Once, done you can easily empty the Trash bin on Mac. To start Mac in Safe Mode hold Shift Key as soon as you start Mac and release it once Apple Logo appears. Hence, you will have to start Mac in safe mode, which doesn’t use much of your hardware resources or any login items. Your Mac might load some start-up items or use some files during start-up, thus it shows files in use when you try to empty Trash. Once you restart or reboot your Mac, all these apps would be terminated. Some of the applications would be running in the background that uses files from Trash. In such cases, first, close all open files and folders. Also, some background applications might block you from emptying Trash. Sometimes, some of the files in Trash might be in use by some applications. When Files are in Use – Close all Files and Background apps If files are more, then this may take longer. This will add the path of all files to the Terminal. Then just drag & drop all items to the Terminal, where you had typed the command. Now, open Trash from the dock and select all files & folders in Trash. NOTE: Add a space after R or else this command will not work.

If this doesn’t help then use the command:.

Go to – Applications - > Utilities -> T erminal.

Force Empty Trash: Empty Trash using Terminal commandsĮmptying Trash from the Terminalis quite an easy process compared to doing it using GUI. Here are four methods you can quickly try to empty your Mac Trash: 1. That keystroke is command-shift-U.Here are some of the reasons and solutions to fix Trash issues and access all files in it: Fix Cannot empty Trash on Mac Under Mac OS X 10.3, a new keyboard shortcut in the Finder was added to provide instant access to the Utilities folder.

iSight Updater folder (only for Macs using iSight).

AirPort Setup Assistant for Graphite or Snow.

Items which are in the Utilities folder as of Mac OS X 10.4.5 are marked in boldface in the list below. Under Mac OS X, the Utilities folder appears inside the Applications folder.

The Utilities folder, as its name suggests, stores system utilities.

Will not open os x utilities