This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable display delete to the Recycle Bin confirmation dialog for your account or 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 drive, Windows places it in the Recycle Bin and the Recycle Bin icon changes from empty to full.
If you have multiple hard drives, partitions, or an external hard drive connected to your PC, each drive will have its own hidden $Recycle.Bin system folder and Recycle Bin settings.
Removable drives, such as USB flash drives and memory cards, do not have a Recycle Bin by default. Files deleted from removable drives are permanently deleted since they do not go to the Recycle Bin. You can enable the Recycle Bin for removable drives to have deleted files from them go to the Recycle Bin instead.
Each user account on the PC will have their own separate Recycle Bin, and will be referenced by their Security Identifier (SID) in each drive's hidden $Recycle.Bin system folder.
By default, a delete confirmation dialog does not display when you delete a file or folder to the Recycle Bin.
If you delete a file or folder that's larger than the set maximum storage size of the drive's recycle bin, a This file is too big to recycle. Do you want to permanently delete it? confirmation dialog like below will always display.
Contents
- Option One: Turn On or Off Delete to Recycle Bin Confirmation Dialog for Current User in Recycle Bin Properties
- Option Two: Enable or Disable Delete to Recycle Bin Confirmation Dialog for All or Specific Users in Local Group Policy Editor
- Option Three: Enable or Disable Delete to Recycle Bin Confirmation Dialog for All Users using REG file
EXAMPLE: Delete to Recycle Bin confirmation dialog
Turn On or Off Delete to Recycle Bin Confirmation Dialog for Current User in Recycle Bin Properties
1 Right click on the Recycle Bin desktop icon, and click/tap on Properties. (see screenshot below)
2 Check (on) of uncheck (off - default) Display delete confirmation dialog for what you want.
3 Click/tap on OK.
Enable or Disable Delete to Recycle Bin Confirmation Dialog for All or Specific Users in Local Group Policy Editor
You must be signed in as an administrator to use this option.
This option will apply to all drives with a Recycle Bin.
The Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Windows 10/11 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions.
All editions can use Option Three to configure the same policy.
1 Open the all users, specific users or groups, or all users except administrators Local Group Policy Editor for how you want this policy applied.
2 Navigate to the policy location below in the left pane of the Local Group Policy Editor. (see screenshot below)
User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer
3 In the right pane of File Explorer in the Local Group Policy Editor, double click/tap on the Display confirmation dialog when deleting files policy to edit it. (see screenshot above)
4 Do step 5 (enable) or step 6 (default) below for what you want.
5 Always Enable Delete to Recycle Bin Confirmation Dialog
This will override and prevent using Option One.
A) Select (dot) Enabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7. (see screenshot below)
6 Default Delete to Recycle Bin Confirmation Dialog
This is the default setting to allow using Option One.
A) Select (dot) Not Configured, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7. (see screenshot below)
7 You can now close the Local Group Policy Editor if you like.
Enable or Disable Delete to Recycle Bin Confirmation Dialog for All Users using REG file
You must be signed in as an administrator to use this option.
This option will apply to all drives with a Recycle Bin.
1 Do step 2 (enable) or step 3 (default) below for what you want.
2 Always Enable Delete to Recycle Bin Confirmation Dialog
This will override and prevent using Option One.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.
Always_enable_delete_confirmation_dialog_for_all_users.reg
Download
(Contents of REG file for reference)
Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"ConfirmFileDelete"=dword:00000001
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"ConfirmFileDelete"=dword:000000013 Default Delete to Recycle Bin Confirmation Dialog
This is the default setting to allow using Option One.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.
Default_user_choice_delete_confirmation_dialog_for_all_users.reg
Download
(Contents of REG file for reference)
Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"ConfirmFileDelete"=-
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"ConfirmFileDelete"=-4 Save the REG file to your desktop.
5 If you have Smart App Control turned on, you will need to unblock the downloaded REG file.
6 Double click/tap on the downloaded REG file to merge it.
7 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.
8 Either restart the explorer process, sign out and sign in, or restart the computer to apply.
9 You can now delete the downloaded REG file if you like.
That's it,
Shawn Brink
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- Restore Items from Recycle Bin in Windows 11
- Change Maximum Size for Recycle Bin in Windows 11
- Enable Recycle Bin for Removable Drives in Windows 11
- Add Show Recycle Confirmation to Recycle Bin Context Menu in Windows 11
- Enable or Disable Permanently Delete instead of Recycle Bin in Windows 11
- Add or Remove Properties on Recycle Bin Context Menu in Windows 11
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