when I try emptying my trash, It wont let me because it says there are locked files.
Please explain?

Legend........ you're worth more money

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Old DOS Game file locked in Trash & on Desktop, can't remove

I recently used an old flash drive that had a ancient DOS game of Mahjong on it. I moved the game to trash and when emptying the Trash, four Tile (.Tis) files from the Mahjong game somehow got locked and, apparently, can't be removed. I dragged one on to the Desktop to attempt another Trash and it stays on the Desktop declaring it is locked and can't be removed.
Any suggestions?

I didn't have the 'Stationery Pad" box on the file I looked at to check the Get Info choices. But after you mentioned it, I had it on a different file I looked at. Being the curious sort, I had to look it up in the Help menu for OS X.
Using files as stationery
You can make a file work like a kind of template or "stationery." When you open a stationery file, a copy of the original is opened. You can edit the copy and save it, but the original file remains untouched.
In the Finder, select the file and choose File > Get Info.
Select the Stationery Pad checkbox.
If you want to change the original, deselect the Stationery Pad checkbox and open the file to make changes. After you have made the changes and saved the file, you can designate it as stationery again using the Info window.
Even the explanation seems a bit confusing. If you edit the copy and save it, where does the saved file go since the original file remains untouched? Seems like a rather useless option to me.
Anyway, glad you got it figured out. Thanks for the greenie!

My iPhoto 11, V 9.4.2, locks up/freezes when I attempt to empty the iPhoto trash bin. Originally, I thought it was due to 800 files in the trash, however, I removed ALL but 5 photos from the trash and it continues to lock up.

My iPhoto 11, V 9.4.2, locks up/freezes when I attempt to empty the iPhoto trash bin.
Originally, I thought it was due to 800+ files in the trash, however, I removed all but 5 photo files from the trash and it continues to lock up. Inititally the "progress" bar would get to about 1/2 way and then it would stop and stall. However, now the progress bar no longer shows a progress line it immediately freezes and locks up. Can anyone help?

You may have damaged the library - Back up your iPhoto library, Depress and hold the option (alt) and command keys and launch iPhoto - rebuild your iPhoto library
LN

Why can't I delete mp3 files from my Trash? They are not locked.

Why can't I delete mp3 files from my Trash? They are not locked. I compressed them into a zip file and then couldn't delete that file either. I've restored them and tried deleting again but no luck. Can anybody please help? iOS 10.8.5

You can't empty the Trash or move a file to the Trash
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.

How do i delete files in my trash that will not delete

I am having trouble deleting files in my trash that will not delete. I tried unlocking locked files but it will not let me unlock them while they are in trash. I also can not pull them back out of trash to unlock. They remain stuck in trash. Please help.

Here's a link that should help resolve your issue:
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html
(BTW...I found this by looking to the right on this board, under More Like This).
Please let us know if this fixes things for you.

Recovered file folder in trash

I have checked the forum and there are similar questions but... please help! still figuring out mac.
Situation: yes, I tried to load someone's copy of Adobe Photoshop which didn't work so I put the application in the trash.
Next, I bought a new Dreamweaver and installed it. All okay. (I suppose this is an Adobe question but when I open Dreamweaver, you get the welcome screen superimposed and see the actual desktop behind it. Don't know if this is normal.)
Now, I get this recovered file in the trash. If I remove it/empty trash, it reappears after starting up the computer. I dragged it to the desktop to open it...it opens with the Dreamweaver and looks blank. It says Zero KB size.
The file is: _xx41a7.TMP
How do I delete this or is this essential to Dreamweaver?
I intend to BUY the photoshop and want to be sure all is okay before installing it.
Thank you. I know I goofed with that photoshop.
(also, on the disk of the second hand Photoshop, I later saw a note: to safely uninstall, double-click the product installer in applications/utilities/adobe installers and select to remove components plus you need to Deactivate the Photoshop by choosing help, deactivate. I thought you could just move the app to the trash).

