can't delete update files in Catalina

[knimmo]

can't delete update files in Catalina. I've tried everything, including the supposed terminal fix to make these huge update files disappear. I'm running out of storage and these have to go. Any ideas?

 

[appltech]

In theory, those files should be deleted automatically after 24 hours or if you run out of space.
If that did not happen, I wonder what Terminal commands did you use, and what did you get in response?
It might be that you'll need to disable SIP and then try again (don't forget to enable SIP back afterwards!).
https://developer.apple.com/documen...ling_and_enabling_system_integrity_protection

 

[knimmo]

thanks for your response. I admit all of this is rocket science to me, being a writer and not a techie. I found code for terminal online, it did nothing. then I tried SIP, but it did not allow me to access terminal, only the tools used in recovery mode. so not sure what to do. maybe call apple, but they charge for help, even if the problem is theirs, like Catalina not dumping update files hogging up 40 gigs on a 250 gig hard drive. thanks again for your response!

 

[plinden]

Can you post exactly what you typed in Terminal, what the response to the commands were, and what you're trying to delete? Just so we understand that it's safe to delete those files.

15-20 years ago my brother thought he was cleaning up some unnecessary files and made his computer unbootable. Like you he doesn't really understand the tech. I just wish he'd asked me first.

 

[DeltaMac]

You can't disable SIP while booted to your normal system.
You have to boot to your recovery system, run terminal from there, then enter the command

csrutil disable

Restart to your normal system, and try to delete those files again.
If you can't get to your recovery system for some reason, you can also boot to an external macOS installer, and run the same terminal command while booted to the system installer.