Recycle Bin is an integral part of the Windows system, not a software program, so it cannot be deleted permanently. If you don't want to see it or need a clean desktop, you can remove or hide it from desktop.

This tutorial explains three easy ways to remove Recycle Bin from desktop on Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7. Select your Windows version and follows the steps to hide get Recycle Bin off desktop.

If you lose some important files that you actually need when clearing Recycle Bin, don't fret. Use a professional file recovery tool - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to restore deleted or permanently deleted files from Windows.

Method  1. Remove Recycle Bin from Desktop Windows 10 in Settings

It's quite easy to get rid of Recycle Bin on desktop in Windows 10 or Windows 11. Here are the how-to steps.

Step 1. Press Win + I keys to open Windows "Settings". Then, select "Personalization". Or you can right-click your desktop and choose "Personalize".

Step 2. On the Personalization Settings window, choose "Themes" in the left panel. Then, click "Desktop icon settings" under "Related Settings".

desktop icon settings

Step 3. To remove or hide Recycle Bin from desktop, uncheck the "Recycle Bin" box and click "Apply".

remove recycle bin icon

Method 2. Remove Recycle Bin from Desktop with Registry in Windows 10  

Another practical way to remove the Recycle Bin icon from desktop is editing the Windows registry directly. Before modifying the Windows registry, we recommend that you back up the Windows registry so that they don't get corrupted and affect your computer.  

Step 1. Press Win + R keys to open the Run tool.

Step 2. Type Regedit in the Run box and click "OK".

run regedit command

Step 3. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace.

desktop in registry

Step 3. Find the registry key: 645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E and delete it.

delete recycle bin value

Step 4. Exit Registry and restart your computer, then you will see the Recycle Bin icon is not on the desktop.

Method 3. Hide Recycle Bin from Desktop with Local Group Policy Editor

You can also try to remove Recycle Bin from desktop on Windows 11 with Local Group Policy Editor.

Step 1. Right-click the Windows button and choose "Run".

Step 2. Type gpedit.msc in the Run box and click "OK".

run regedit command

Step 3. Find "Administrative Template". Double-click "Desktop > Remove Recycle Bin icon from desktop".

choose remove recycle bin incon from desktop in local group policy editor

Step 4. Check "Enabled" to remove the Recycle Bin from desktop, File Explorer, programs that use the File Explorer windows, and standard Open dialog box. Then, click "Apply" and "OK".

enable the option to remove recycle bin icon

Step 5. Restart your computer and make this setting work. If you need to restore Recycle Bin later, just choose "Disabled" or "Not Configured options" in this window.

How to Recover Permanently Deleted Files from Recycle Bin Windows 10

Removing Recycle Bin from desktop will empty the files temporarily kept in Recycle Bin and make them inaccessible on your computer, what if there are some crucial files you need? How to restore permanently lost files from Windows 10 or Windows 11? Here comes the data recovery software to solve your problem.

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is developed with the most advanced data recovery algorithms that cover NTFS, FAT32, EXT, ExFAT, HFS+, and other file systems. This Windows undelete software restores any lost file types on various storage devices, including HDD, SSD, external devices, memory cards, USB drives, and other media.

 Download for Win Recovery Rate 99.7%
 Download for Mac Trustpilot Rating 4.7

What can EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard do?

  • Recover lost data due to deletion, formatting, OS crash, virus attack, lost partition, etc. 
  • Recover deleted emails, photos, videos audio, music, and documents from any storage
  • Restore files from formatted, inaccessible, or corrupted storage devices
  • Retrieve lost data on Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista/XP, Windows Server, and macOS 11.2 ~ 10.9

Free download this data recovery program to recover deleted or lost files in three steps.  

Step 1. To specifically recover files from emptied Recycle Bin on Windows 11/10/8/7, hover the mouse pointer over the "Recycle Bin" option under the "Locations" section and click "Scan".

select the recycle Bin to scan

Step 2. EaseUS data recovery software will start a quick scan immediately for all deleted files, and later a deep scan will launch automatically to scan more lost files. After the scanning process, you can use the "Filter" feature to select a specific file type, such as Pictures, Word, videos, etc. 

filter files to recover

Step 3. Once you locate the files you want to restore, you can double-click it for a full preview. Then, select the target files and click "Recover". We suggest you select a different volume or an external USB drive to save the recovered files to avoid data overwriting.

recover lost files from Recycle Bin

More Information on Windows 10 Recycle Bin

Check the following content to learn how to remove Recycle Bin icon from desktop on Windows 7/8. 

1. Where Is the Recycle Bin in Windows 10

How can you find Recycle Bin? And where is the Recycle Bin on Windows 10? Navigate to the full guide to open Recycle Bin.

The Recycle Bin icon should be in the upper-left corner of your desktop in both Windows 10 and Windows 11 by default. If Recycle Bin is missing, you can restore it by:

  • Adding Recycle Bin to desktop in Settings
  • Creating Recycle Bin Shortcut from $RECYCLE.BIN
  • Recovering disappeared Recycle Bin using Windows PowerShell

2. How to Restore Recycle Bin?

See a quick way to restore Recycle Bin in Settings:

Step 1. Right-click on your desktop.

Step 2. Choose Personalize to open Personalization in Settings.

Step 3. Click the Themes tab and click Desktop icon settings under Related Settings.

Step 4. Check the box next to "Recycle Bin" and click "Apply" and "OK".

3. How to Remove Recycle Bin from Desktop Windows 7?

Follow the steps below to hide Recycle Bin from desktop in Windows 7 and Vista:

Step 1. Right-click your desktop.

Step 2. Select Personalize in the context menu.

Step 3. In the Personalize appearance and sounds window, click "Change desktop icons".

Step 4. Uncheck the "Recycle Bin" box and click "OK".

Or you can click the Start button, type desktop icons in the search box, and then select "Show or hide common icons on the desktop".

4. How to Hide Recycle Bin from Desktop Windows 8?

The method of removing Recycle Bin from desktop on Windows 8 is similar to that on Windows 7:

Step 1. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen to go to desktop icon settings.

Step 2. Select "Search" and look for desktop icons.

Step 3. Choose "Show or hide common icons on the desktop". 

Concluding Words

These are the full instructions on how to remove Recycle Bin from desktop on Windows 10, Windows 11, as well as previous Windows 7/8. Even you are an ordinary user, you can follow the above solutions to hide Recycle Bin smoothly.

If unexpected data loss happens due to accidental deletion or emptying Recycle Bin, use EaseUS data recovery software in time to restore lost files quickly.

 Download for Win Recovery Rate 99.7%
 Download for Mac Trustpilot Rating 4.7

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Updated by Daisy

Daisy is the Senior editor of the writing team for EaseUS. She has been working at EaseUS for over ten years, starting as a technical writer and moving on to being a team leader of the content group. As a professional author for over ten years, she writes a lot to help people overcome their tech troubles.

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Approved by Evan Galasso

Evan Galasso is a digital forensics and data recovery engineer with over 10 years of experience in the field. He presents opinions on the current state of storage media, reverse engineering of storage systems and firmware, and electro-mechanical systems of SSDs and HDDs.

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