Nadia1,
I hope that your move over to the Mac has been as great as mine has. But, anyways lets get to the issues. I'm not sure about your superimposed question I've not opened Dreamweaver in a while, but if you mean its opening everything in little windows opposed to in Windows XP or Vista locking all windows into one then yes that is normal.
As for the recovered Files in the trash it is normal and is not. Applications use Temp. Files when they are in use and when the application is done running and is exiting its supposed to delete the files on there own. Sometimes they don't and when the computer restarts Mac moves the files to the trash. Its ok for you to empty them out. See http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/8982.html for more details. To Empty the trash either (ctrl) click the Trash select Empty Trash, go into the Trash Folder and hit empty in the top right, or click on your desktop notice that Finder is now the name of the application in the top left of the screen click finder and select empty trash.
In my opinion it sounds as if everything is fine, so you should be ready to get photoshop.
As for removing Program files from the mac. It is acceptable to drag the application to the Trash and remove it, It does indeed remove the program from said computer. However most applications have setting files that they make on launch in order to provide you with a much smoother experience. I've found that if there is a Uninstaller bundled with the software I would recommend using it to remove the program. And if not there are some handy little programs out there that make removing a Program and all its setting files a snap. Off the top of my head there is Appzapper, and AppDelete. I personaly use AppDelete because it was free, but AppZapper has a neat user interface.
Also in deactivating an adobe program, I know with my CS3 bundle I bought it only comes with one license. And in order to use the application bundled with it you have to activate with Adobes servers. that way they know only one is in use. In order for someone else to use that copy of Photoshop, if you indeed did activate it, you will need to deactivate as it says in the instructions.
Hope that this helped you with your issues.

Suddenly I have problems moving files to the trash... get a dialog saying Finder wants to make changes and I must provide the password... Any explanation or ideas how I can get this to stop?

Suddenly I have problems moving files to the trash... get a dialog saying Finder wants to make changes and I must provide the password... Any explanation or ideas how I can get this to stop?

Please take these steps if you're prompted for a password when moving items in your home folder to the Trash.
1. Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
~/.Trash
2. Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select
Services ▹ Show Info
from the contextual menu.* An Info dialog should open.
3. The dialog should show "You can read and write" in the Sharing & Permissions section. If that's not what it shows, click the padlock icon in the lower right corner of the window and enter your password when prompted. Use the plus- and minus-sign buttons to give yourself Read & Write access and "everyone" No Access. Delete any other entries in the access list.
4. In the General section, uncheck the box marked Locked if it's checked.
5. From the action menu (gear icon) at the bottom of the dialog, select Apply to enclosed items and confirm.
6. Close the Info window and test.
*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Open a TextEdit window and paste into it (command-V). Select the line you just pasted and continue as above.

Why cannot I move any files to the trash from my external drive?

I have Snow Leopard 10.6.8 and an external hard drive Toshiba. I've formatted it to be used with OSX and have copied lots of files there for use as a third hard drive to save files on. But I now have found out that I cannot delete any files from this drive. When I try to move any type of file to the trash, I get this message: "The operation can’t be completed because an unexpected error occurred (error code -50)." I've checked Info on these files and they are not locked. Can someone help me with this?

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html. BTW, the error is: paramErr = -50, /*error in user parameter list*/, which usually indicates a permissions problem. CMD+I on that disk's Desktop icon, select ignore ownership, then try again.

How to empty the file in the trash????

i could not empty the file in the trash suddenly...... every time i try to empty the files in the trash, it says that some files have been locked, but i fact those locked file are not in the trash. I really have no idea how to empty the trash now.....

Hi
The app Leopard Cache Cleaner has a command which will sort this out. Download from http://www.northernsoftworks.com/leopardcachecleaner.html
It's shareware but will work in demo mode for a long time - certainly long enough to sort out this problem.
Bob

Forcing program to close, I am deleting a lot of files from my trash but it stopped working about 1/2 way through (1650 files left) so I tried to reboot but it won't let me because a the program is still running which I can't close.

Forcing program to close, I am deleting a lot of files from my trash but it stopped working about 1/2 way through (1650 files left) so I tried to reboot but it won't let me because a the program is still running which I can't close (stuck at 1650 files to go). So it allowed me to click cancel now it says "stopping" for 3hrs now. Is there anyway to force the MacBook Air (new model) to close as you can't remove the battery?

Press and hold the power button until the Mac turns itself off. This force-shutdown should be done only after you've exhausted other options (you seem to have done so).
Wait at least 60 seconds.
Then press the power button to start up the Mac. It will take a little longer to start up because it will perform additional self-tests on the first boot after a forced shutdown.
Once the bootup is complete, you should be able to delete the trash. Hold down the option key while choosing to empty the trash, which will automatically delete "locked" items.

