Dear Aunt TUAW: Help fix my failed install

Dear Aunt TUAW,

Help! I can't install anything after my Xcode install failed. Every time I try, Installer tells me that it's waiting for other installations to complete and then it just sits there forever.

What can I do? I've tried rebooting, I've tried killing the installer daemon. I'm at my wits end.

Please save me, Auntie!

Love,

Serge A.

Dear Serge,

It's okay. Deep breaths. Nothing to panic about. Fixing a failed install is actually pretty easy, so long as you don't mind waiting for a full system reboot. Here's what you do.

First, hop into Terminal and change directories over to /private/var/db/mds/system. Then remove the mds.install.lock file (you'll need to sudo rm, so be prepared to authenticate as root). Finally, reboot your system (sudo reboot).

You should be good to go.

Love,

Auntie T