There are situations where you need to reset the Recycle Bin store folder to fix problems such as Recycle Bin not showing the files that have been deleted, or you’re unable to completely empty the Recycle Bin. Each drive has a hidden and protected folder named $Recycle.bin, which is where the Recycle Bin stores files and folders that you (and other users in the PC) delete. Windows creates a fresh $Recycle.bin folder automatically after you reset it.
Fixing a corrupt Recycle Bin
IMPORTANT: The following procedure permanently deletes all files and folders which are already in the Recycle Bin (from all user accounts in the system) and cannot be recovered.
1. Open an elevated Command Prompt window. To open an elevated Command Prompt, click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.
2. Type the following command and press ENTER:
(This clears out the $Recycle.bin folder for the C:\ drive. You may have to do this for each hard disk partition in your system.)
3. Type exit to close the Command Prompt window.
Editor’s note: The above method only fixes Recycle Bin folder corruption if any. Using the above method as an attempt to fix any cosmetic problems (eg. Recycle Bin showing incorrect icon) with the Recycle Bin does not help.
See Also
- Recycle Bin icon does not refresh automatically
- Hide the "Delete" command from Recycle Bin context menu
- Restore the Recycle bin icon that has been accidentally deleted
Related Posts
- How to Disable the Empty Recycle Bin Confirmation Box in Windows 7
- More on Overriding the “Delete” Command in the Recycle Bin Context Menu in Windows Vista
- Fix Recycle Bin Icon Does Not Refresh Correctly When Using Custom Icons in Windows 7
- How to Rename the Recycle Bin in Windows Vista
- Disable Empty Recycle Bin Confirmation in Windows XP and Vista
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Thank you i’ve had a head pain …. 10000 x thank you !!!
I have a access denied whenI try this command in Window 7 … how do I get around that?
Worked wonderfully! I had three .mkv files from a show that I had tried to delete with all the methods I could find (except this one), and none of them worked :(.
I had very little faith in this one, but when I looked back at my Recycling Bin, it was empty!
Thank you sooo much WinHelpOnline!
Thanks!Using this tip I was finally able to empty my recyle bin of delteted files from an old usb drive. Just got 140MB back
This didn’t work for me… any other way to fix it?
Thank you! idk y but everytime i run Speed up my pc of uniblue powersuite i have to do these to my recycle bin!
Thank you so much for the tip. It worked and I finally got rid of the annoying error message.
Thank you got it to work.
A bit easier though check show hidden files and show protected files in folder options
then you can just delete the $Recycle.bin
I have 6 drives in my comp and this was much much faster for me