Another user's immutable file in my trash

This is driving me crazy. Time to take a deep breath...
Cleaning house, I deleted a fomeruser.old folder by dropping it in my trash. Turned out it had a locked file in it. So now, I have a locked file (we'll call it pesky.file) that I don't own in my trash which I can neither delete nor move.
Using the GUI, I cannot move the file from the trash because it is locked. I cannot change its permissions because it is locked. I cannot unlock it because I don't own it. Dragging and dropping it simply copies it, leaving the original.
Using the terminal, I cannot rm or mv it. Same result. Furthermore, I cannot do this:
sudo chflags nouchg pesky.file
Has no affect. It works for files (that i don't own and are locked) that are not in the trash, though, so I know the syntax is correct.
Now here's the thing that has me about to go crazy
After I did chflags, i assumed all was well, so I used the finder to empty the trash. The process hung for hours. Couldn't relaunch, couldn't stop emptying trash, even resorted to trying to kill the kernal task (that was using 150% of the CPU), which I couldn't. Finally had to kill the power. Perhaps this was a mistake...
Now, pesky.file shows up in the finder in the trash and prevents me from emptying the trash but ls ~/.trash does not show pesky.file ls -a doesn't show it either.
I have a file on my system that shows in the finder, but not in the terminal, so how do I use the terminal to manipulate a file that doesn't exist? If it has a system immutable tag, I can't reset it
Eventhough the search on this forum is apparently still broken, I did manage to find these resources:
http://www.osxfaq.com/Tutorials/LearningCenter/HowTo/Trash/index.ws
kmosx4: Resetting the System Immutable Flag in OS X 10.4
Any thoughts would be appreciated.

