No Option to Empty Recycle Bin on Windows 10 [Real Fix]

Empty recycle bin grayed out when you are trying to empty your recycle bin. How to deal with this situation - there is no option to empty recycle bin? Real fixes are provided to help you empty your recycle bin even when the empty option is grayed out.

There Is No Option to Empty Recycle Bin Windows 10

"I have a Windows 10 Ultimate 64-bit computer. One day I decided to change the icon of my recycle bin to something else. After I did that I tried to delete the files in my recycle bin by right-clicking on it and then clicking "Empty Recycle Bin"
But, for some reason, the "Empty Recycle Bin" text is grayed out and I can't click on it. I have to go into the recycle bin and delete everything from there. How do I fix this problem?"

PS: If you are looking for a way to automatically empty the recycle bin on schedule, we can help.

Fix 1. Quickly Fix Recycle Bin Won't Empty

Most users may encounter this kind of trouble when they accidentally make some changes to their computer. Before you take actions, you must try these steps first.

Step 1. Restart your computer and try again.

Step 2. Reinstall recycle bin in Windows 10/8/7

• Right-click on Desktop > Select Personalize.

• Click on Themes > Click Desktop Icon settings under Related Settings.

• Check Recycle Bin > Click Apply.

If these two steps above fail to help, then you can try these fixes below:

Fix 2. Recycle Bin Not Emptying? Try Another Way 

Right-click the recycle bin icon and choosing empty option is not the only way to empty your recycle bin. You can also empty the recycle bin by going to settings. Let's see how to do it.

Step 1: Access Settings.

Step 2: Choose "System" to continue. Choose Storage.

Step 3: Open Storage, and select This PC (or a hard drive) under Storage.

Step 4: Click Temporary files and recycle bin. Choose Empty the recycle bin and tap Remove files.

Fix 3. Run CMD to Fix Empty Recycle Bin Greyed Out 

• Go to Start, search for "Command Prompt".
• Right-click "Command Prompt" > Select "run cmd as administrator".
• Type: rd /s /q C:\$Recycle.bin and hit "Enter".

• Reboot the computer and then you can reuse the Recycle Bin.

If this doesn't work, open cmd window again and type: sfc / scannow > Enter. System File Checker will check and fix the problem for you. If the sfc/scannow doesn't work well, refer to SFC (SFC / SCANNOW) Is Not Working on Windows.

Restore Deleted Files from Recycle Bin

Let EaseUS data recovery program help you and fix this problem. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free enables you to recover deleted files from accidental deletion, hard drive corruption/formatting, system/file system crash, virus attack, or other scenarios. It's fully compatible with Windows 10/8.1/8/7 and former Windows versions. You can download it for free and follow these three steps to restore recycle bin data.

1. Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. Select a location(where the recycle bin is) and click "Scan".

2. The software will start a scanning process in order to find lost files.

3. Choose the file(s) you want to recover by file types from the scanning results. Click "Recover" button to recover the selected files. You'd better choose a different location instead of the original hard drive to avoid data overwriting.