Solved Pesky recycle bin problem

devildog93 · Nov 11, 2009

I have tried quite a few forums searching for an answer to this and finally decided to join one and throw my question out there.

Been having this problem with my recycle bin.

When I delete a file, and send it to the recycle bin, it goes there, but is not visible.
I have no idea what files are in there, I just know they are in there. I can hit restore, but I do not know what they were, or any info on them, so I do not know where they may go if restored. (unless the bin was empty and I only put one in there)

The icon on the desktop shows that the bin now is full, I click on the icon, and there is nothing to see. no files, folder, anything.

The "empty Recycle bin" button lights up, thus giving me the option of clearing files, and says "are you sure you want to permanently delete these files"

I hit yes, and the icon on the desktop clears, as well as the "empty recycle bin" light dims, and as far as I can tell the bin is empty

I have tried a couple different suggestions to do with corrupt recycle bin files.

As Administrator I used this:

rd /s /q C:\$Recycle.bin

to each drive and then followed by a re-boot.
No luck

THIS PROBLEM IS NOT the one where your desktop icon says full when it has been emptied or vice versa.

The desktop icon functionality works, and when I "empty the bin", it tells me how many files I am deleting, I just have no idea what they are.

This is a hard one as I can find a thread anywhere to this particular problem.IT IS NOT the desktop icon problem of it saying "opposite" of what it is, or how to get the desktopicon back if accidentally deleted.
And it IS NOT the "recycle bin properties" option of having your deletes "immediately removed" that option is NOT selected on ANY of my drives.

I am super-stumped on this. If anyone could help I'd appreciate it.

PS sorry for capitalized words here and there just emphasized so as to clarify facts I have already established and save people wasting breath on things I have eliminated as causes.

Brink · Nov 11, 2009

Hello DevilDog, and welcome to Vista Forums.

It seems that you have already tried the usual solutions for this without success.

As a test, create a new adiministrator account to see how it works in it. If ok, then you can copy all of the contents of each of your old account's C:\Users\(user-name) folders into the corresponding new user account's C:\Users\(user-name) folders to copy over all of your settings and shortcuts.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

devildog93 · Nov 11, 2009

Brink said:
Hello DevilDog, and welcome to Vista Forums.

It seems that you have already tried the usual solutions for this without success.

As a test, create a new adiministrator account to see how it works in it. If ok, then you can copy all of the contents of each of your old account's C:\Users\(user-name) folders into the corresponding new user account's C:\Users\(user-name) folders to copy over all of your settings and shortcuts.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thank you for the quick response Shawn, and the welcome. Yes I have tried everything I could so far, EXCEPT for this one.

I will give this a try. Let you know if it works, If I get the recycle bin issue fixed in the new admin account, and I do the copy over, would I then just eliminate the problem account and make the new one...................my new one.

K I actually did it and the problem persists in all accounts.

devildog93 · Nov 11, 2009

Shawn, I did however notice something, in your tutorial "

How to Fix a Corrupted Recycle Bin in Vista

there are 2 steps. I tried the first one:

rd /s /q C:\$Recycle.bin

like I said before,

But I just went back, and looked at step 2.
It says to: click on the drive with windows.....mine is C:\ , so I do that, and there is NO folder named
$Recycle.bin

I don't know if this helps

Brink · Nov 11, 2009

The $Recycle.bin folder is a hidden operating system folder, so you would just have to do step 1 in METHOD TWO in that tutorial to unhide it before you will see it.

devildog93 · Nov 12, 2009

OK, Just to let you know. I have now managed to create an administrator account that has a functioning recycle bin (re-booted, then tried, when I tried the first time I did not reboot the system and get a fresh go at her). All pertinent files, apps and vaarious important stuff have been transferred over to it. Old account deleted and new one up and running.

Mind you, this did create a nightmare with a few programs, and screwed up a few newtwork server features, but a long day of inputting some numbers and all seems to be somewhat back to normal.

Kind of funny, a days worth of messing around to reapir a recycle bin...................LOL

ANYWAYS. Thank you all, and I will DEFINITELY use this forum if I have problems again.

MUCH APPRECIATED. :cool:

Brink · Nov 12, 2009

You're welcome DevilDog. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted out.

lil domii · Nov 12, 2009

devildog93 said:
OK, Just to let you know. I have now managed to create an administrator account that has a functioning recycle bin (re-booted, then tried, when I tried the first time I did not reboot the system and get a fresh go at her). All pertinent files, apps and vaarious important stuff have been transferred over to it. Old account deleted and new one up and running.

Mind you, this did create a nightmare with a few programs, and screwed up a few newtwork server features, but a long day of inputting some numbers and all seems to be somewhat back to normal.

Kind of funny, a days worth of messing around to reapir a recycle bin...................LOL

ANYWAYS. Thank you all, and I will DEFINITELY use this forum if I have problems again.

MUCH APPRECIATED.

yes, when i first joined i found everyone was kind and very helpful. thank you vistax64! and to the people who run it

DnceForce · Dec 12, 2009

I know you're not supposed to hijack someone's post, but I am currently having this exact problem.

I feel really stupid in asking this but.... how do you transfer all the info to the new user account? I know they have an easy transfer, but is that just for computer to computer? I don't have a new computer, I just want all the files and settings from the other user account to this new one, in hopes that the recycle bin will function correctly. Then I can delete the other account.

Brink · Dec 12, 2009

Hello DnceForce, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Have you already tried this to see if it was able to fix the Recycle Bin for you?

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/131294-recycle-bin-corrupted-cannot-delete-file-folder.html

You can copy all of the contents of your old user accounts C:\Users\(user-name) folders into the new account's corresponding C:\Users\(user-name) folders. After everything checks out ok, you can delete the old account from within the new account.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

DnceForce · Dec 12, 2009

This helped a little. But all I was able to transfer were photos and documents. None of my downloaded programs (email, firefox) or any of my settings will transfer. I want the new account to be exactly like the other account. (just with a correctly working recycle bin)

The first link for the Recycle Bin wasn't the problem I was having with it. It will delete any file I put into it.... but when you open it up, there are no icons inside, showing you what you've put there.

Brink said:
Hello DnceForce, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Have you already tried this to see if it was able to fix the Recycle Bin for you?

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/131294-recycle-bin-corrupted-cannot-delete-file-folder.html

You can copy all of the contents of your old user accounts C:\Users\(user-name) folders into the new account's corresponding C:\Users\(user-name) folders. After everything checks out ok, you can delete the old account from within the new account.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Brink · Dec 12, 2009

Double check to make sure that you have the hidden system files unhidden so that you can copy them over as well.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/86163-hidden-files-folders.html

DnceForce · Dec 12, 2009

Sadly, I went through all of that (showing hidden files and all), transferred everything... and the Recycle Bin still doesn't show what it is I have in there to be deleted.

Brink · Dec 12, 2009

DnceForce,

Double check to see if you may have the Recycle Bin set to permanently delete the files immediately instead of them being in the Recycle Bin first.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/72910-recycle-bin-delete-immediately.html

DnceForce · Dec 15, 2009

No, it's not set to that. I even raised the amount of MB it could hold and that didn't work either.

Brink · Dec 15, 2009

You might see if running a sfc /scannow command may help after restarting the computer after it finishes.

Solved Pesky recycle bin problem

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