Empty Recycle Bin in Windows 10

jona9 · 08 Jan 2019

Thanks

Brink · 08 Jan 2019

ddelo · 12 Feb 2019

For some unexplainable (to me at least) reason when I looked in the C:\$Recycle.Bin folder, although I had tried ALL 6 options of the tutorial, my C:\$Recycle.Bin was not empty.
Windows reported it as empty, the PowerShell command was showing that the command had succeeded, but the C:\$Recycle.Bin of my account, was not empty!!!

The only explanation I could possibly think, has to do with restoration of Macrium image, but again before the image was taken, I had run Windows cleanup... who knows!

The proof:

Empty Recycle Bin in Windows 10-recyclebin.png

The only way to clean it up, was to use Powershell and remove all files and folders in the $Recycle.Bin of my account.

So, in case someone faces the same problem, and none of the Options of the tutorial actually cleans the $Recycle.Bin, just run this command:

Code:

dir (join-path -Path 'C:\$Recycle.Bin' -ChildPath (Get-LocalUser | where Name -eq $env:USERNAME).SID) -Force -Recurse | Remove-Item -Force -Recurse

and $Recycle.Bin is emptied. It should be noted that the deleted "desktop.ini" file, will be recreated upon system startup.

HTH

ddelo · 12 Feb 2019

Shawn @Brink,

Out of curiosity, would you mind emptying the Recycle Bin and then check your account's $Recycle.Bin to see if it's empty, by running this command:

Code:

dir (join-path -Path 'C:\$Recycle.Bin' -ChildPath (Get-LocalUser | where Name -eq $env:USERNAME).SID) -Force -Recurse

Brink · 12 Feb 2019

@ddelo

Mine shows as empty other than the SID folder below.

Empty Recycle Bin in Windows 10-recycle.jpg

ddelo · 12 Feb 2019

Thanks a lot Shawn. I appreciate it.
I just deleted two files, one csv with powershell output and the image I created to upload in my previous post. When emptied the bin, the csv was gone but the image got a filename starting with $I plus some characters in capital letters and an extension .png (the same extension with the recycled image).
The only way to delete it from the Recycle Bin was with PS.

I may need to try Fix Corrupted Recycle Bin in Windows | Tutorials

ddelo · 13 Feb 2019

Update:
Deleting the $Recycle.Bin folder seems to have done it.
I guess it got somehow corrupted and recreating it, fixed it, at least for now!

Thanks a lot Shawn

Brink · 13 Feb 2019

Great news Dimitri. I'm glad that's all it was.

Matthew Wai · 25 Jun 2020

batch file fails after upgrade to v2004
The above member used a CMD file to empty Recycle Bin automatically at Windows startup but disliked the CMD window. The following VBScript can do the same without a window appearing.

https://www.tenforums.com/attachment...version-2-.vbs

Code:

CreateObject("wscript.shell").run("PowerShell Clear-RecycleBin -force -ErrorAction:Ignore"),0

You may add it into this tutorial if you find it useful.

Empty Recycle Bin in Windows 10

Empty Recycle Bin in Windows 10

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