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Cannot delete from PRIVATE/VAR/ROOT/.TRASH folder

So I am windows user and started my first mac journey a week ago. And I am already facing some issue .After uninstalling few software/game i found out they are still in this directory and cant be seen from trash bin/or access from finder . However this .trash already taking up 30gb of my storage . So i need some step by step help to fix this issue . Hopefully any old/experienced mac user will be able to solve my issue . Thanks

My device m1 macbook air

os ventura

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 13.2

Posted on Mar 14, 2023 5:55 PM

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Posted on Mar 15, 2023 4:40 PM

Did you run any kind of "app zapper" or "clean up" app? If so, don't do that ever again.


I checked that location on my own computer. To my surprise, there were some files there. In my case, it was various old versions of Microsoft OneDrive, which I don't use. I do have Office and I'm sure that's where they came from. But I'm not happy that Microsoft's installer/updater was putting things into the trash as root. That's bad.


However, my situation has a pretty reasonable explanation. You have all kinds of different files in there. Plus, you seem to have a trash folder inside a trash folder.


You can remove these files using the command line. Run something like this:


sudo rm -Rf /private/var/root/.Trash/.Trash


I strongly recommend that you make sure you have a Time Machine backup before doing this.

Also, you should copy the above command to the clipboard and then paste it into a Terminal window. The command line is not forgiving. If you make one mistake, one extra space, one extra character - all your files are gone forever.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 15, 2023 4:40 PM in response to ISLAMMDTANMOY

Did you run any kind of "app zapper" or "clean up" app? If so, don't do that ever again.


I checked that location on my own computer. To my surprise, there were some files there. In my case, it was various old versions of Microsoft OneDrive, which I don't use. I do have Office and I'm sure that's where they came from. But I'm not happy that Microsoft's installer/updater was putting things into the trash as root. That's bad.


However, my situation has a pretty reasonable explanation. You have all kinds of different files in there. Plus, you seem to have a trash folder inside a trash folder.


You can remove these files using the command line. Run something like this:


sudo rm -Rf /private/var/root/.Trash/.Trash


I strongly recommend that you make sure you have a Time Machine backup before doing this.

Also, you should copy the above command to the clipboard and then paste it into a Terminal window. The command line is not forgiving. If you make one mistake, one extra space, one extra character - all your files are gone forever.

Mar 15, 2023 4:32 AM in response to ISLAMMDTANMOY

So when you Command click or right click on the trash can in the dock and choose "Empty Trash" that it's not removing all those files from private/var/root/.trash as well?

Just now checking this, I see that deleted files actually go into folder: /Users/your_user_name/.Trash.

I don't even have PRIVATE/VAR/ROOT/.TRASH. Assuming you have the latest version of Ventura of 13.2.1?



Cannot delete from PRIVATE/VAR/ROOT/.TRASH folder

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