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Moving File(s) to Trash permanently deletes, do not go to Trash.

I'm on a 2016 MacBook Pro running Big Sur. Whenever I delete a file by Right Clicking - send to Trash, I get the same message that I am permanently deleting the item (see screenshot attached). The same happens if I drag a file to the trash. I have no external disks attached and no servers mounted. I have run First Aid on my local drive and I am still getting the message. Does anyone know how I can "fix" this so that it behaves as expected, and files get sent to the Trash Can? I imagine that it a permissions issue and I have tried running a couple of different commands in Terminal that I found here: https://www.macworld.com/article/227783/how-to-stop-os-x-from-deleting-trashed-files-immediately.html

When I try to run these commands I get a message that I cannot perform this task on this disk. Thank you in advance for your help.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.6

Posted on Mar 18, 2022 9:10 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 18, 2022 1:18 PM

Let's try.


First, we need to remove this file.


1) Paste this command into Terminal:


sudo rm ~/.Trash


You will be asked to type your password. Type it (nothing will appear as you type, not even asterisks or bullets) and then press enter.


2) If this succeeds, then we can proceed to the next step and recreate the directory.

Paste the following line in Terminal:


mkdir ~/.Trash


3) To see if this worked ok, paste the following command (it is the same that you did before to check the settings of .Trash):


ls -lda ~/.Trash


and post the output here.


Also, at this point you can try dragging something to the trash and see if it is now working.


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13 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 18, 2022 1:18 PM in response to alexrm1978

Let's try.


First, we need to remove this file.


1) Paste this command into Terminal:


sudo rm ~/.Trash


You will be asked to type your password. Type it (nothing will appear as you type, not even asterisks or bullets) and then press enter.


2) If this succeeds, then we can proceed to the next step and recreate the directory.

Paste the following line in Terminal:


mkdir ~/.Trash


3) To see if this worked ok, paste the following command (it is the same that you did before to check the settings of .Trash):


ls -lda ~/.Trash


and post the output here.


Also, at this point you can try dragging something to the trash and see if it is now working.


Mar 18, 2022 9:57 AM in response to alexrm1978

This usually indicates that you lack proper access to the Trash folder.


Where are the files that you are trying to trash? Somewhere inside your home folder - eg. inside your Desktop, Documents, Pictures, etc?


When dragging to trash, these would go to a hidden folder inside your home folder.


Files that exist out of your home folder (e.g. in /Applications) would go elsewhere.


I will assume that it is files in one of your folders that you are trying to delete.


Open Terminal, type the following line and paste the output here for us to see:


ls -ld ~/.Trash



Mar 18, 2022 1:51 PM in response to alexrm1978

The default permissions on a folder that you create via mkdir will be drxr-xr-w or 755 or user=read, write, search/execute, group=read, search/execute, and other=read, search/execute. The original permissions on that ~/.Trash folder created by the operating system is just 700, or user=read, write, search/execute and no one else has any permissions.


In the Terminal, you can set the correct permissions on that Trash folder and see what you have set:


chmod 700 ~/.Trash
stat -f '%Sp%t%N%n' ~/.Trash


There are no special access control list settings (ACL) for it.


Moving File(s) to Trash permanently deletes, do not go to Trash.

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