HI Steve,
   Let me add a couple of things to what Bill said. There's a very good chance that your filesystem is now corrupt so while in single user mode, you need to run fsck. You'll need single user mode if the file has the System Immutable flag set. Michael Conniff's instructions, Resetting the System Immutable Flag in OS X 10.4, are pretty good. Did you run fsck and if so, what was the result? This reference doesn't presuppose filesystem corruption so note that you should execute "fsck -fy" until it reports no problems.
   It's unclear as to whether you could reference the file from the command line before the system hang. If you couldn't, there may be another explanation for why you can't see the file. The "Trash", as displayed by the Finder, is actually the union of a number of directories. Of course there's the ~/.Trash directory but there's also the .Trashes/<UID> at the root of each volume. Your pesky file could be in any of these.
Gary
~~~~
   You can learn many things from children. How much
   patience you have, for instance.
         -- Franklin P. Jones

File locking with OSX Server & Microsoft Word

We have a small office LAN based on a Airport Extreme bases station. Periodically Microsoft Word reports a break in connection to the shared folder where we store documents to get disconnected. When that happens and the user reconnects to the share, the user gets the file read-only message for the Word document that was open at the time.
I have found that in order to clear the read-only flag, I have to restart the server and open the Word file on the server with the ID of the user who was editing the file on the remote computer. Only that seems to clear the file locking that causes the file to be read-only.
I cannot figure out a less drastic way to release the lock file. I don't see any hidden temp files in the same folder as the document that is locked for editing found by ls -a or in the root direction of the shared folder in the .TemporaryItems/folders.<UID> that seems to be holding the lock.
I have run chflags nouchg <Word file> from Terminal, but that seems to have no effect either. I also used xattr to see if there were any locks held that way, but I don't see anything that way either.
File sharing to Macs only, which are configured just to use AFP through OSX Server.
Does anyone understand how the file locks of Word documents can be released directly with out restarting the server?
I should add that the underlying problems seems to be WiFi related. The behavior is that the WiFi connection seems to break long enough that the shared volumes disconnects. Outlook also causes a break. This behavior seems to have started with 10.9 and the purchase of new Retina Display MacBook Pros. I turned off AppNap on the Office applications but that is not clearly helpful. I also have been told the problem seems more likely to occur when Word is open in the background and another program like Outlook is in the foreground.
Any suggestions appreciated.

Apple write an operating system and also produce file sharing software as part of that to be used as a file server. Apple provide documentation for third-party software developers on how they should write software to work with Apple's software and also give those developers early access to new versions so those third-party developers can test and if needed make adjustments and issue updates to cope with any Apple changes.
Some third-party developers are good at dealing with this, some are bad, and some totally ignore what Apple does and give the impression they don't care if their product works properly or not. I think we can all judge where Microsoft sits.
It appears Microsoft have never paid any attention in particular to how Apple expect file-locking to be handled when accessing files on a Mac server. There have been problems for years and years and years with Office. Two other problems I have seen which seem different to yours but probably related are -
With Office documents it is supposed to be possible for more than one person to edit the same file at the same time, consider it a miracle if this actually works
With Office in particular Word, there is an auto-save function, unfortunately the way this seems to be implemented it seems that Word creates a new temporary file each time it auto-saves the document and keeps all the previous temporary files open still, this eventually means potentially over a hundred temporary files are open - just for one Word document and you can then hit a limit on the total number of files you are allowed to have open at the same time. At this point further auto-saves fail, and you also encounter great difficulty doing a real full save of the document.
I do not hold Apple completely blameless over this issue, it is likely their file-locking implementations change too often, and have inadequate documentation, however even considering this a company the size of Microsoft with the amount of sales (and profit) they derive from Office for the Mac has no excuses at all for failing to put the effort in to resolve any such clearly critical problems.
We could go on and on about other areas where Microsoft don't play by the (software) rules. Even in Windows Office does not obey the standard print dialog rules Microsoft specified themselves!
Unfortunately not only is Office for Mac upgraded infrequently, but even when new paid for upgrades are released Microsoft have a history of still not fixing bugs. It goes without saying that a mere free update is even less likely to actually fix a bug, typically such free updates only address security issues. The next version of Office is going to be Office for Mac 2014 see http://www.macworld.com/article/2106643/microsoft-will-release-a-new-version-of- office-for-mac-this-year.html
One area I confidently predict Microsoft not to resolve in Office for Mac 2014 is that fact that Word for Mac still does not support right-to-left languages like Hebrew and Arabic. This is despite the fact that OS X itself has supported this for years and years, and despite the fact other Mac programs support this including the free TextEdit and Pages - both of which can read Word files. Some people may remember that at one point the Israeli Government temporarily banned all Microsoft software over this issue. See http://apple-beta.slashdot.org/story/03/10/15/2215249/israeli-government-suspend s-microsoft-contracts This issue goes back over TEN years!!
I note that Microsoft has now taken their OfficeForMac blog offline, probably due to the weight of criticisms. I would not say it is due to out-right anti-Microsoft hate, that war ended long ago. We just want products that work. I myself do use Microsoft products, even at home - where they are the best solution, so I use Microsoft Media Center for example. Sadly this is now being neglected by Microsoft.

