No Option to Empty Recycle Bin Windows 10? 4 Fixes!

No option to empty Recycle Bin Windows 10!

Plenty of users often choose to empty their Recycle Bin to release disk space. However, when you’re going to empty the Recycle Bin, some of you could find your Recycle Bin icon becomes greyed out or this temporary storage place cannot automatically cycle the deleted files.

In this scenario, how to remove Recycle Bin from desktop because there’s no option to empty Recycle Bin Windows 10.

How do I force empty my Recycle Bin?

Users who don’t have admin rights cannot remove files from their Recycle Bin. Besides, if your Recycle Bin is corrupted, it’s also impossible for you to empty the Recycle Bin.

If there’s no option to empty Recycle Bin Windows 10, please try the following fixes.

Fix 1. Empty the Recycle Bin via Desktop icon settings

Desktop icon settings is a part of Windows Settings. This feature not only can help you show, hide, or resize desktop icons, but also can restore default.

Step 1. Press “Win + I” to open Windows Settings. Then click the “Personalization” button.

Step 2. Click the “Themes” button.

Step 3. Select the “Desktop icon settings” option.

Step 4. Tick the Recycle Bin icon and the “Restore Default” button. Please remember to click Apply > OK.

After that, you can see if the recently deleted files in the Recycle Bin have been emptied or not.

Fix 2. Empty the Recycle Bin from Temporary files

If the above solution cannot help you out, you can try to empty Recycle Bin in Windows using Windows Settings. After finding Temporary files, you’re ready to follow the steps below. Let’s perform how to remove Recycle Bin from desktop via Temporary files.

Step 1. Press “Win + I” to open Windows Settings. Then click the “System” button.

Step 2. Under the Storage tab, click the “Temporary files” button and open it.

Step 3. On the Temporary files window, tick “Empty Recycle Bin” and tap the “Remove files” button.

Fix 3. Perform a Clean Boot in Windows to empty the Recycle Bin

No option to empty Recycle Bin Windows 10? Why don't you perform a clean boot to isolate the source of this problem?

A clean boot starts Windows with a minimal set of drivers and startup programs, so you can check whether the background program is interfering with your deletion or not.

Step 1. Press “Win + R” to open the Run box, and type “msconfig” in the window. Then press “OK” to open the System Configuration window.

Step 2. Under the General tab, select “Selective Startup” and uncheck the “Load startup items” option.

Step 3. Under the Services tab, check the Hide all Microsoft services box. Then click Disable all > OK.

Step 4. Under the Startup tab, click the “Open Task Manager” button. Then right-click on each item and Disable them one by one.  

Step 5. Go back to the System Configuration window, then click Apply > OK to save your changes.

Fix 4. Fix the corrupted Recycle Bin to remove files

Your permanently deleted files could appear after deleting from a damaged Recycle Bin. To fix your corrupted Recycle Bin, you can refer to the following steps to reset Recycle Bin using the elevated command prompt.

Step 1. Type “cmd” in the search bar and click “Run as administrator” to open the command prompt window.

Step 2. Type “rd /s /q C:\$Recycle.bin” in the window and press “OK” or hit “Enter” to start the process. You can also replace the local disk C drive with your needed drive.

Bonus tips: How to recover deleted files from Recycle Bin after empty?

Regrets are unavoidable after deletion. After removing files from the Recycle Bin, what can you do to recover emptied Recycle Bin?

If you’ve created backups before, there’s no need for you to be concerned about how to recover deleted files from Recycle Bin after empty.

Alternatively, professional data recovery software like MyRecover has made it possible to restore permanently deleted files from Recycle Bin. This utility can exempt you from complicated backups and try its best to recover data as much as possible.   

★Powerful features & friendly design::   

Recover the deleted/lost Word, Excel, PPT, PDF, photos, videos, audio, folders, and other 200+ types of data from HDD, USB, SD cards, and other storage devices.

Keep the original format for the deleted/lost files.

During Quick Scan and Deep Scan, you can enter filenames in the search bar to find your desired files or wait to see all the deleted and other missing files.   

Support NTFS, exFAT, FAT32, and ReFS file systems.

Download MyRecover on your Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, or Windows Server computers to get your permanently deleted files back!

Step 1. Launch MyRecover on your PC, and hover the mouse over the partition that contains the files you want. Then click Scan.

Step 2. Locate your desired files by Name, Date, Type, Size, or Path. You can also wait to view all the files and other missing files after Quick Scan and Deep Scan.

Step 3. Go to the Deleted Files/Other Missing Files folder, and click “Recover x files” to get your selected files back. Please remember to store these recovered files in another path.

Relevant Q&A about the Recycle Bin & desktop icons

If there’s no option to empty Recycle Bin Windows 10, please refer to the above content to remove files from your Recycle Bin. Meanwhile, there’re some related questions and answers for you.