How to permanently delete a trashed Mac profile folder?

By "profile", I presume you mean a user account?

If so, just dragging the user folder to the trash is not the way to do it. The simplest, by far, is to log out of that (I presume, a standard account), log into the admin account and delete your son's user account from there.

System Settings > Users & Groups. Click on the Information icon to the right of the account to be removed. You'll get this:

Click Delete User… This panel will appear.

The default is the first radio button. If you're certain you want to get rid of everything, click the bottom button, then Delete User.

That's it. Gone.

Stop trying to do this the hard way. Use the function Apple gave you right in the System Settings to remove an account.

Scott Varga wrote:

this is what I see after dragging the trashed file into the terminal. what do I do next?

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/0d86214a-b2a9-4abb-8827-82c012d7506c

That is not what @TheLittles' instructed (nor what I added to slightly correct their & @kaz-k's instructions). You missed a step. I actually listed this as a last ditch effort since there are several other simpler & safer options to try first.

Personally I would restore the deleted folder as I suggested, then follow through with deleting the user account through the System Settings as both @Kurt Lang & myself have suggested. FYI, I don't know if it is even necessary to put the folder back, but I would just because it is simple to do (assuming the system will allow it).

"How to permanently delete a trashed Mac profile folder?: My son decided to trash his profile on our family laptop. So, he dragged it to the trash and emptied it. What remained was a scottvarga folder with two nested folders (screenshots attached). Now when I try and empty the trash, this folder won't go. how can I get rid of these? Thanks in advance."

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Backup your Mac:

 IMPORTANT: Prior to deleting this, create a backup your Mac. That way, you can have something to restore your Mac from, should anything go wrong with the deletion.

"Is this something that I should try? I'm not an expert so would appreciate a little more detail as to what I'll have to do."

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Find the file, and then drag it to Terminal. Doing so, the path would show.

sudo rm -rf 

To get to Terminal:

Use Spotlight Search: [hold down command key + then press spacebar]. Next, type terminal:

FYI, macOS will still think there is a "scottvarga" user account on this Mac. I would suggest trying to return that user folder to where it belongs by Right-clicking or Control-clicking on the "scottvarga" folder in the Trash and selecting "Put Back". Then go to the User & Groups System Settings and see if you can delete the user account through that interface. This would be the ideal way to resolve it if it works....I think there is a good chance it will.

Have you tried restarting the computer? Then try my suggestion again.

If all else fails as a last resort.....

As for @kaz-k's suggestion, you must make sure to drag & drop the folder from the Finder onto the open Terminal window where you have typed:"sudo rm -rf "

Where you must leave at least one space after the " -rf ". If you drag & drop the wrong folder and press the "Return" key to execute the command with the wrong folder, then everything in that folder will be immediately deleted after entering your admin password (assuming this is the first time you are using the "sudo" command in about 20 minutes).

Most likely because the account is now broken by trying to remove things manually. Per HWTech, try opening the trash, and right clicking on the items that can't be deleted. Choose "Put Back".

This may, or may not be enough to allow you to delete the account. Hard to say after the way the attempt started.

Hi,

You can use the Terminal command "sudo rm -rf" + "path of your Mac Profile folder" to forcibly remove it, but this is irreversible and requires confirming the correct path to avoid data loss.