How to Fix Recycle Bin Corrupted in Windows 11

If your Windows 11 Recycle Bin gets corrupted, try the following solutions.

I suggest you create a System Restore point before you proceed. Let’s start.

Fix Recycle Bin Corrupted by Resetting it

Open the Run Command by pressing Windows + R. Type cmd, and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter. Click Yes on the popup.

You can now see the elevated Command Prompt.

Type this command and press the Enter key: rd /s /q C:\$Recycle.bin

Note that the above command is for the C drive only.

If you have other drives on your PC, run the above command for all of them.

Here’s how:

Replace the letter C with the letter of another drive. For example, if I’m doing this for drive D, my command will look like this:

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

I hope you understand my point. Restart your PC after you complete all the steps above.

See: How to Restore Recycle Bin Icon Missing

Fix the Corrupted Recycle Bin by Reinstalling it

Every drive has a separate $Recycle.Bin folder. This one is a system-protected folder that is hidden by default.

The Recycle Bin folder is located here, along with permissions folders.

Follow these steps to see this:

Open the Run by pressing Windows + R. Type control folders and press the Enter key.

In the File Explorer Options, navigate to the View tab.

Uncheck the “Hide protected operating system files (Recommended).” Select Show hidden files, folders, and drives.

Hit the OK button.

Then, go to the drive you want and see the $Recycle.Bin folder.

Now, you need to remove this folder from each drive.

Please restart your PC after you’ve done that.

Open Run. Type ms-settings:themes and press the Enter key.

Hit the Desktop icon settings on the right.

Select Recycle Bin and hit the OK button.

That’s all.

Thanks for reading.

See: How to Show the Recycle Bin in File Explorer