Earlier we saw how to disable the confirmation window when emptying the Recycle Bin in Windows XP and Windows Vista. Here is a Registry hack to accomplish the same in Windows 7, using the excellent NirCmd tool. This registry hack replaces the Empty Recycle Bin command with NirCmd command-line so that the Recycle Bin can be emptied silently without any prompts. This also works from the Recycle Bin Tasks pane.
Using NirCmd to Silently Empty the Recycle Bin
1. Download NirCmd from Nir Sofer’s site.
2. Unzip and move NirCmd.exe to the C:\Windows\System32 folder.
3. Download w7-empty-bin-silent.zip and save to Desktop.
4. Extract the files to a folder, and run the file w7-empty-bin-silent.reg.
This replaces the Empty Recycle Bin command with "NirCmd.exe emptybin" command-line. Now, emptying the Recycle Bin either from the right-click menu or from the Tasks pane in the Recycle Bin, should not produce any prompts. There is also an undo REG file available inside the above zip archive.
Related Posts
- Disable Empty Recycle Bin Confirmation in Windows XP and Vista
- Fix Recycle Bin Icon Does Not Refresh Correctly When Using Custom Icons in Windows 7
- How to Fix a Corrupted Recycle Bin in Windows 7 and Windows Vista
- More on Overriding the “Delete” Command in the Recycle Bin Context Menu in Windows Vista
- How to Rename the Recycle Bin in Windows Vista
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This is very useful and gets rid of another windows annoyance, thanks a lot.
Ran this on my x64 Windows 7 machine, and it works like a charm! Thank you.
@ Matt: turning off the confirmation dialog when emptying the recycle bin REQUIRES “messing with the registry.” There is no other way to do this. You’re probably thinking of how the user can turn off the “delete confirmation dialog” within the Properties menu of the Recycle Bin.
By the way, being able to “mess with the registry” is actually one of the main BENEFITS of using Windows compared to the Mac OS.
There is an easier way to achieve this without messing with the registry (messing with the registry is potentially dangerous), I cant think of how to do it off the top of my head.