Issue with deleting user account I want to delete a user account before selling my machine, so I chose the secure delete account option in System Preferences > Users &amp; Groups. I think I saw a progress bar at first as it was deleting the account.

I've come back to the machine after a few hours. There is no progress bar. System Preferences is open and if I try to quit, it says "Users &amp; groups is removing a user account and home directory". In grey writing, it says "Deleting Account..." under the user name. In Activity Monitor I can see that 'writeconfig' is using 10+% of the CPU, followed by 'opendirectoryd' and 'mds'.

Is it doing anything? How long is it supposed to take? It's been 6 hours already.
To add on to the existing answers and offer a different solution, you can securely erase the drive instead of just one user account.

If you want to sell your machine but also include installed software, there is a better way to set this up that will ensure none of your personal data is on the machine, as well as provide a better box opening experience for your buyer. 


I would suggest doing a secure erase of your hard disk first. 
Then, reinstall your OS. 
Configure a dummy user account named "test" or "admin" or something generic
Install the software you want to include
Restart your machine in Single User mode
Very carefully, do the following:



  mount -uw / (This mounts the root volume so you can make changes to it.
  
  rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone  (This removes the flag that tells Setup
  Assistant that it's done)
  
  rm /var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default/users/"shortname".plist (Replace "shortname" with the user account name you set up before. This removes the user plist)
  
  rm -rf /Users/shortname  (Replace "shortname" with the user account name you set up before. This removes the User directory)
  
  rm -rf /Library/Preferences  (This resets preferences)
  
  shutdown -r now  (This restarts the computer)


Verify that your machine starts up to the Setup Assistant and you're done. That way, your buyer can start up the machine to the Setup Assistant and still retain the software you want to provide them with. 

Good luck.