Problem with trash can in OS X Lion

[stacystacy]

Problem with trash can in OS X Lion

I'm having the same problem. I ran Lion Cache Cleaner and the trash still does not behave properly. Help. I'm also new to Mac.

 

[whawhat]

Working in Lion: When I drag files to trash, a window pops up and tells me that the files will be deleted immediately vs. leaving the files in trash until I decide to empty it manually. Any fix to this?

 

[Louis1]

Trash problems on Lion

Hi,
I add similar problems with my trash: everything looked like if it was immediately emptied as no files could ever be seen in the trash, and I was asked a password each time I deleted a file. Using ONYX to empty the trash I discovered that many files were in there: it looked like if there was a problem of privileges but repairing was useless. I went through many forums and the only solution for me was the one from Mr Retrofire (and only that one, in particular the script doesn't work for me). So finally this is was I did successfully following his instructions:

1. Quit the "Terminal" application and relaunch it, to make sure that you are NOT logged in as another user (root for example). This is important, because the folder we create will get all the permissions from the parent folder (your "home" folder), and only the user who created the new ".Trash" directory (you) will be able to use it without restrictions.

2. In the Terminal type

sudo rm -frv ~/.Trash

to remove the old ".Trash" directory and all folders and files in the old ".Trash" directory.

3. In the Terminal type

mkdir -v ~/.Trash

to create a new ".Trash" directory in your "home" folder!

4. In the Terminal type

osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to quit'

then

osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to activate'

to restart the Finder!

5. Done! You can now move files in the trash!

If the Finder restart does not work on your system, then logout/login to activate the new trash can.


thanks to all of you
Louis

 

[Caanan]

The Terminal script worked for me. Thank you so much!

 

[rednumb183]

Hi,
I add similar problems with my trash: everything looked like if it was immediately emptied as no files could ever be seen in the trash, and I was asked a password each time I deleted a file. Using ONYX to empty the trash I discovered that many files were in there: it looked like if there was a problem of privileges but repairing was useless. I went through many forums and the only solution for me was the one from Mr Retrofire (and only that one, in particular the script doesn't work for me). So finally this is was I did successfully following his instructions:

1. Quit the "Terminal" application and relaunch it, to make sure that you are NOT logged in as another user (root for example). This is important, because the folder we create will get all the permissions from the parent folder (your "home" folder), and only the user who created the new ".Trash" directory (you) will be able to use it without restrictions.

2. In the Terminal type

sudo rm -frv ~/.Trash

to remove the old ".Trash" directory and all folders and files in the old ".Trash" directory.

3. In the Terminal type

mkdir -v ~/.Trash

to create a new ".Trash" directory in your "home" folder!

4. In the Terminal type

osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to quit'

then

osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to activate'

to restart the Finder!

5. Done! You can now move files in the trash!

If the Finder restart does not work on your system, then logout/login to activate the new trash can.


thanks to all of you
Louis

Hi, I tried this option but when i did the "mkdir" line, i just got permission denied by terminal

 

[charlieadler]

Solution that woked for me

Hello all,

I have a MacBook 5.1 anno late 2008 running Lion 10.7.3. I found this after having called the Apple support line, where they told me to either pay 45 pounds to have them remotely solve the problem or consult a "genius" at the nearest Apple Store.

Instructions under heading "Empty and recreate an account's Trash" worked perfectly for me after having the exact same problem as the initiator of this thread!

Instructions: http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html

 

[fronteren]

The "terminal" move worked like a charm. Thanks guys

 

[djoylene]

Thanks for the Fix

Just started happening a couple of weeks ago and this morning found this thread for the fix.

Mr Retro's instructions worked perfectly.

Thanks

 

[theuserjohnny]

Just started happening a couple of weeks ago and this morning found this thread for the fix.

Mr Retro's instructions worked perfectly.

Thanks

I was just recently having this problem on ML for some reason and I as well followed these instructions! Just bumping just incase anyone else was having the issue just as I was!

 

[j4llower]

Hi all,

My easy solution is to run in the terminal:
sudo chown username ~/.Trash
where username is your user in the system

Regards, Max.

 

[kriss13]

Success

This solved my problem with my second internal HDD on a MBP 4.1 SL.
http://cnet.co/185ddtU

The second solution that is, for external HDDs...
On short, it erases the trash and unmounts/remounts the drive to create a fresh one.
The tip is that it uses the external drive path (not your user dir) in the command line.

I posted in case anybody encounters the error with deleting a file and not going to Trash.

 

[ahgoldstein]

From apple

Know this thread is older but I was having this problem too. Apple had me go to the "Terminal" and type in

sudo chown yourusernamehere .Trash

This will change the owner of Trash from Root to your account and should resolve the issue.

 

[Bruno09]

Hi,

the actual command is :

sudo chown yourusernamehere ~/.Trash

(see post #35).

 

[nfred13]

Password

I am trying the terminal solution but when 'password:' comes up and I try to type my password, it says wrong password. But it is not.

 

[SuperKerem]

Easiest fix would be to update to Mountain Lion +

 

[MDJCM]

This works on Snow Leopard and Leopard, and perhaps on Lion:



AppleScript version for Apples Script Editor (comes with Mac OS X):

Nice thanks, with this advice I just told terminal to show hidden files, then deleted the trash folder through finder, created a new one and Relaunched finder using Force Quit. The trash then worked. My problem was to do with permissions.