How do I delete "Install macOS High Sierra Beta" from trash?

[varxx]

Question is in the subject.

In my Trash folder, I've got a nine-month old installer file of 5.18Gb for macOS High Sierra Beta. I've been running the real thing for months now and no longer need this installer.

Even after entering my system password, as requested, I can't manage to delete this file. It just won't go away.

Any ideas? I need the real estate.

Thanks.

-Varxx

 

[MacInWin]

I need the real estate.

That statement gives me pause. If your drive is so full that you need 5 GB back, you might need a bigger drive, or to purge the drive of something else. How big is the drive and how much free space is on it? You should leave about 10-15% of a spinner drive free, at least 5-10% of an SSD free.

As for the trash, what error messages are you seeing?

 

[varxx]

That statement gives me pause. If your drive is so full that you need 5 GB back, you might need a bigger drive, or to purge the drive of something else. How big is the drive and how much free space is on it? You should leave about 10-15% of a spinner drive free, at least 5-10% of an SSD free.

Don't be concerned. I have nearly 20 percent of my Macbook Pro's SSD free. But I'm about to add 3Gb of data of a scholarly reference library, and I figured I'd like to get rid of dead weight first. This 5Gb High Sierra *beta* installer is definitely in the dead weight category.

Even if it's technically possible to upgrade to a larger SSD, it's not something I want to do on five-year-old machine.

As for the trash, what error messages are you seeing?

No error message. Just a failure to successfully execute the command even after asking for and accepting my password.

I know that file management problems usually have to do with file permissions and user privileges. I suppose I could try from a terminal window using root, but I thought someone here might know why I'm not able to delete this file using my user account, which has admin privileges.

 

[cradom]

Tried holding down Option when emptying the Trash?

 

[varxx]

Tried holding down Option when emptying the Trash?

Thanks for the tip. I'll try it next time I encounter this. I finally managed to delete this 5Gb file by restoring it and then trying again to delete it.

 

[pm-r]

Thanks for the tip. I'll try it next time I encounter this. I finally managed to delete this 5Gb file by restoring it and then trying again to delete it.

Glad to read that things are fixed, but I wonder how one translates or even understood what was stated and done, and no, don't bother explaining thanks.




- Patrick
======

 

[MacInWin]

Wow, Patrick, even I understood that post. He put the file back from the trash, then deleted it again and emptied the trash. The put back probably fixed whatever bit was mis-set and the re-trash had it clean, so it deleted. Easy!

Great solution, btw!