Solved Empty Recycle Bin "button" gone from Recycle Bin window

Wisewiz · Nov 10, 2023

There was a "button" (just the words, actually) that said "Empty Recycle Bin" in the comand bar of Recycle Bin before this last update. Now, I see this

and the only way to see the Empty command is to tap the three dots, and then I get this:

So, is there a way to get the "button" back?

Melchior · Nov 10, 2023

hmm.. interesting..
I copied a desktop short cut and deleted it to the recycling bin..
the button was there to empty it after I had things to delete in the recycling bin.

but in your case..
what version of Windows are you running?

for me Windows 11 Pro v23H2 (build 22631.2506)

Wisewiz · Nov 10, 2023

Hi, Melchior! It's in the banner info to the left of all my posts, under "OS:".

Melchior · Nov 10, 2023

ooh right duh...
lol I forgot about the forums specs section..
lol.. so your running the same as me for OS and version..

idk then. sry.

Wisewiz · Nov 10, 2023

Did a repair in-place yesterday, because the Win Defender had blown a fuse and was causing all sorts of silly problems. Mebbe I got a faulty ISO. It happens. Not often, but it happens.

Melchior · Nov 10, 2023

sorry you had issues with Windows Defender..
I have had good luck with it not causing trouble...

antspants · Nov 10, 2023

That’s an odd place for a button/action. I don’t think I have ever seen that. Are you sure it wasn’t from a 3rd party tweaker?

dacrone · Nov 10, 2023

Try cmd as admin:

rd /s /q C:\$Recycle.Bin

Brink · Nov 10, 2023

Here are some options below to empty the Recycle Bin for now:

Empty Recycle Bin in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you different ways to empty the Recycle Bin for specific or all drives for your account or all users 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...

www.elevenforum.com

Add Empty Recycle Bin to Context Menu in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to add Empty Recycle Bin to the context menu for all users in Windows 10 and Windows 11. The Recycle Bin provides a safety net when deleting files or folders. When you delete any of these items from a hard disk, Windows places it in the Recycle Bin and the...

www.elevenforum.com

Wisewiz · Nov 10, 2023

@antspants: it only shows up there as part of the pop-up when I click the three dots below the bar where the words "Empty ..." were before.

antspants · Nov 10, 2023

Wisewiz said:
@antspants: it only shows up there as part of the pop-up when I click the three dots below the bar where the words "Empty ..." were before.

View attachment 77300

Ahh right, I’m with you now

Wisewiz · Nov 10, 2023

@dacrone: That's just a command to empty the bin. I've already got a handy-dandy item at the top of my desktop context menu (Thanks, @Brink!) that empties it, and I use that often every day. But sometimes I open the window to get an item restored, or just to see what's there (things tend to pile up in there through the day), and I've always been ale to check, restore as needed, and then click "Empty..." But that option's gone, now. @Melchior suggests he's still got it. Same version. Dunno. I'm not worried about it; just wanted to know whether I could put it back.

Wisewiz · Nov 10, 2023

Thank you, @Brink, but I've already benefited from those very helpful items. Assuming you're running the same version on one computer at least, do you have the Empty command in the Recycle Bin window still?

dacrone · Nov 10, 2023

“Enter the following command in the command line: rd /s /q X:\$Recycle.bin. Replace the “X” with the letter of the drive containing the corrupted Recycle Bin. Only the Recycle Bin data on this drive will be deleted.
Restart Windows. A new recycle bin will be created. If the desktop icon goes missing, restore it as described above.”

That doesn’t just empty it. It resets it. If you ran it and it didn’t repair it for you, run an online DISM image repair

antspants · Nov 10, 2023

Wisewiz said:
@dacrone: That's just a command to empty the bin. I've already got a handy-dandy item at the top of my desktop context menu (Thanks, @Brink!) that empties it
View attachment 77301I

oooh I want one

Wisewiz · Nov 10, 2023

OK. Ran that for all three drives, restarted after I ran it for C: -- no change. Ran it for D: and F: and restarted -- no change. I'll run DISM now, and we'll see, but I hate doing that, because it screws up my WinX menu by putting back all the defaults I edit out to keep my WinX compact and really useful.

dacrone · Nov 10, 2023

Yeah that sucks.. if the repair for only the recycle bin didn’t work, a dism image repair is the next option. Something seems to be corrupted/glitched in the shell.
Hopefully it doesn’t require a full repair install.
*Out of curiosity, is any other explorer window (ThisPC, network drive, etc) glitched in any way?

abactuon · Nov 10, 2023

There won't be a button if

Wisewiz · Nov 10, 2023

@dacrone: Here's what I see on my other office computer (same version; same build):

But the command has been removed and only the three dots remain on this machine.

And DISM completed successfully and DIDN"T screw up my WinX menu. I must have been thinking of sfc /scannow.
Anyway, all's good. Maybe next patch Tuesday's patch(es) will fix it. If not, I'll wait until I have a better reason to do a repair install.

Thanks for trying to help. I really appreciate it. And NO, nothing else I've noticed is happening. I'll keep my eyes peeled. Tx.

dacrone · Nov 10, 2023

That second screenshot looks like the whole command bar is missing. Is it?

Solved Empty Recycle Bin "button" gone from Recycle Bin window

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