Windows – Recycle Bin does not work or is corrupt

recycle-binwindows 7

My Recycle Bin icon is on the Desktop but when opened it has none of the normal Recycle Bin functions (e.g. "Empty Recycle Bin") there is just "Organise".

Here is some more info:

  • If I delete something, it just deletes permanently.
  • If I go to the Recycle Bin properties, there are no drives in the list.
  • Everything in the properties window is greyed out except "Display delete confirmation dialog".
  • If I delete $Recycle.Bin, it does not regenerate on reboot like it should.
  • If I restore $Recycle.Bin to it's normal state, the Recycle Bin still does not function.

There is nothing on the internet about this problem. I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium Edition.

Best Answer

This forum thread is about a problem very similar to yours even if on Windows XP. The user found the problem to be virus-related. In particular, they found that it was related to the following registry key

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoRecycleFiles

Please check that the value is set to 0, and make a scan with an antivirus, possibily in safe mode.

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