If you recently moved from another operating system to Windows or you want to teach someone the process to empty Recycle Bin in Windows 10, then this article might be handy for you. Do you know that there six different ways to empty Recycle Bin on Windows 11/10? Let us talk about them.
Different ways to empty Recycle Bin in Windows 11/10
These are some of the ways to empty the Recycle Bin in Windows 11/10-
- From the desktop context menu
- From File Explorer
- Using Disk Cleanup
- Using Store Sense to automatically empty Recycle Bin
- Using Windows PowerShell
- Using Command Prompt.
Let’s delve into the steps in detail.
1] Empty Recycle Bin from the desktop context menu
By default, Windows 10 includes Recycle Bin on the desktop, and you can find an option to empty it from there. It is probably the most used and common method to remove everything from Recycle Bin. You need to right-click on the Recycle Bin on your desktop and select Empty Recycle Bin option.
TIP: This post will help you if the Deleted files not showing in Recycle Bin.
2] Empty from File Explorer
This method works when Recycle Bin is visible in the side panel in File Explorer. You will need to add the Recycle Bin to File Explorer navigation pane in Windows 10. After that, you can click on the Recycle Bin so that you can see the Recycle Bin Tools in the ribbon. After clicking Recycle Bin Tools, you should find an option called Empty Recycle Bin.
Click on it to get your job done.
Related: How to empty Recycle Bin automatically while signing out.
3] Empty using Disk Cleanup
Just like you can delete temporary files using Disk Cleanup, it is possible to empty Recycle Bin using the same tool. As the name says, this utility helps users to remove various junk data to create some free space on the computer.
To get started with Disk Cleanup, you need to open it first. For that, right-click on the C drive or system drive in This PC and select Properties. In the General tab, you can see a button called Disk Cleanup. You need to click on this button.
In the next window, remove the tick from every checkbox except Recycle Bin.
After that, click the OK button and confirm the deletion by clicking the Delete Files button.
Read: Deleted files keep coming back to Recycle Bin.
4] Use Store Sense to automatically empty Recycle Bin
Storage Sense lets you obtain some free storage on your computer so that you can keep important files only. How it makes space? By deleting temporary files, emptying Recycle Bin, etc. Therefore, you can follow this guide to automatically delete files in the Recycle Bin.
Windows 11
Windows 10
5] Empty using Windows PowerShell
Like Command Prompt, Windows PowerShell can help you force empty Recycle Bin by executing one command.
Clear-RecycleBin
This prompts the user for confirmation to clear all recycle bins on the local computer.
Clear-RecycleBin -DriveLetter C
It uses the DriveLetter parameter to specify the recycle bin on the C volume. The user is prompted for confirmation to run the command.
Clear-RecycleBin -Force
It uses the Force parameter and doesn’t prompt the user for confirmation to clear all recycle bins on the local computer.
Open Windows PowerShell on your computer, and execute this command-
Clear-RecycleBin -Force -ErrorAction:Ignore
You will see a brief indication that the Recycle Bin is being cleared on all drives, without confirmation.
6] Empty using Command Prompt
Command Prompt has always been a faithful companion to Windows users, and you can take the help of this utility to empty Recycle Bin in Windows 10. As usual, you need to execute a command. For that, open Command Prompt on Windows 10, type the following command, and hit the Enter button.
PowerShell Clear-RecycleBin -force -ErrorAction:Ignore
So here basically, you are invoking the PowerShell cmdlet to execute the command.
These are some of the methods to empty Recycle Bin in Windows 10.
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