Locked folder that can't be removed?

[enjayare]

Hello Forum members,

I have a folder that was sent to me by a client a couple of years ago that I can't remove from my Dropbox. The folder has a grey padlock on the bottom left corner and also an X in a red circle on the bottom right corner - see screen shot. I am using a Mac with OS Mojave 10.14.6

Can anyone advise how to remove this folder as I dont have authority to unlock it.

[Lusil]

You can quit the desktop app by:

• Clicking on the Dropbox icon that's next to your computer's clock. 
• Selecting your profile picture or the initials that are on the top right corner of the pop up window.
• Click on Quit Dropbox. 

From there, try to either drag the folder outside of the Dropbox folder to, for example, your desktop, or deleting it. 

If this doesn't do the trick, please let me know or send me a screenshot (again, without any personal info) of the error message that you're presented with. 

Thanks in advance!

[enjayare]

Thanks Lusil, I tried to move the folder to the trash but got this error message - The operation can’t be completed because the item “Tender - 160 Brook St, Coogee” is locked. Also every time I drag the folder out of the window it just copies a new version to the destination and the original remains in dropbox.

When I log into dropbox on the web this folder does not appear in the list.

Should I try and restart my computer maybe?

Cheers Nick.

[Здравко]

Hi @enjayare,

Strange...   Did you try "ls /Users/"? What is the result? Also, what gives the command "whoami"?

[Lusil]

You can give a reboot a shot and, if that doesn't work, try uninstalling the desktop app and then deleting the folder in question. 

If you get the same error message, then that could mean that the cause is related to something outside of the Dropbox app, in which case I'd recommend contacting Apple support for more info on this.

If you do manage to delete the folder though, you can then reinstall the latest version of the desktop app (79.4.143) and run it.

Thanks for your ongoing effort on this, @enjayare! Let me know what you find. 

[Здравко]

No, no, no, ... @Lusil this is not Dropbox application problem. Definitely!

[enjayare]

Whoami = njrcon

The folder name is Tender - 160 Brook St, Coogee so I typed the following in terminal: -

sudo chown njrcon ~/Dropbox/Tender\ -\ 160\ Brook\ St\,\ Coogee

It told me 

Operation not permitted

[Здравко]

Oh.. And don't ask for your password?

[enjayare]

Sorry yes it did ask for my password but then it said No such file.

Here is the whole script

Last login: Tue Aug 27 18:17:47 on ttys000

Nicks-27-iMac:~ njrcon$ sudo chown njrcon ~/Users/njrcon/Dropbox/Tender\ -\ 160\ Brook\ St\,\ Coogee 

Password:

chown: /Users/njrcon/Users/njrcon/Dropbox/Tender - 160 Brook St, Coogee: No such file or directory

Nicks-27-iMac:~ njrcon$ sudo chown njrcon ~/njrcon/Dropbox/Tender\ -\ 160\ Brook\ St\,\ Coogee

chown: /Users/njrcon/njrcon/Dropbox/Tender - 160 Brook St, Coogee: No such file or directory

Nicks-27-iMac:~ njrcon$ sudo chown njrcon ~/Dropbox/Tender\ -\ 160\ Brook\ St\,\ Coogee

chown: /Users/njrcon/Dropbox/Tender - 160 Brook St, Coogee: Operation not permitted

Nicks-27-iMac:~ njrcon$ 

[Здравко]

@enjayare, Are you admin on the your machine? It looks like no! Do you know the root pasword? If so, you can use the following:

su
chown njrcon /Users/njrcon/Dropbox/Tender\ -\ 160\ Brook\ St\,\ Coogee

Try this.

[Здравко]

@enjayare, another option, without to know root password, is while log in as  'test' to execute "sudo chown njrcon /Users/njrcon/Dropbox/Tender\ -\ 160\ Brook\ St\,\ Coogee". In such a case no so much privileges will be need.