Fix 'The operation can’t be completed' error on macOS

Quick answer: Run diskutil verifyVolume / and diskutil repairVolume / in Terminal from Recovery mode, then restart. If that fails, use fsck -fy in single-user mode.

I've seen this error pop up on macOS for years, from El Capitan all the way to Sonoma. It's infuriating because it gives almost no useful info — just 'The operation can’t be completed' with a generic error code like -36, -43, or 100. The real cause is almost always a corrupted file system metadata, not a permissions issue or a dying drive (though we'll rule that out too). Here's the fix I've used hundreds of times.

Why this happens

When you copy, move, or trash a file, macOS checks the file system's metadata (the invisible .DS_Store and other catalog files). If that metadata is corrupted — maybe from a crash, a force-quit, or a bad USB disconnect — macOS flatly refuses to complete the operation. It's a safety mechanism, but a clumsy one.

Step-by-step fix

Back up anything critical. I'm being paranoid, but file system repairs can go sideways. Use Time Machine to a different drive.
Boot into Recovery mode. Restart your Mac and hold Command + R until you see the Apple logo or a spinning globe. On Apple Silicon Macs, press and hold the power button until 'Loading startup options' appears.
Open Disk Utility. From the Utilities menu, select Disk Utility (not Terminal yet).
Run First Aid on your startup volume. Select 'Macintosh HD' (or whatever your startup volume is) and click First Aid. Let it run — it can take 5–15 minutes. Note any specific errors it reports, but don't panic if it says 'overall status is OK' while you're still having problems.
If First Aid fails or reports nothing, use Terminal. Go to Utilities → Terminal. Type:
```
diskutil verifyVolume /
```
Then press Enter. If it finds issues, run:
```
diskutil repairVolume /
```
On APFS volumes (most Macs from macOS 10.13 onwards), you can also try:
```
diskutil apfs updatePreboot /
```
This fixes a common APFS metadata mismatch that First Aid sometimes misses.
If that still fails, go nuclear with fsck. Reboot into single-user mode (hold Command + S during startup on Intel Macs). At the command line, type:
```
/sbin/fsck -fy
```
Let it cycle through all checks. If it says 'FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED', run it again until it says 'The volume appears to be OK'.
Restart normally. Type reboot and try the file operation again. 9 times out of 10, it works.

If the main fix doesn't work

Check for hidden files causing trouble

Sometimes a single file's metadata is hosed, but only when you're trashing or moving that one file. Try this in Terminal:

ls -la@ /path/to/your/file

If you see an '@' symbol next to permissions, extended attributes are attached. Strip them:

xattr -c /path/to/your/file

Then try the operation again.

Run EtreCheck or similar

If the error persists, it might be a third-party kernel extension or a failing drive. EtreCheck (free) scans your Mac and reports system-level issues. Look for kernel panics, KPs, or 'kext' warnings. If you see disk I/O errors, back up your data immediately — that drive could be dying.

Reset NVRAM and SMC

This is a long shot, but I've seen NVRAM corruption cause weird file system behaviors. On Intel Macs: shut down, press Option + Command + P + R for 20 seconds, then release. For SMC, it varies by model — Apple has a support article for your specific Mac. On Apple Silicon, this doesn't apply.

Prevention tips

Always eject external drives properly. Yes, it's annoying, but yanking a USB drive mid-transfer is the #1 cause of metadata corruption.
Run Disk Utility's First Aid monthly. I schedule it on the first of every month. It catches small problems before they become big ones.
Avoid force-quitting Finder. When you force-quit Finder, it doesn't flush its metadata cache. If you must force-quit, immediately run killall Finder from Terminal to restart it cleanly.

I know this error is maddening because it tells you nothing. But 95% of the time, it's a metadata glitch, not a hardware failure. Run the repairs above, and you'll be back to work in 20 minutes. If it still fails after all that, your drive might have physical issues — copy your data somewhere safe and consider a replacement.