I have a dilema i use a programme called Mackeeper i accidentally moved several files to my trash,i would like to put the files back where they belong but put back option is in grey and wont work??

I have a dilema i use a programme called Mackeeper i accidentally moved several checked files to my trash BUT i didnt delete them,i would like to put the files back where they belong but the put back option is in grey and wont work?? i have spoken to Apple and to no avail !!!
Mackeeper moved my files to my trash so i pulled them out of my trash to my desktop it has copied them to my desktop as well as kept them in my trash!!
im so confused and things are not working properly anymore such as my google chrome for example...all my book marks are gone BUT i can go to the google file which is out of place on my desktop and view all my bookmarks data...ALL of my files still exist but they are just out of place now which is making it hard for certain options on my computer to work...
the files includeAccounts,address book plug-ins,addressbook,Adobe,AIM,Alfred,Anquet Maps,Apple,Asramsoftware,Audio,Automatically add to itunes,facebook,facebook 15-53-13-329,faxfresh,five details,flipping book photo album, font collections, fonts, forismatic,Garageband,Gimp,Google,Google 15-53-13-344,icloud,icons,idocument lite,ilife media browser,ilifepage layout,internet plug-ins,ip scanner,itext express,itunes,iweb,Keyboard layouts,Keychains,launch agents,Librarian,limit point software,logs,mail,mail 15-53-13-895,messages,metadata,mobile documents,mobiscope,moso,movie effects,mozilla,MPlayerx,mywebcamBroadcaster,Native instruments,Skype and LOADS more......
HOW do i get this stuff back to where it is supposed to go so that these programmes work properly again???? i also used delete and command but that did not work either,like i said i have not emptied my trash and ALL the info is there its just totally out of place and the put back option will not work sor some reason!!??? im running 10.8.5 imac someone PLEASE help me!!
i have not set up time machine either but i do back up to a site called backupblaze...

Step 1
Remove "MacKeeper" as follows.
"MacKeeper" has only one useful feature: it deletes itself.
Note: These instructions apply to the version of the product that I downloaded and tested in early 2012. I can't be sure that they apply to other versions.
IMPORTANT: "MacKeeper" has what the developer calls an “encryption” feature. In my tests, I didn't try to verify what this feature really does. If you used it to “encrypt” any of your files, “decrypt” them before you uninstall, or (preferably) restore the files from backups made before they were “encrypted.” As the developer is not trustworthy, you should assume that the "decrypted" files are corrupt unless proven otherwise.
In the Finder, select
Go ▹ Applications
from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-A. The "MacKeeper" application is in the folder that opens. Quit it if it's running, then drag it to the Trash. You'll be prompted for your login password. Click the Uninstall MacKeeper button in the dialog that appears. All the functional components of the software will be deleted. Reboot.
Failure to remove MacKeeper will result from neglecting any one of these points:
Quit MacKeeper before dragging it to the Trash.
Don't empty the Trash after dragging the application to it. Let MacKeeper delete itself.
Don't try to drag the MacKeeper icon in the Dock to the Trash.
Here are some general suggestions. If you want your computer to be usable, don't install crapware, such as “themes,” "haxies," “add-ons,” “toolbars,” “enhancers," “optimizers,” “accelerators,” "boosters," “extenders,” “cleaners,” "doctors," "tune-ups," “defragmenters,” “firewalls,” "barriers," “guardians,” “defenders,” “protectors,” most “plugins,” commercial "virus scanners,” "disk tools," or "utilities." With very few exceptions, this stuff is useless, or worse than useless.
The more actively promoted the product, the more likely it is to be garbage. The most extreme example is the “MacKeeper” scam.
The only software you should install is that which directly enables you to do the things you use a computer for — such as creating, communicating, and playing — and does not modify the way other software works. Never install any third-party software unless you know how to uninstall it.
Step 2
Restore from the last backup that predates the unwanted changes.

I am deleting files through my trash in my macbook pro (2010) and then emptying the trash can, but my hard disk space is not increasing! i recently upgraded to lion and the problem is new, wasn't the same with snow leopard! HELP!!!!!

i am deleting files through my trash in my macbook pro (2010) and then emptying the trash can, but my hard disk space is not increasing! i recently upgraded to lion and the problem is new, wasn't the same with snow leopard! HELP!!!!!
When i press command+I (Get Info) i see that there is 140 GB "Available Space" on my hard disk but when i click on my hard disk icon on the desktop, and then press "space" i only see 102 GB free!! What the f*???
Please HELP!!!!!! Getting second thoughts on Lion!!!!

Hi b,
Have you restarted yet?

HT1526 I'm trying to delete files from the trash and an .InProgress file in Time Machine that cannot be moved to the trash. I cannot unmount the TM disk either. If I use the chflags -R nouchg command, I get a "Resource busy" message. Any suggestions?

I've got one or maybe two problems. Time Machine routinely crashes and there is a file in the TM folder that is an .InProgress file at the end of successful backups. Can't delete it, even using various sudo commands in Terminal. These come back with a "Resource busy" message.
Similarly, there is a Microsoft Office alias in my trash that will not delete, again including various delete or Terminal commands. Also "Resource busy"
I can't reformat the TM volume since it cannot unmount and it also cannot unmount the whole disk, which contains some other backup files I'd rather keep.
Any suggestions?
Mike

I'm not sure I can be very helpful since I was doing a lot of things and ultimately the problems went away. But one thing that definitely seemed to help was to shut down, restart, do something, shut down again and repeat. So with a clean start, try to move the file to the trash. If that works, shut down restart and look to see if it is still in the trash. Empty the trash. Shut down if it appears to empty and then restart. It seemed sometimes that the computer was doing what I wanted then something was overriding this and restoring. The shutdowns immedately after I could do something but before it engaged an override operation seemed to keep this from happening.
Sorry to not have more to offer but...

Files locked in trash

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