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Lost my Recycle Bin in Windows 11. How do I recover?

Anonymous
2024-08-28T16:08:22+00:00

I tried a number of solutions from web searches but none seemed to work. In particular, I tried the Settings app > Themes > Desktop Icon Settings and made sure that Recycle Bin was clicked on. I then rebooted: no luck. I did norice that there were two Recycle Bin icons showing on the dialog Desktop Icon Settings - see following:

I had a problem with Microsoft 365 a few weeks ago, and with the help of an expert on this forum was able to successfully uninstall and reinstall that suite. I am guessing that was when I lost Recycle Bin.

I would appreciate your advice.

Bob

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Recovery and backup

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  1. DaveM121 872.1K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2024-08-28T16:42:46+00:00

    Hi, I am Dave, I will help you with this.

    Click your Start Button, type cmd, right click Command Prompt in the resulting list and choose 'Run as Administrator'.

    Paste this command and hit Enter:

    rd /s /q C:$Recycle.bin

    Close Command Prompt and restart your system

    When your system starts up:

    Right click your desktop and select New - Folder.

    In the name field for that new folder, copy-paste the following and hit Enter:

    Recycle bin.{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

    The folder will automatically convert into the Recycle Bin.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-08-28T19:01:03+00:00

    Hi David. Thanks for your prompt reply.

    After following yor instructions, the Recycle Bin was created in the desktop folder and when I dlete a file it shows up in that folder. I can successfully empty the folder. The only issue is that the Recycle Bin folder doesn't show up on the Windows desktop.

    I suspect there is an easy fix 😖

    Thanks again

    Bob

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