Windows 10: Remove Empty Recycle Bin from Context Menu of Recycle Bin in Windows

How to: Remove Empty Recycle Bin from Context Menu of Recycle Bin in Windows

Add or Remove Empty Recycle Bin Context Menu for Recycle Bin in Windows

The Recycle Bin provides a safety net when deleting files or folders. When you delete any of these items from a hard disk, Windows places it in the Recycle Bin and the Recycle Bin icon changes from empty to full.

If you have multiple hard drives, partitions, or an external hard drive connected to your PC, each location will have its own $Recycle.Bin and Recycle Bin settings. Removable drives, such as USB flash drives and memory cards, will not have a Recycle Bin. Files deleted from removable drives are permanently deleted.

Items in the Recycle Bin still take up hard disk space and can be undeleted or restored back to their original location. When the Recycle Bin of a drive reaches its maximum storage size, Windows will automatically permanently delete (empty) older files in the Recycle Bin location to accommodate the most recently deleted files and folders.

Each user account on the PC will have their own separate Recycle Bin, and will be referenced by their Security Identifier (SID) in each drive's $Recycle.Bin.

When you manually empty the Recycle Bin, all files in the Recycle Bin will be permanently deleted to free up disk space.

This tutorial will show you how to add or remove the default Empty Recycle Bin context menu item of the Recycle Bin for all users in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.

*note Removing the Empty Recycle Bin context menu does not prevent users from using other methods to empty their Recycle Bin.

*Warning You must be signed in as an administrator to add or remove this context menu.


EXAMPLE: "Empty Recycle Bin" context menu item for Recycle Bin









Here's How:

1. Press the Win+R keys to open Run, type regedit into Run, and click/tap on OK to open Registry Editor.

2. Navigate to the key below in the left pane of Registry Editor. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\shell\empty




3. Change the owner (click on link) of the empty key in the left pane of Registry Editor to be the Administrators group.

4. While changing the owner, check Replace owner on subcontainers and objects, check Replace all child object permissions entries with inheritable permissions from this object, click/tap on OK, and click/tap on Yes to confirm. (see screenshot below)





5. Set permissions (click on link) of the empty key in the left pane of Registry Editor to Allow the Administrators group Full control.

6. You can now close Registry Editor.

7. Do step 8 (add) or step 9 (remove) below for what you would like to do.


8. To Add "Empty Recycle Bin" to context menu of Recycle Bin
*note This is the default setting.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 10 below.

Add_Empty_Recycle_Bin_context_menu.reg

Download

9. To Remove "Empty Recycle Bin" from context menu of Recycle Bin
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 10 below.

Remove_Empty_Recycle_Bin_context_menu.reg

Download
10. Save the .reg file to your desktop.

11. Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

12. When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

13. You can now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.


That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

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:)

 

recycle bin

Hi George,

To prevent your files from being deleted from the Recycle Bin, we suggest increasing the maximum file size your Recycle Bin can keep by following the steps below:

• Right click on the Recycle Bin icon.
• Under the Settings for selected location, select Custom size.
• Fill up the box for your allotted maximum file size for your Recycle Bin.

Let us know if you need further assistance.

 

Recycle bin missing from send-to Context menu

Hi Ozzie, I am Rob, a volunteer and a 10 time and dual award MVP specializing in Windows troubleshooting and Bluescreen analysis.

Microsoft for some unknown reason removed the Recycle Bin from the Context Menu though you can add it back in.

This should help:

How to Add Empty Recycle Bin to Context Menu in Windows 10

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/90558-add-e...

Please let us know the results and if you need further assistance.

 

Recycle bin missing from send-to Context menu

Hi Rob - Thanks, that did the trick! Have a good day.

 

Recycle Bin Context Menu Glitch

I see. I just tried cutting a file, and right clicked on the Recycle Bin.
Yes; Paste shows up as an entry. Okay, that makes sense, in a way. It's just strange to paste a file into the Recycle Bin; I'm only familiar with deleting a file to go to the Recycle Bin. It's just a new "term" in its own way.

I guess the reason why I saw it as a "bug" is because I'm not familiar with context menu entries being present and disappearing; usually a context menu item is clickable, or it's grayed out.



Okay it all makes sense now: Paste (move) a file into the Recycle Bin.

 

recycle bin

Interesting... never done that myself, & Windows Server 2003 (OS I currently use) does not have that option on the menu of the popup menu that appears @ least (perhaps in the PROPERTIES dialog is what you meant?)

Another "odd way" to POSSIBLY get this back, would be to run Explorer.exe, & be on MY COMPUTER @ the top in the left-hand side panel (treelist of drives/directories-folders & files etc.) & SEE IF RECYCLE BIN IS IN THE LOWER END OF THAT LIST HERE!

Then, left click on it, drag it to your desktop, & do "create shortcut here" & that might cut it as well, but kind of HOKEY, lol, but SHOULD work!

APK