Personalization Change Recycle Bin Icon in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to change the empty and full Recycle Bin icons for your account in Windows 11.

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

When you delete a file to the Recycle Bin, the Recycle Bin will automatically refresh to show the full icon.

When you empty the Recycle Bin, the Recycle Bin will automatically refresh to show the empty icon.

You can change the default empty and full Recycle Bin icons to use a custom .ico file you want instead.

Please feel free to share your custom Recycle Bin icons in a reply post below.

EXAMPLE: Default empty and full Recycle Bin icons







1 Open Settings (Win+I).

2 Click/tap on Personalization on the left side, and click/tap on Themes on the right side. (see screenshot below)



3 Under Related settings, click/tap on Desktop icon settings. (see screenshot below)

You can also copy and paste control desk.cpl,,0 into Run (Win+R), and click/tap on OK to directly open Desktop Icon Settings.

4 Select the Recycle Bin (full) icon, and click/tap on Change Icon. (see screenshot below)

If you wanted to restore the default Recycle Bin (full) icon, click/tap on Restore Default instead of Change Icon, and go to step 6.

5 Perform the steps below to change the Recycle Bin (full) icon: (see screenshots below)

1. Click/tap on the Browse button.
2. Navigate to and select the .ico file you want to use.
3. Click/tap on Open.
4. Select the .ico file you want to use if not already.
5. Click/tap on OK.

6 Select the Recycle Bin (empty) icon, and click/tap on Change Icon. (see screenshot below)

If you wanted to restore the default Recycle Bin (empty) icon, click/tap on Restore Default instead of Change Icon, and go to step 8.

7 Perform the steps below to change the Recycle Bin (empty) icon: (see screenshots below)

1. Click/tap on the Browse button.
2. Navigate to and select the .ico file you want to use.
3. Click/tap on Open.
4. Select the .ico file you want to use if not already.
5. Click/tap on OK.

8 Click/tap on OK to apply. (see screenshot below)


9 Open Registry Editor (regedit.exe).

10 Navigate to the key below in the left pane of Registry Editor. (see screenshots below step 11)


11 Follow the steps below to add ,0 to the end of the .ico file paths: (see screenshots below)

Adding ,0 to the end of the .ico file paths is required to fix the bug of the Recycle Bin icon not automatically refreshing between custom empty and full icons.

1. Double click/tap on the (Default) value in the right pane of the DefaultIcon key to modify it, add ,0 to the end of the path, and click/tap on OK.
2. Double click/tap on the empty value in the right pane of the DefaultIcon key to modify it, add ,0 to the end of the path, and click/tap on OK.
3. Double click/tap on the full value in the right pane of the DefaultIcon key to modify it, add ,0 to the end of the path, and click/tap on OK.

12 You can now close Settings and Registry Editor if you like.





1 Open Registry Editor (regedit.exe).

2 Navigate to the key below in the left pane of Registry Editor. (see screenshot below)



3 Double click/tap on the (Default) value in the right pane of the DefaultIcon key to modify it. (see screenshot below step 2)

4 Type the full path of the Recycle Bin (empty) .ico file you want to use not wrapped in quotes, add ,0 to the end of the path, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

Adding ,0 to the end of the .ico file path is required to fix the bug of the Recycle Bin icon not automatically refreshing between custom empty and full icons.

5 Double click/tap on the empty value in the right pane of the DefaultIcon key to modify it. (see screenshot below step 2)

6 Type the full path of the Recycle Bin (empty) .ico file you want to use not wrapped in quotes, add ,0 to the end of the path, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

Adding ,0 to the end of the .ico file path is required to fix the bug of the Recycle Bin icon not automatically refreshing between custom empty and full icons.

7 Double click/tap on the full value in the right pane of the DefaultIcon key to modify it. (see screenshot below step 2)

8 Type the full path of the Recycle Bin (full) .ico file you want to use not wrapped in quotes, add ,0 to the end of the path, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

Adding ,0 to the end of the .ico file path is required to fix the bug of the Recycle Bin icon not automatically refreshing between custom empty and full icons.

9 You can now close Registry Editor if you like.

10 Refresh the Desktop to apply changes to the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop.





1 Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below



(Contents of REG file for reference)

2 Save the .reg file to your desktop.

3 If you have Smart App Control turned on, you will need to unblock the downloaded REG file.

4 Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

5 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

6 Refresh the Desktop to apply changes to the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop.

7 You can now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.


That's it,
Shawn Brink