Recycle Bin

How to Fix the Recycle Bin Icon Not Refreshing When Emptied​

   Information

The Recycle Bin provides a safety net when deleting files or folders. When you delete any of these items from your hard disk, Windows places it in the Recycle Bin and the Recycle Bin icon changes from empty to full.

If the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop does not refresh back to a empty icon when you empty it and stays the full icon, or the other way around, then this will show you how to fix this refreshing problem in Vista and Windows 7.

   Note

• A temporary solution is to click on a empty space on the desktop and press F5 to refresh the Recycle Bin icon.
• If you cannot Empty Recycle Bin or delete a file or folder inside the Recycle Bin, then see: How to Fix a Corrupted Recycle Bin in Vista
• Removable drives do not use or have a Recycyle Bin. Files deleted from removable drives are permanently deleted instead.

   Tip

This usually happens when the icon has been deleted by mistake and restored. For more on this, see : How to Restore the Recycle Bin back to the Desktop in Vista and Windows 7

EXAMPLE: Recycle Bin Stuck at Full or Empty

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OPTION ONE

Fix Default Recycle Bin Icon Using a REG File Download

1. Click on the download button below to download the file below.​

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Fix_Recycle_Bin.reg​

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2. Click on Save, and save the .reg file to the Desktop.​

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3. Right click on the downloaded .reg file and click Merge.​

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4. Click on Run, Continue (UAC-vista) or Yes (UAC-Windows 7), Yes, and then OK when prompted.​

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5. When done, you can delete the .reg file (On Desktop).​

NOTE: You may need to refresh (F5) the desktop to notice the change.​

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OPTION TWO

Fix Default Recycle Bin Icon Manually in Registry Editor

NOTE: You will just be temporarily changing the Recycle Bin icons to something else, then change them back to the default icons.

1. Right click on a empty area of the desktop and click Personalize. (See screenshot below)​

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2. Click on Change desktop icons in the upper left corner. (See screenshot below)​

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3. Click on the Recycle Bin (Empty) icon in the middle. (See screenshot below)​

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4. Click on the Change Icon button.​

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5. In the change icon window, click on the Recycle Bin (Full) icon. (See screenshot below)​

NOTE: For 2nd time thru after step 11, choose empty icon.​

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6. Click on OK.​

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7. Click on the Recycle Bin (Full) icon in the middle. (See screenshot below)​

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8. Click on the Change Icon button.​

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9. In the change icon window, click on the Recycle Bin Empty icon. (See screenshot below)​

NOTE: For 2nd time thru after step 11, choose full icon.​

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10. Click on OK.​

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11. Click on Apply. (Now your Recycle Bin icons are backwards)​

NOTE: For 2nd time thru, go to step 13.​

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12. Now go back and do steps 3 to 11 again, but time you will be picking the correct Recycle Bin icons for the empty (step 5) and full (step 9).​

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13. Click on OK to go back to desktop.​

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14. The Recycle Bin will now refresh again on it's own.​

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OPTION THREE

Fix Custom Recycle Bin Icon Manually in Registry Editor

NOTE: This will show you how to fix the icon refreshing problem when you have used custom icons for the Recycle Bin in Vista and Windows 7.

1. For how, see: Recycle Bin - Fix For Custom Icons Not Refreshing - Windows 7 Forums​

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That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

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• How to Customize the Recycle Bin Storage Size in Vista
• How to Replace Delete in the Recycle Bin Context Menu in Vista
• How to Set Recycle Bin to Permanently Delete a Item Immediately in Vista
• How to Enable or Disable the Recycle Bin Delete Confirmation Dialog in Vista
• How to Customize the Recycle Bin Context Menu in Vista
• How to Restore and Change a Desktop Icon in Vista
• How to Restore Previous Versions of a File and Folder in Vista
• How to Fix a Corrupted Recycle Bin in Vista
• How to Restore the Recycle Bin back to the Desktop in Vista
• How to Allow or Prevent the Vista Recycle Bin Icon to Display
• How to Add Empty Recycle Bin to the Vista Desktop Context Menu

 

[Mr GRiM]

Just out of interest Shawn, what might be some of the causes of this problem, as I have had the same issue on a previous install. Also is this going to happen again in the future.

