Get RecycleBin path

Question

I am trying to get the RecycleBin path with the following code:

std::wstring GetRecycleBinPath()
{
	std::wstring path{};
	SHGetSpecialFolderPathW(NULL, path.data(), CSIDL_BITBUCKET, FALSE);
	std::clog << ::GetLastError() << std::endl;
	return path;
}

and

int main()
{
	const auto recycleBinPath = GetRecycleBinPath();
	if (!recycleBinPath.empty())
	{
		std::wcout << L"Recycle Bin Path: " << recycleBinPath << std::endl;
	}
	else
	{
		std::wcerr << L"Failed to get Recycle Bin Path" << std::endl;
	}
	return 0;
}

But I always got: Failed to get Recycle Bin Path. Does it matter if I am not the administrator of the machine?

If not, how can I accomplish this? How to find what is the issue? -> If I queried SHGetSpecialFolderPathW with GetLastError() the outcome was 0 (ERROR_SUCCESS).

Answer 1

Does your code even compile? data() returns a const string. That isn't compatible with the LPWSTR that the function requires. When I try your test code the compiler fails the call as I would expect.

std::wstring GetRecycleBinPath()
{
    std::wstring path;

    path.resize(MAX_PATH);
    SHGetSpecialFolderPathW(NULL, &path[0], CSIDL_BITBUCKET, FALSE);
    //SHGetSpecialFolderPathW(NULL, path.data(), CSIDL_BITBUCKET, FALSE);
    std::clog << ::GetLastError() << std::endl;
    return path;
}

As for the underlying issue, you cannot get the recycling bin using this function. It isn't a real folder and therefore there is no path to return. This applies to any virtual folder actually.

Since the folder is virtual there is really nothing you can do with the path itself. Can you clarify what you're planning to do with the folder as there is likely an API to handle that (e.g. restore or clear the bin).