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What are 'Relocated Items' and how to delete them?

airlied

airlied

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 8, 2011
382
59
Everytime I installed a beta there will be a new folder under users/shared called Relocated Items.
And I cant delete them since it keeps telling me it's 'needed' by OS or its 'open'.
スクリーンショット 0001-08-29 12.22.31.png

After 6 betas I already got a bunch of them 'I moved them to one folder'. How to get rid of them?

Any help is appreciated.
 
I'm told the files have been moved (not copied) to a series of folders in /Users/Shared. Is there any reason why, if the user believes the files are of no further use, the folders can't just be deleted via a "sudo rm -rf " command in Terminal?
 
Got this notice inside my Relocated items.



During the last macOS upgrade or file migration, some of your files couldn’t be moved to their new locations. This folder contains these files.

Configuration files

These configuration files were modified or customized by you, by another user, or by an app. The modifications are incompatible with the recent macOS upgrade. The modified files are in the Configuration folder, organized in subfolders named for their original locations.

To restore any of the custom configurations, compare your modifications with the configuration changes made during the macOS upgrade and combine them when possible.

Copyright © 2019 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.
 
hagjohn said:
Got this notice inside my Relocated items.



During the last macOS upgrade or file migration, some of your files couldn’t be moved to their new locations. This folder contains these files.

Configuration files

These configuration files were modified or customized by you, by another user, or by an app. The modifications are incompatible with the recent macOS upgrade. The modified files are in the Configuration folder, organized in subfolders named for their original locations.

To restore any of the custom configurations, compare your modifications with the configuration changes made during the macOS upgrade and combine them when possible.

Copyright © 2019 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.
Click to expand...

That sounds like a bug with specific applications rather than any changes by any user.
 
Actually only the link on the desktop was new. Inside the shared folder there where already several other relocated folders. I simply deleted them now (nothing happened). Some cannot be deleted as they are still in use. Might try the terminal command later.

I also have several new folders in iCloud, which are copies of other folders. Most of the time it is just the folder structure without any files that has been replicated.
 
matt_and_187_like_this said:
Actually only the link on the desktop was new. Inside the shared folder there where already several other relocated folders. I simply deleted them now (nothing happened). Some cannot be deleted as they are still in use. Might try the terminal command later.

I also have several new folders in iCloud, which are copies of other folders. Most of the time it is just the folder structure without any files that has been replicated.
Click to expand...

Interesting, as I realized the recovered files folder in my user folder was a clone of my iCloud. I have the same as everyone else in regards to the multiple relocated files.
 
I have similar 'relocated items' - they don't seem to be doing any harm.so my guess would be to leave them where they are and hopefully they will be 'corrected' in the next beta....or not.
 
airlied said:
Everytime I installed a beta there will be a new folder under users/shared called Relocated Items.
And I cant delete them since it keeps telling me it's 'needed' by OS or its 'open'.
View attachment 855177
After 6 betas I already got a bunch of them 'I moved them to one folder'. How to get rid of them?

Any help is appreciated.
Click to expand...
RednBlue said:
I have similar 'relocated items' - they don't seem to be doing any harm.so my guess would be to leave them where they are and hopefully they will be 'corrected' in the next beta....or not.
Click to expand...
I thought the same......then insteadof ‘correcting’ them the OS just keeps adding new folders......
 
Because the system volume will be read only going forward, lots of files which should be read write are moved out. For files that are modified, not to be used anymore by Apple or installed by third party software; and the installer do not have any rule for how to deal with, will be moved to the 'Relocated Items'.

For the system itself removing those files should be fairly safe, if you have installed some software that do not work properly anymore, this may be part of the reason, and will likely requiring some update from the developer. If you have custom configuration or files of those you should keep those unless you want to redo the configuration or reinstall later anyway.
 
Hey guys I cannot for the life of me delete this folder.
It keeps giving me errors when I try to delete it.
For example
"“_mysql.plist” can’t be modified or deleted because it’s required by macOS."
"The operation can’t be completed because the item “groups” is in use."
"The operation can’t be completed because the item “Default” is in use."
"The operation can’t be completed because the item “DefaultLocalDB” is in use."
"The operation can’t be completed because the item “DirectoryServices” is in use."
“.disk_label_2x” can’t be modified or deleted because it’s required by macOS."
"The operation can’t be completed because the item “CoreServices” is in use."
"The operation can’t be completed because the item “Library” is in use."
"The operation can’t be completed because the item “System” is in use."
"“_mysql.plist” can’t be modified or deleted because it’s required by macOS."
"The operation can’t be completed because the item “users” is in use."
"The operation can’t be completed because the item “Security” is in use."
"The operation can’t be completed because the item “Previously Relocated Items” is in use."

These folders either contain nothing or just a mysql-list file that haven't been updated for more than 4 years.
This is driving me insane!!
Any ideas how to get rid of them?
 
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Code: 
sudo rm -rf /Users/Shared/Relocated\ Items
deletes the Relocated Items folder.
 
bogdanw said:
Code: 
sudo rm -rf /Users/Shared/Relocated\ Items
deletes the Relocated Items folder.
Click to expand...

This worked for the relocated items folder from the latest beta update. I have one from the previous beta that cannot be deleted even with this command. It says "operation not permitted"
 
bogdanw said:
Code: 
sudo rm -rf /Users/Shared/Relocated\ Items
deletes the Relocated Items folder.
Click to expand...

Forgive my ignorance.
The name of the folder is called "Previously Relocated Items". So I assume the command in my case should be
sudo rm -rf /Users/Shared/Previously Relocated Items\
or am I completely wrong?
 
phobos said:
Forgive my ignorance.
The name of the folder is called "Previously Relocated Items". So I assume the command in my case should be
sudo rm -rf /Users/Shared/Previously Relocated Items\
or am I completely wrong?
Click to expand...
It's
sudo rm -rf /Users/Shared/Previously\ Relocated\ Items
or
sudo rm -rf "/Users/Shared/Previously Relocated Items"
or
copy-paste sudo rm -rf and drag&drop the folder
 
I forgot that I've already tried the but I gave it another go.
I was unsuccessful.
Most of the files there got an "Operation not permitted" message. I guess I have to live with this silly folder in the shared folder...
 
Installed GM today.

It never fixed the folder "Previously Relocated Items." It's still sitting in the Shared folder and can't be deleted because it's required by macOS. What a load of bull.

Anybody had any luck deleting this crap?

The whole Catalina thing, what a freakin' mess. And don't even get me started on iOS and watchOS. 🤦‍♂️
 
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