 

[Brink]

Hi Mr. GRiM,

This quirk can happen sometimes when the Recycle Bin gets deleted or the icon was changed, then the Restore Default button was used to restore the Recycle Bin. This doesn't always work well, and is usuall best to just manually change or toggle the icon back instead.

 

[Brink]

yes it worked well thank you

Your welcome Davo, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Shawn

 

[lord1986]

thanks a lot..

Because of this refresing problem I was depressed I search a solution on Turkish forums but there is no solution I only joined this forum for appreciation BUT I exemined this site and found to many beneficial things and I will go on thanks again admin

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Lord1986, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Shawn

 

[notmyemailaddre]

I just signed up just to thank you guys. I have Windows Vista Home Basic 32bit, Turkish translation -- I ran the .reg file and it worked like a charm. Thanks a lot!

Edit: Wow, I hadn't read the posts before I sent mine, another Turk did exactly what I did. LOL! We Turks must love to show our appreciation, I guess. :P

 

[Brink]

LOL, you're welcome notmyemailaddre, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Shawn

 

[jeddess]

thank you so much, finally the different icons ar able to interact, useful post!!

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Jeddess.

Shawn

 

[Dinarius]

This has happened to me again for the umpteenth time! The Download method is far and away the best way to fix the problem. You can leave the downloaded file in a folder on your desktop until you next need it - which you will!

But, seriously, this is a stupid oversight on Microsoft's part. This problem never happened to anyone using any of the operating systems up to and including XP and it shouldn't be happening now.

Very much a case of if it wasn't broken etc...etc...

The messy Defrag dialogue in Vista is another example. The XP dialogue is so much better - why is there no 'Analyze' option in Vista? It's extremely useful!

Microsoft giveth and Microsoft taketh away.

D.

 

[Roy_ricky]

sorry about that....

 

[pacinitaly]

This is a counter-measure to prevent accidental deletion of the Recycle bin icon from the Desktop in Windows Vista.
The Delete command from the Recycle Bin context menu in Windows Vista cannot be removed, but can be hidden by using a tweak. To hide the Delete command and replace it with a Search command, use these steps:


http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/68495-recycle-bin-menu.html

~Carmine

 

[Mr GRiM]

Thanks, it was never needed anyway and you can disable it anyway from the change desktop icons in the personalization menu. (Works on Windows 7 as well :D)

 

[maggiep35]

:D Shawn, Thanks so much for this. I have been frustrated by this small annoying recycle bin icon for ages! It always looked full even after I'd empty it. I did as you suggest with the manual icon changes and now it works again! Tar so much.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Maggie, and welcome to Vista Forums.

 

[Twist3d]

None of these steps worked for me and I attempted them several times and read the whole tutorial.

I guess I'm simply screwed.

 

[Brink]

Hello Matt,

Please describe your problem with the Recycle Bin completely. It may be another issue at hand.

 

[dwayneweb]

Vista Recycle Bin Auto Refresh Fix

Re: http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/66294-recycle-bin.html

Just wanted to say thanks for the excellent manual instructions.

Worked great 1st time I tried it.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Dwayne, and welcome to Vista Forums.

 

[lloydc]

I downloaded and applied the fix_recycle (program) to address the (I think) perpetually FULL Recycle Bin which was causing my Bin to be virtually empty all of the time.

F5 did not refresh the Desktop Icon, so I emptied the Bin Manually, and the Icon did reset to Empty. I hope this will resolve the problem.

Is there any other way to prevent the automatic emptying of the Bin if this does not work?

Thank you for the Help!

Lloyd