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Forum Discussion
Files in Use; Can't Delete
So, lately I've been having this problem where certain files cannot be deleted and often times they are empty directories. When trying to delete it returns the following message: The operation can’...
One possible cause of this problem is if the directory itself is in use even if a file is not. This may sound nonsensical to a normal Mac user but can happen. Probably the most common cause would be if you had a Terminal window open and the Terminal session (shell) was in that directory or a sub-directory of it. You can test this by doing the following
1. In Finder create "New" as a folder on your desktop
2. In Terminal.app do cd /Users/username/Desktop/New
3. Now in Finder try deleting the "New" folder and it will give an error
4. To get out of the problem either end the Terminal session or cd to a different directory
Another possible cause I have seen which sounds less likely is that if you say open a jpeg in Preview from a directory and then close that jpeg but do not quit Preview, even though the file has been closed the Mac can think the directory that jpeg is in is busy. This is because (I am guessing) Preview has still got the directory open. Quitting Preview clears the problem. I see this fairly frequently with both Preview and QuickTime Player and possibly other applications.
1. In Finder create "New" as a folder on your desktop
2. In Terminal.app do cd /Users/username/Desktop/New
3. Now in Finder try deleting the "New" folder and it will give an error
4. To get out of the problem either end the Terminal session or cd to a different directory
Another possible cause I have seen which sounds less likely is that if you say open a jpeg in Preview from a directory and then close that jpeg but do not quit Preview, even though the file has been closed the Mac can think the directory that jpeg is in is busy. This is because (I am guessing) Preview has still got the directory open. Quitting Preview clears the problem. I see this fairly frequently with both Preview and QuickTime Player and possibly other applications.
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