The operation can’t be completed because the item "" is in use.

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GJ-AshvinA Author

Level 1

8 points

The operation can’t be completed because the item "" is in use.

Hello,

Admin user getting this error when trying to empty trash. My machine & OS version can find in attached screenshot

"The operation can’t be completed because the item “jay” is in use." ("jay" was the user of machine which deleted by the admin now.
"The operation can’t be completed because the item “Library” is in use."
"The operation can’t be completed because the item “Application Support” is in use."

The trash contains the machine users which deleted by the Admin, check the list items in the trash.

Please help!

Thanks,

Ashvin

MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.15

Posted on Dec 26, 2019 9:46 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

HWTech

Level 9

62,378 points

Dec 27, 2019 7:33 PM in response to GJ-AshvinA

Try the steps in this Apple article:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201583

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Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

245,891 points

Dec 30, 2019 9:25 AM in response to GJ-AshvinA

I see 3 methods, which 2did you try?

Is Spotlight or Time Machine trying to use the drive?

EtreCheck is a simple little app to display the important details of your system configuration and allow you to copy that information to the Clipboard. It is meant to be used with Apple Support Communities to help people help you with your Mac.

http://www.etresoft.com/etrecheck

Pastebin is a good place to paste the whole report...

https://pastebin.com/

Workable but harder for me to work with...the Note tool on the bottom of this editor's toolbar, as shown in the image, to copy and paste the output from EtreCheck.

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Answer 3

GJ-AshvinA Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 29, 2019 9:52 PM in response to HWTech

Hello @HWTech,

Thanks for the reply, I tried both the ways which you have suggested but it's not helping for my problem :(

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The operation can’t be completed because the item "" is in use.

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