Restore Accidentally Deleted Recycle Bin in Windows 10/11

Recycle Bin is a folder where all deleted files are stored. It has been one of the most useful features of Windows since it was first released in Windows 95. With Recycle Bin, we can easily recover accidentally deleted files. All we have to do is find deleted files in Recycle Bin and click the Restore option to restore the files to their original location.

However, what if you accidentally deleted Recycle Bin? When Recycle Bin has disappeared in Windows 10, it's difficult to clean up junk files let alone recover deleted files from the Recycle Bin. Well, don’t be too worried when you find Recyle Bin lost! Here in this guide, I’ll show you how to restore accidentally deleted Recycle Bin in Windows 10/11.

Part 1. How to restore accidentally deleted Recycle Bin in Windows 10/11

Here are all the practical ways that can help you restore accidentally deleted Recycle Bin in Windows 10/11.

Fix 1. Add Recycle Bin icon to desktop

This is the first method you should try when you find Recycle Bin disappeared in Windows 10/11.

Step 1. Click the Start button > Go to Settings > Choose Personalization.

Step 2. Click Themes > Choose Desktop icon settings under Related Settings.

Step 3. On the Desktop Icon Settings screen, tick Recycle Bin > Click Apply then OK to confirm.

Go to the desktop and see if the Recycle Bin appears. If not, please move on to the next solution.

Fix 2. Disable Tablet Mode

Your computer might be in the Tablet Mode so you find Recycle Bin lost in Windows 10/11. Tablet Mode is a feature that makes laptops more touch-friendly. When Tablet Mode is enabled on Windows 10, many desktop icons, including the Recycle Bin, will not show up. You can follow the steps below to disable Tablet Mode.

Step 1. Click Start > Go to Settings.

Step 2. Choose System > Click Tablet mode option.

Step 3. Toggle off Hide app icons on the taskbar in tablet mode and Automatically hide the taskbar in tablet mode.

Fix 3. Create Recycle Bin shortcut

When you accidentally deleted Recycle Bin in Windows 10/11, you can create a Recycle Bin shortcut via $Recycle.bin. It’s one system-protected folder and you need to take some steps to make it show up.

Step 1. Go to Windows File Explorer > Click the View tab > Choose Options and click Change folder and search options.

Step 2. On the Folder Options screen: Click the View tab > Under Advanced settings, select Show hidden files, folders and drives and uncheck Hide protected operating system files (Recommended).

Step 3. Click Apply > OK to save the changes.

Step 4. Now go back to File Explorer > Go to This PC and open C drive.

Step 5. Right-click $RECYCLE.BIN > Choose Send to option and choose Desktop (create shortcut).

Or you may try this shortcut to restore Recycle Bin:

• Right-click anywhere on the desktop and select New folder.
• Copy and paste Recycle bin.{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} in the name field and hit Enter.

Fix 4. Restore accidentally Recycle Bin via PowerShell

You can also use command line to restore accidentally deleted Recycle Bin in Windows 10/11.

Step 1. Go to Search bar and type PowerShell.

Step 2. Right-click Windows PowerShell and choose Run as administrator.

Step 3. Type shell:RecycleBinFolder and press Enter.

Fix 5. Repair damaged system files

If Recycle Bin lost because of damaged system files, you can try to use command line to restore accidentally deleted Recycle Bin in Windows 10/11.

Step 1. Go to Search bar and type command prompt.

Step 2. Right-click Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator.

Step 3. Type sfc /scannow and hit Enter. It will automatically scan the system and repair damaged files.

Part 2. How to restore accidentally deleted files from Recycle Bin in Windows 10/11

So, you have successfully restored accidentally deleted Recycle Bin but can’t find the files you want to recover? In this case, you can rely on a data recovery software for Windows 10 to help you find deleted files.

It is possible that the missing files are still on your computer. You can’t see those deleted files but a data recovery tool can scan the drive and find them out as long as they have not been overwritten. MyRecover is recommended here. It’s one easy-to-use data recovery tool designed by AOMEI, the leading benchmark of the data security industry. Below are its outstanding features.

● Help you recover missing data effectively, safely, and completely.
● Recover lost data due to system crashes, accidental deletion, virus attacks, etc.
● Recover deleted and missing files with a high success rate and without any quality loss.
● Retrieve 200+ types of data, texts, pictures, videos, audios, emails, compressed files, etc.

AOMEI makes data recovery incredibly easy. All you have to do is make a few clicks and AOMEI will do all the rest. You can click the button below to get ADR for Windows.

Steps to restore accidentally deleted files from Recycle Bin

Step 1. Launch MyRecover > Hover the mouse over the drive and click Scan to scan.

Step 2. The software will scan the partition with Quick Scan and Deep Scan. Quick Scan aims at finding deleted data, while Deep Scan searches for other lost data.

Step 3. When the scanning is complete, you can select Recycle Bin to find the files you need. Finally, click the Recover button to move files to a safe place.

You can recover any files during the scanning. Once you find the files you want to recover, you can select the files and click the Recover button to recover them.

Final words

That’s all about how to restore accidentally deleted Recycle Bin in Windows 10/11. Hope one of the methods in this guide can help you successfully find the disappeared Recycle Bin. If you find the files you need are missing from the Recycle Bin, you can let ADR for Windows help you recover lost files.