There could be several reasons why your Mac is not letting you delete a user. Let’s explore some possible causes and solutions:
1. User Account Permissions: If you are logged in as a standard user or your account does not have administrative privileges, you may not have the necessary permissions to delete another user account. To resolve this, you will need to log in with an administrator account or ask someone with administrative access to delete the user for you.
2. User Account is Currently Logged In: If the user you are trying to delete is currently logged in to the Mac, you will not be able to delete their account. In this case, you can either wait for them to log out or ask them to log out so that you can proceed with deleting their account.
3. User Account is in Use by System Processes: Sometimes, certain system processes or background tasks may be using the user account you are trying to delete. This can prevent the deletion process from completing. To overcome this, you can try restarting your Mac and then attempting to delete the user account again.
4. User Account is Required for FileVault Encryption: If the user account you are trying to delete is the only account enabled for FileVault disk encryption, you will not be able to delete the account until you disable FileVault or enable another user account for encryption. To do this, go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > FileVault and follow the instructions to disable FileVault or add another user account for encryption.
5. File or Folder Ownership: If the user you are trying to delete is the owner of certain files or folders on your Mac, the system may prevent you from deleting their account until you transfer ownership or delete those files/folders. You can check for any files or folders owned by the user you want to delete and either transfer ownership or delete them before attempting to delete the user account again.
6. Corrupted User Account: In some cases, a user account may become corrupted, resulting in issues when trying to delete it. If none of the above solutions work, you can try creating a new user account with administrative privileges, transferring necessary files and settings to the new account, and then deleting the problematic user account.
It is important to note that deleting a user account will permanently remove all associated files and data. Therefore, it is recommended to backup any important data before proceeding with the deletion process.
If your Mac is not letting you delete a user, it could be due to permissions, active user sessions, system processes, FileVault encryption, file/folder ownership, or a corrupted user account. Considering these factors and troubleshooting accordingly should help you resolve the issue and delete the user account successfully.