How To Fix Recycle Bin Not Working On Windows 10

If recycle bin is not working on your Windows 10 device, here is what you can do to make it work again. In this tutorial, you will learn a simple method to quickly fix recycle bin on your computer. Corrupted recycle bin for Windows 10 is not ideal because it is one of the essential elements of the operating system that keeps all deleted files in a separate location so that you can permanently delete them from your system or restore if you happen to change your mind later.

When the recycle bin is corrupted, you might face trouble gaining access to the drive. Another issue that could surface is the file explorer browsing bin may not show deleted files, or it could be that attempts to permanently remove trashed files fail.

fix corrupted recycle bin access denied issue on windows 10

On Windows 10, each drive has a $Recycle.bin folder which is hidden by default and where all deleted files/folders are stored, in case you need to restore them. However, all this won’t be possible if the recycle bin is unusable.

In this tutorial, see how to fix Corrupted Recycle error when you try to use Recycle bin on Windows 10. Fixing Access Denied to restore Recycle Bin on Windows 10 requires you to follow a few simple steps.

Recover Recycle Bin on Windows 10

Follow these steps to reset Recycle Bin to get it back to working state:

  • Click the Start button.
  • Type Command Prompt and select Command Prompt (admin) search the search result list to run it as administrator.
  • Now enter the following command in the prompt to fix problems with Recycle Bin on Windows 10:

rd /s /q C:\$Recycle.bin

remove hidden recycle bin from command prompt

Note: In the above command, we have deleted the corrupted Recycle Bin from the C: drive (main operating system directory). If the problem is with another drive, replace C:\ in the above command with the drive letter, such as D:\

That’s it. After the command is executed, the hidden $Recycle.bin folder will be removed from your device. Now restart your Windows 10 PC which will then automatically create the new Recycle Bin free of bugs and errors.

While this post is mainly about Windows 10, you can also apply these instructions to resolve the Recycle Bin problem on Windows 7, Windows 8.1/8 as well.