Apple - Can't remove "Install macOS High Sierra.app"
I was experiencing this problem after downloading High Sierra to fix a friend's Mac. I found Rick's solution worked for me, but I've added a few more steps.
Click the symbol in the Menu bar.
Click Restart….
Hold down Command + R to boot into Recovery Mode.
Click Utilities.
Select Terminal.
Type
csrutil disable
. This will disable SIP.Press Return or Enter on your keyboard.
Click the symbol in the Menu bar.
Click Restart….
Extra Steps
Log in / boot up the Mac.
Empty Trash.
I also found that somehow Previous System folder appeared under the Mac HD. So I also trashed that (which wouldn't trash previously).
I then rebooted the Mac a few times to check that everything was working fine. Then rebooted into recovery mode.
Hold down Command + R to reboot into Recovery Mode.
Click Utilities.
Select Terminal.
Type
csrutil enable
. This will enable SIP.Press Return or Enter on your keyboard.
Click the symbol in the Menu bar.
Click Restart….
I have found another solution in case rebooting in Recovery mode is not an option for you.
Move the offending Mac OS X installer back from Trashes to Applications
Re-download respective installer (e. g. the High Sierra using AppStore from https://support.apple.com/kb/HT208969) overwriting the „broken“ installer with a fresh one fixes the permission issue.
Drop the installer from Application to Trash. Empty trash will work now, deleting the installer correctly.
Fastest way to fix this is the following.
- Reboot
- Hold Cmd + R
- Choose language
- If you are using an encrypted disk, select "disk utility" then select the disk where the unremovable files are located, and mount it. Once this has been mounted, quit disk utility.
- In the Utilities menu select Terminal
- Type
cd ..
as many times that are needed until you can see /Volumes - Type
ls
to see if you are where /Volumes is present - Type
cd Volumes
- Type
ls
to see name of harddrive - Type
cd *nameofharddrive*/Applications
- Type
rm -r Install
(press tab to write out the whole filename) - Press enter to delete
- Reboot