Force Empty Trash in Mac OS X When File is Locked or In Use. Mac OS X can sometimes throw permissions errors when trying to delete files or empty the Trash. The most common variations of the errors are usually Operation cannot be completed because the item File is in use or because the file is locked, sometimes you can get around this by just quitting open applications or rebooting the Mac, but if you dont want to do either you can also forcibly remove files through the command line. We will cover two different approaches to this, the first changes a files flags to attempt to unlock the file in question, and the second is a no nonsense force delete. First Try quitting all apps to release the file lock or permissions, then attempt to Secure Empty Trash by holding down the Command key and right clicking the Trash icon. If that doesnt work, proceed with the methods outlined below. Some users have also reported CommandShiftOptionDelete to work as a method of forcing the Trash to empty regardless of a file being locked or owned by another user. Change Permissions To Forcibly Empty Trash. The first approach uses the chflags command to change the flags of all files in the Trash. Launch Terminal found in ApplicationsUtilities and then proceed cd. Wiki How to Uninstall Programs on Mac Computers. Three Parts Using the Trash Using an Uninstaller Using Launchpad Community QA. This wikiHow teaches you how to. Moving an application to the trash is simple and easy. Shouldnt true uninstallation on the Mac be the same way With AppTrap, when you move an application to. Trash Me Mac' title='Trash Me Mac' />Trashchflags R nouchg Now you can try emptying the Trash as usual through the Dock, a keyboard shortcut to dump the file, or go the rm route mentioned below. Advanced Forcibly Emptying the Trash via Command Line. This is a last resort and intended only for advanced users. Web Design Templates Html Css on this page. Make sure the syntax is correct with this, the sudo rm rf command will erase anything without warning. If you dont know what youre doing you could easily delete crucial system or personal files. Have backups ready or dont bother with this method, proceed at your own risk. First change the directory to Trash cd. Trash. Confirm you are in the proper directory and the only files you see are the ones you want to forcibly remove by using ls ls. Now try to delete the specific file rm filename. If that still doesnt work you can try the ultimate delete approach using sudo and rf This is intentionally not spelled out easily to try and prevent any novice users from accidentally deleting something significant. Using sudo requires the administrator password but combined with rm it will absolutely forcibly remove any file regardless of whats going on with it.