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Summary: It turns out to be fairly easy to accidentally delete the desktop Recycle Bin in Vista. Getting the Recycle Bin back is easy, just not obvious.
To me this seems like a step backwards for Vista. On Windows XP, there is no "Delete" item when you right click on your desktop Recycle Bin. On Vista there is. Not only is that potentially confusing, but even when you do understand the difference, you know what's going to happen. • Right click on your desktop Recycle Bin in Windows Vista and you'll get this popup:
I've highlighted the menu items of interest here: Empty Recycle Bin, which permanently deletes the contents of the Recycle Bin, and Delete, the standard context menu item that deletes the Recycle Bin icon itself. And it works. Click on Delete and you get this message:
"...I frequently mutter to myself 'yeah, yeah, whatever'
and press enter or click Yes without paying attention."
The problem of course is that we're so used to these popup confirmations we often fail to notice or read them. I know I frequently mutter to myself "yeah, yeah, whatever" and press enter or click Yes without paying attention. Whoops. The Recycle Bin disappeared. But as you can see, the message gives the clue we need. So, we dutifully fire up Control Panel and click on the Personalization options:
With all the options on the right in the big white emphasized area, it's very easy to miss "Change desktop icons" near the top left:
Click on that and you'll get this handy little dialog:
Click the Recycle Bin checkbox as I've highlighted above, click OK, and your Recycle Bin should reappear on the desktop. At least that part is easier than Windows XP. Related: FREE Newsletter The Ask Leo! Newsletter - FREE weekly updates by email with the latest answers, tips, tricks and fun information you won't find anywhere else.
Why Subscribe? • Recent Comments
I followed your procedure and I did get the recycle bin back which I THANK YOU FOR, but it is no longer working where I can put items in the recycle bin, but it never shows "full" as it did before. It always appears to be "empty." When I go into the recycle bin, there is trash, but it does not show up. Can you help me out??? Posted by: Jay at April 19, 2008 11:17 PMThank you my recycle bin is happily back in place. the stupid thing is that its the second time I have deleted it.. duh! Ha ha. yeah, I lost mine due to that silly "delete" when you right click. Why even bother. I was deleting a lot of stuff today, and that went along with it. AND to top it all off the stuff I deleted was still stored in it when I got it back. What a silly concept... anyway thanks. You did us a service that windows apparently won't anymore.. *thumbs up* Posted by: Ian at May 1, 2008 04:50 PMI have the same problem as the lady above, after i got my recycle bin back, it no longer works dynamically, automatically looking full or empty. The only way i can get it to this i have to refresh the screen. Any tricks to make it do this automatically again? Posted by: Arnold Melvin at May 1, 2008 06:45 PMIn response to the question about the recycle bin not showing full- that is an Icon problem. Go to Desktop Icons screen (see article) and click on Full Reycle bin from picture and then Change Icon and pick the correct one. You can even download Icons and change it to a theme one. Posted by: Lara at May 2, 2008 01:44 PMThank you Leo, had this issue and was pulling my hair out as to what to do! You are truly a God amongst mere mortals, it's people like you that keep idiots like myself in check when it comes to computer related issues! Posted by: Alex at May 4, 2008 04:14 AMThank you so much Leo, i got myself to this today whiles trying to empty my recycle bin and was so much disturbed deleting my bin (didn't noticed the pop up confirmation).My search on google brought me to you and i'm so glad for your great help..easy now. Thank you. Posted by: Richmond Ackah at May 4, 2008 06:12 AMThank you Leo!!! My girlfriend accidentally deleted the trash bin on our vista computer! While she was at work I googled for help on the situation and your site came up. I sucessfully added the bin back to the computer screen and she doesn't know it yet! I thought that we would never get the trash bin back. I thought it was a lost cause. I am also guilty of not reading pop-ups but its a lesson learned now. GOD BLESSES THOSE WHO BLESS OTHERS AND TRUST ME YOUR SITE IS A BLESSING TO ME AND OTHER ALIKE!!!!!!!!!!! Posted by: Shane Summers at May 4, 2008 09:18 AMoh my gosh thank you! i was just being careless and hit delete instead of empty and it was gone! i freaked out and was like oh my gosh what am i gonna do now? if i delete something where will it go? so of course i followed my instincts and googled it and found this site. it was really helpful and really eay, and i doubt i would have ever found it if it werent for this site! Posted by: Brett at May 4, 2008 03:26 PMLeo, no - the questions about the Recycle Bin not toggling between the icons that show full/empty dynamically are not answered by "selecting the right icon" in the Personalization menu. Once the Recycle Bin icon has been deleted, it seems to lose the logic that allows it to update dynamically (without refreshing the desktop) in response to having contents placed in an empty Bin or having contents deleted from the Bin. We need not just to restore the icon, but to restore the original behavior associated with it. Any ideas how? Posted by: John at May 8, 2008 11:58 PMPost a comment on "I accidentally deleted my Recycle Bin in Vista - how do I get it back?":
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