Cannot remove post Mojave installation files from ~./Trash

Joined
Nov 6, 2018
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Points
1
After installing Mojave, I found that trash contains a "macOS Install Data" directory which, in turn, contains "Locked Files"

This keeps from emptying trash as the OS complains about the files within "Locked Files"

I've tried several remedies to remove the directory to no avail.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks
 
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
17,496
Reaction score
1,541
Points
113
Location
Brentwood Bay, BC, Canada
Your Mac's Specs
2011 27" iMac, 1TB(partitioned) SSD, 20GB, OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan
Any insight would be appreciated.


Have you tried shutting down and rebooting and see if you can empty the trash.

Does holding down the option key while you empty the trash still work or has Apple removed that as well???


PS: I'm not experience with installing Mojave and/or many other quirks but you might want to google it and check out some sites such as this:
How do i remove macOS Install data
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8045903

But it is an older post and may not be current.






- Patrick
======
 
Last edited:
OP
C
Joined
Nov 6, 2018
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Hadn't tried the Option Remove Trash before, didn't make a difference. Restart/reboot makes no impact.

Thanks
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
Did you complete the installation of Mojave? Did the system reboot afterward? If all went the way it should have, the Mojave installation files would automatically be removed.
 
OP
C
Joined
Nov 6, 2018
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Points
1
It did complete. Since that time, I've also installed the .1 hoping that the update would clean up the noise left over from 10.14. That's when I began to look for other solutions
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
If the files are locked, something didn't go right when you installed Mojave. You can try opening your Activity Monitor (from Utilities) and look to see if any process is going on with those files. If there is something going on, you can kill the process from Activity Monitor and then remove the files from the Trash.

Also, try booting up in Safe Mode (hold down shift key while booting). After entering Safe Mode, try emptying the Trash again. If all that doesn't work we can try something else.
 
OP
C
Joined
Nov 6, 2018
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Points
1
No bueno on the Safe Mode. I can't try the searching for the files in Activity Monitor because I can't open the directory to see what files are inside.

Any easy way to downgrade to 10.14.0? Maybe a reinstall of Mojave would clean 'er up.
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
What you can do is download the combined Mojave update and that will overwrite your current Mojave installation. It will not remove or change data. Your documents and other files will be left in place. I just checked.... it looks like a combo update for Mojave is not available yet since it's only the first update.

You can however, boot to Recovery (command + r) and reinstall Mojave from there. After it is installed, then you can download the 10.14.1 update again. You will not lose any data this way but it's always a good idea to have a backup first.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top