The Recycle Bin on one of my XP machines cannot be emptied. The error message is "Error, cannot delete file." Inside the recycle bin are many nested empty folders created by an errant script. Sending the folders to the recycle bin took several hours. And attempting to empty the bin takes a long time and eventually produces the error and causes explorer.exe to consume and not release ram and eventually crash. Deleting c:\recycler then attempting to empty it does not work. I need to know if there a way at a lower level to empty it. My last resort will be a backup(minus the bin) and re-format.
Windows – Unable to Empty Recycle Bin
recycle-binwindows xp
Best Answer
Restore the files and folders and then hold the shift key down when deleting them. The folder path is problem to long when the folders are in the recycle bin. Holding down the shift key will delete them directly bypassing the recycle bin.