Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Repair a corrupt Recycle Bin in Windows

If you've ever run into a problem where you get an error when emptying your Recycle Bin on a Windows computer, it can be very annoying. I hate seeing anything in that trash can icon and try to keep it empty all the time. If you're having similar problems, try this to reset your Recycle Bin. I originally found this post, then added in the option for XP and Server 2003.

For XP and Server 2003 go to Start->Run, type cmd and Click OK. If you're on Vista, Windows 7, or Server 2008, go to Start, type cmd in the search box, then right-click Command Prompt and select "Run as Administrator".


Once the command prompt is open type the following command corresponding to your operating system and press Enter

For XP/Server 2003: rd /s /q C:\Recycler

For Vista/Windows 7/Server 2008: rd /s /q C:\$Recycle.bin

This will delete the Recycle Bin folder from your machine, effectively getting rid of whatever problem files are creating the issue not allowing you to empty the Recycle Bin. Once you've done this you can add something new to the Recycle Bin and Windows will create a new version of the folder so you can once again clean up your junk files.



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