Undeletable File

black salblack sal
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
Maybe somebody might be able to help me with a minor irritation - I downloaded a OS9 .sit file to my desktop which failed to expand when I attempted to unstuff it..

Fine I thought, I'll just delete it and try again..

Unfortunately OSX will not let me delete the file no matter what I try, It can't be moved to another folder either, although I can rename it.

The alert box claims



"The item 'file.sit' is being used by another task right now. (Other tasks include moving, copying or emptying the trash) Try again when the other task is complete."



as far as I can tell there are no other tasks being carried out with the file.

It was downloaded 3 months ago onto OS 10.2.1

and since then I have updated with OS X Update 10.2.2 and OS X Update 10.2.3... But still the dastardly file remains..



Knock yourselves out guys

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    jeremiah richjeremiah rich Posts: 853member
    I am having the same problem at the moment. I think booting into 9 would work, but I do not have it installed, so I will look at this thread later today.
  • Reply 2 of 6
    the pie manthe pie man Posts: 425member
    If you guys are comfortable with the CLI, it is easy to delete anything you like.



    lets say you have file.sit on your desktop. open the terminal and type this:



    sudo rm Desktop/file.sit



    It will ask for your password. Blammo. File gone.
  • Reply 3 of 6
    progmacprogmac Posts: 1,850member
    [quote]Originally posted by The Pie Man:

    <strong>If you guys are comfortable with the CLI, it is easy to delete anything you like.



    lets say you have file.sit on your desktop. open the terminal and type this:



    sudo rm Desktop/file.sit



    It will ask for your password. Blammo. File gone.</strong><hr></blockquote>

    CLI, blah. Whatever happened to just holding down option while emptying the trash? Our lives are so complex now. Ugh.



    [ 01-14-2003: Message edited by: progmac ]</p>
  • Reply 4 of 6
    the pie manthe pie man Posts: 425member
    [quote]Originally posted by progmac:

    <strong>

    CLI, blah. Whatever happened to just holding down option while emptying the trash? Our lives are so complex now. Ugh.

    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    I would expect if you don't want to use the CLI there are all kinds of third party freeware/shareware that will delete a file which has incorrect permissions.



    Also, you could try repairing permissions with Disk Utility. That might fix the problem...



    Obviously I am guessing this is a permission issue. I have had this problem too - but I didn't really look too hard at what was causing it.
  • Reply 5 of 6
    black salblack sal Posts: 2member
    Thanks Pie Man

    I took my first venture into the world of CLI and that quickly solved the problem.



    Previously, I had tried repairing permissions with Disk Utility to no avail.

    Now I must go and enjoy my slightly cleaner looking desktop.



  • Reply 6 of 6
    ian millerian miller Posts: 9member
    I had the same thing - and going to OS9 did work - but nothing else would (but please note I didn't try the command line interface sudo command) - I fixed permissions, tried option delete etc - so I figure there is a bug somewhere that tells OS X that a file is in permanent use when it isn't.
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