{"id":306,"date":"2008-05-28T20:03:24","date_gmt":"2008-05-28T14:33:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=306"},"modified":"2023-02-10T16:20:31","modified_gmt":"2023-02-10T10:50:31","slug":"fix-corrupted-recycle-bin-windows-vista-7-8-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-corrupted-recycle-bin-windows-vista-7-8-10\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Fix the Corrupted Recycle Bin Store Folder"},"content":{"rendered":"

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. In some cases, you may be unable to completely empty the Recycle Bin<\/a>. Each drive has a hidden and protected folder named $Recycle.bin<\/code>, which is where the Recycle Bin stores files that you and other users on the computer delete. Windows creates a fresh $Recycle.bin<\/code> folder automatically after you reset it.<\/p>\n

\"recycle<\/p>\n

If you change to the directory of the Recycle Bin store folder using Command Prompt, you’ll see some cryptic file names. When you delete a file, the Recycle Bin assigns the deleted item an obscure file name and stores it. Only Windows knows the file name mappings.<\/p>\n

\"recycle
Recycle Bin store folder contents<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Due to the corruption of the store folder, certain weird things can happen occasionally. Resetting the store fixes corrupt Recycle Bin in most cases.<\/p>\n

Fixing a corrupted Recycle Bin in Windows<\/h2>\n

IMPORTANT<\/b>: 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.<\/p>\n

1. Open an elevated Command Prompt<\/a> window.<\/p>\n

2. Type the following command and press ENTER<\/kbd>:<\/p>\n

rd \/s \/q C:\\$Recycle.bin<\/pre>\n
\"recycle
Remove $Recycle.Bin store folder<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
This clears out the $Recycle.bin<\/code> folder on the C:\\ drive. You need to do this for each hard disk partition in your system.<\/em><\/p>\n
3. Type EXIT<\/code> to close the Command Prompt window.<\/p>\n
While the above method fixes Recycle Bin store folder corruption, it wouldn’t help fix any cosmetic problems (e.g., Recycle Bin showing incorrect icon) with the Recycle Bin<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
Related articles<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. How to Empty the Recycle Bin Using Task Scheduler<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Fix Recycle Bin Icon Does Not Refresh Automatically<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Restore Missing Recycle Bin Desktop icon<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. How to Empty the Recycle Bin In a Single Click in Windows 10<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. How to Empty the Recycle Bin Without the Confirmation Window Showing Up<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
    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. In some cases, you may be unable to completely empty the Recycle Bin. Each drive has a hidden and protected folder named $Recycle.bin, which is where the … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[106],"class_list":["post-306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows","tag-command-prompt"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1075,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-recycle-bin-icon-not-refresh-custom-icons-windows-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":306,"position":0},"title":"[Fix] Recycle Bin Icon Does Not Refresh Correctly","author":"Ramesh","date":"August 29, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"When you use a custom icon (.ico) file to customize the Recycle Bin Empty & Full icons manually or via a desktop theme, the Recycle Bin icon may not update or refresh correctly when emptying the Recycle Bin or when you add items to it. In some cases, the issue\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"recycle bin does not refresh","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/w7-rbin-custicon-3.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":907,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/disable-empty-recycle-bin-confirmation-windows\/","url_meta":{"origin":306,"position":1},"title":"Empty the Recycle Bin Without the Confirmation Window Showing Up","author":"Ramesh","date":"June 29, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"When emptying the contents of your Recycle Bin, you'll be asked for confirmation as below. Here is a registry edit to turn off the prompt in Windows 7, 8 and Windows 10, using NirCmd. This registry edit replaces the Empty Recycle Bin command in the right-click menu and the ribbon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"recycle bin delete confirmation prompt","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/rbin-silent-empty.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4594,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/show-hide-shell-folder-namespace-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":306,"position":2},"title":"New Ways to Show or Hide Shell Namespace Folders in Windows 10","author":"Ramesh","date":"November 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"From Windows 2000\/XP through Windows 10, you can add custom shell folders as well as hide specific shell folders from appearing in Explorer environment or Desktop using the Registry Editor or with GPOs. There are two new ways to do exactly the same task, in Windows 10. What is a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 10"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"show or hide shell namespace","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/whitelist-shell-objects-6.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/whitelist-shell-objects-6.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/whitelist-shell-objects-6.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3110,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/empty-recycle-bin-single-click-using-powershell\/","url_meta":{"origin":306,"position":3},"title":"How to Empty the Recycle Bin In a Single Click in Windows 10?","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When using your Windows 10 computer in Tablet mode, to clear the Recycle Bin you either have to switch off Tablet mode, or open File Explorer and browse the Recycle Bin folder in order to empty it. This post tells you how to create a shortcut to clear the Recycle\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 10"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/emptybin-ps1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":25247,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/recover-deleted-files-windows-file-recovery-wfr\/","url_meta":{"origin":306,"position":4},"title":"How to Recover Deleted Files Using Windows File Recovery (WFR)","author":"Ramesh","date":"December 21, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Did you accidentally delete an important file? Have you wiped clean your hard drive? Unsure of what to do with corrupted data? Windows File Recovery can help recover your personal data. Windows File Recovery (WFR) is a command-line app from Microsoft. It can help you recover lost files deleted from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Utilities"","block_context":{"text":"Utilities","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/utilities\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"windows file recovery - store app from Microsoft","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/wfr-store-app-featured.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/wfr-store-app-featured.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/wfr-store-app-featured.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4640,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/automatically-clear-temp-files-every-login-using-disk-cleanup-batch-file\/","url_meta":{"origin":306,"position":5},"title":"Automatically Clear Temp Files Using Disk Cleanup, Storage Sense or Batch file","author":"Ramesh","date":"November 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The TEMP directory (%temp%) gets bloated over time as applications store data over there and don't always remove the files and folders they created. And, software installers extract the contents of the setup packages to the %temp% folder and fail to do the cleanup act when the installation is complete.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"windows 10 storage settings cleanup options","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/storage-settings-cleanup-options.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/storage-settings-cleanup-options.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/storage-settings-cleanup-options.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}