How To Restore Deleted Recycle Bin?

Sometimes a recycle bin icon is accidentally deleted while emptying it or removed by malicious software. Following a few steps, we can restore the recycle bin. A recycle bin is an icon found on the desktop of most of the Windows based operating systems and it represents a directory where deleted files are temporarily stored. The purpose of having a recycle bin is to retrieve files that you may have accidentally deleted and to recover space on your hard disk by emptying it.

It happens that sometimes a recycle bin icon is accidentally deleted while emptying it or removed by malicious software. Microsoft has an option for this so that recycle bin functions are not completely disabled. There few steps through which you can restore recycle bin.

1. If you are using Windows XP, right-click an empty space on the desktop to pull out a menu. Next, you have to select 'Properties' from the list of options and click the desktop tab. On the desktop properties, you have to click the 'Customize' button and then the 'Restore Default' button. It will enable all the original icons on the desktop to be visible again, but you have to exit all windows and restart the computer. This is a simple method to restore deleted recycle bin on Windows XP.

2. For Windows Vista or Windows 7, the first step to restore a deleted recycle bin icon is to fire up the control panel by accessing the start menu. In the control panel, you will find a series of options that include: System and Maintenance, Security, Network and Internet, Hardware, Appearance and Personalization, etc. From the options, you have to choose Appearance and Personalization and then select Personalization. Under the tasks on the left side you can find 'Change desktop icons'. You have to click on it to bring up the common desktop icons. In that, you can find the recycle bin icon. If you check it and click okay, you will see your recycle bin icon appear on your desktop.

3. Another option is to change the registry settings. This can also restore the recycle bin in Windows XP. For this you have to go 'Start Menu' and open 'Run'. Next, you have to type "regedit" in the search field and click "OK" to start the Registry Editor to browse the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace

Next, right click the 'Namespace' registry key in the left section of the window, select "New" and click "Key." After that type: "645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E" in the "Key" field and click enter. Finally, double-click the Default" entry in the right pane of the window, type 'Recycle bin' in the field, click enter and close the Registry editor.

By: Chris Cornel

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