How To Fix Error Code 8003 OS X
My Mac Won’t Empty the Trash
If you are a Mac user then I know you have experienced this. You’ve been deleting files and your Trash Can is showing that there are items in it. You try to empty the trash and all of a sudden an error window appears. It probably looks something like this.
You’ve probably tried both buttons only to get the same result. The trash can remains full. You might have even gone as far as to restart your computer and try again. Sometimes this may actually work, a lot of times it doesn’t. At this point, you’re probably pretty frustrated and wondering why your computer won’t allow you to complete a simple task like emptying your trash can. The simple reason in layman’s terms is that there is a file or multiple files in the trash bin that have been locked. The cause for this could be various reasons which you may not even care about. The important thing is that there are several ways to fix it and while I will list these ways, I will be focusing on the easiest way. Because that is what you are probably looking for, no muss no fuss.
Forcing the Trash to Empty
1. Double click on the trash can so that it opens up in Finder and you can see the contents.
2. Hold the “Option” key while clicking on “Empty Trash”, which is found in the Finder menu bar.
3. If that doesn’t work, try “Secure Empty Trash”
From the Terminal
1. Open up a terminal window. You can do this by navigating to Applications->Utilities and then clicking on the Terminal icon.
2. Type the following (without the quotes) in the terminal window. “sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash/”
3. Press Enter
The two methods described above are simple ways to try and and resolve this issue. Sometimes they do not work though. There is a third party application called “Trash It” that will enable you to empty your trash with only a couple mouse clicks. It is a small free utility and definitely worth grabbing if you do not already have it. I definitely recommend it.
Trash It
1. You can download Trash It from the here: http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/8214/trash-it!
2. Once you have downloaded it, go ahead and install it and run it.
3. When Trash It runs, you will see this window
4. Simply type your administrative password and click “OK”. That’s it. It’s just that simple.
5. The application will take care of the rest. Now you may notice that there is an option for a secure delete. This option is completely up to you. If the documents in your trash can contain sensitive information then you may want to use this option, otherwise the default selection of “Just Delete” will do just fine.
If it ends up that you like this app just as much as I do, please give it a +1 below!!!
This worked for me: sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash/ THANKS!
Awesome! You’re welcome!!
trashit worked. THANKS!!!
You’re Welcome!!!
Thank you for taking the time to clearly explain this sort of problems with mac OS. Empty the trash with option key work for me.
You’re welcome Oscar. Glad you were able to get your trash emptied!
This worked for me as well “sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash/”. Thank you very much for this.
No problem! Glad I could help!
Thanks a bunch Jay!!! The first option worked for me. You’re my HeRo!!!!!
You’re welcome Carol!
THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!
You’re welcome Pablo!!!! Glad I could help!
Trash it worked! Thank you so much!!!
Hello! Thanks for sharing the “sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash/” trick! It worked great! The only problem is that I only wanted the “Empty Trash” function to work. Now, however, whenever I throw anything into the Trash it deletes it permanently. How can I restore the Trash function to be back to normal? Please let me know. It’s important because I do a lot of media management on my Mac and it could be very dangerous alteration to my Trash bin settings. Thank you and looking forward to some help!
Thanks! That problem was driving me nuts!