Whether you're using Windows 10 or Windows 11, finding items you've deleted starts with opening the Recycle Bin folder. That's because the Recycle Bin in Windows is like a safety net that you can use to recover files or folders you've previously deleted from your computer or device.
So, if you are wondering “Where is the Recycle Bin in Windows?” or “Where to find the Recycle Bin on your laptop”, this guide will give you the answer.
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Put the file to be deleted into the Recycle Bin
The Recycle Bin in Windows is a special folder that stores your deleted files and folders. When you delete items from your PC, they go to the Recycle Bin instead of being permanently deleted. This is always useful if you accidentally delete your files.
An easy way to move an item to the Recycle Bin is to click on it and press the Delete key . Alternatively, you can right-click on the item and select Delete from the menu that appears.
While this is a convenient feature, your deleted files will still take up space on your hard drive until you permanently delete them. But depending on your Recycle Bin settings, the Recycle Bin may permanently delete some items after a while.
Now, let's look at the different ways to open the Recycle Bin.
By default, the Recycle Bin is located in the upper left corner of your desktop. This is the easiest way to access the Recycle Bin, as all you have to do is find the icon on your desktop. In case you need a refresher on what the icon looks like, here is what it looks like in Windows 10 and Windows 11:
Once you find the Recycle Bin on your desktop, select the icon and press Enter on your keyboard or double-click it to open the folder. Alternatively, you can right-click or press and hold the icon to open the context menu. Then, click Open .
If the Recycle Bin is missing from your desktop, our guide to restoring the desktop icon in Windows 10 and Windows 11 can help you get it back. If you don't have time to read the guide, here are the basic steps you need to follow:
Whether you're using Windows 10 or Windows 11, open the Settings app ( Win + I ) and go to Personalization > Themes . Then, click the Desktop icon settings link under Related Settings . Here's how to find it in Windows 10:
And here is the interface in Windows 11:
After you click on the Desktop icon settings link, a new window with the same name will open. It doesn’t matter whether you have Windows 10 or Windows 11. In this window, check the box next to Recycle Bin, then click OK . Once you do that, the Recycle Bin icon will be added to your desktop.
Now that you've set Windows to display the Recycle Bin on your desktop, you'll always know where it is, right?
You can always rely on Search in Windows 10 to find what you're looking for. Just type "Recycle Bin" into the search field, then click the relevant result.
The same applies to Windows 11: type recycle bin into the search box on the taskbar and click the Recycle Bin result.
In both operating systems, the Recycle Bin opens as soon as you click on a search result.
While the Recycle Bin doesn't have a Start menu icon by default, you can pin it there just like any other shortcut in Windows 11 or Windows 10. Right-click or press and hold on the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop, then click Pin to Start .
If you're using Windows 10, the Recycle Bin icon is added to the Start menu tile.
In Windows 11, the Recycle Bin will be added to the Pinned section of the Start menu.
You can also access the Recycle Bin location using File Explorer. First, open File Explorer and click an empty area on the address bar to edit. Type recycle bin in the address bar, then press Enter on your keyboard or click the Recycle Bin result shown below to access the folder. The entire process looks like this in Windows 10:
And here's the same thing in Windows 11:
You can also open the Recycle Bin by clicking the first ">" (greater than) sign in File Explorer's address bar, then selecting Recycle Bin from the menu that appears. Here's how it works in Windows 10:
And here's how it looks in Windows 11:
In both operating systems, you have immediate access to the Recycle Bin.
If you use File Explorer a lot, you might want a quicker way to open the Recycle Bin from there. Luckily, you can create a Recycle Bin shortcut in File Explorer's Quick access, add the Recycle Bin to your folder list, and even make the Recycle Bin show up as a drive in This PC .
If any of that sounds good, check out our guide on how to add the Recycle Bin to File Explorer . If you follow the steps there, you'll have quick and easy access to the Recycle Bin from all the important parts of File Explorer.
All the files you delete are listed in the main Recycle Bin folder, but each hard drive partition has a Recycle Bin. You can use this folder to access the Recycle Bin, but the process is more complicated.
Regardless of whether you are using Windows 10 or Windows 11, make sure you see hidden and protected files on your computer and use File Explorer to go to This PC > C: . There you will find a folder named:
$Recycle.Bin
Open the folder and you will see the Recycle Bin inside.
NOTE : The Recycle Bin is displayed on all drives of the PC, not just on C:, so the path used could easily be This PC > D: or some other drive letter.
You can also use the Run window to access the Recycle Bin location. First, use the Win + R keyboard shortcut or another way to open Run . Then, insert the following command:
shell:RecycleBinFolder
Finally, press Enter or click OK and the Recycle Bin will open immediately.
You can also create a shortcut for the Recycle Bin and pin it to the Taskbar in both Windows 10 and Windows 11. The process is a bit complicated and will be explained in detail in How to pin apps to the Taskbar for faster opening .
You can also launch PowerShell or Command Prompt , or even launch Windows Terminal if you prefer. In any of these command-line applications, type:
start shell:RecycleBinFolder
Press Enter on your keyboard and the Recycle Bin will open in File Explorer.
Windows Recycle Bin is a handy feature that makes file recovery easy. If the Recycle Bin icon is not on your desktop, you can still open it using the methods in this article. But if you still want to open the Recycle Bin from your desktop, there is still a way to restore it.
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Large folders on the system are one of the culprits that eat up a lot of system space. Many folders that you create, after deleting them, will come back after a while. Maybe those are junk folders that you try to remove them.
This guide will help you answer the question Where is the Recycle Bin in Windows 10? and let you choose the most comfortable way to reach the Windows 10 Recycle Bin location:
On Windows, sometimes you also need to reset Windows Security settings to default to fix some connection errors, stop working or simply want to return to the original state...
To check if the IP address you are using is a dynamic IP address or a static IP address, you can refer to the article below by WebTech360.
Windows 11 can download drivers for your computer without user intervention, but you don't always want to install drivers automatically to avoid unwanted problems.
Clean Boot is a troubleshooting technique used to start Windows with a basic, essential set of drivers and startup programs.
The cloning process involves moving data from one storage device to another (in this case, a hard drive) with an exact copy copied from the destination drive.
Fast Startup Windows 11 helps your computer boot faster, but it can also be the reason why your Windows computer doesn't shut down completely.
Search on Windows 11 pulls results not only from files and apps on your computer, but also from cloud storage linked to your Microsoft account.
Once you learn and actually try it out for yourself, you will find that encryption is incredibly easy to use and incredibly practical for everyday life.
Control Panel still plays a vital role in many of the configuration tasks you need on your new operating system. Here are a few different ways you can access Control Panel on Windows 11.
Changing the display language in Windows 11 may cause some programs to not display text in the language you want. If this is the case, you should enable Unicode UTF-8 to help Windows display text correctly in the language you want.
Internet Explorer was removed from Windows computers in 2022, replaced by Microsoft Edge. While Edge is far superior, Internet Explorer still comes pre-installed on Windows 11 — and it's incredibly easy to access.
Over the years, people have discovered a collection of free Windows tools that help diagnose what's causing their system to slow down.
When you're having audio problems or want to improve your PC's audio levels, it's time to dive into your Windows sound settings and make some tweaks. But did you know there are shortcuts and tricks to quickly get where you need to go?
