There is no need to tell what the Recycle Bin stands for a Windows user. It helps you to easily manipulate unnecessary files from your system and provides reversible resource for doing so. The Recycle Bin icon is present on Desktop helps you to delete with drag and drop ability. You can even select multiple entries on Desktop and drag-drop them to the Recycle Bin icon to erase them in once.

FIX Recycle Bin Icon Missing From Windows 10 Desktop

Imagine if you lost the Recycle Bin icon ever, what will you do to delete multiple items from Desktop? Well, still you can delete items by pressing Delete key after selection, but the above mentioned simplified way won’t work in this scenario.

So if you’re also missing Recycle Bin icon and want to restore it, here’s how you can:

FIX: Recycle Bin Icon Missing From Windows 10 Desktop

FIX 1 – Via Settings

1. Right click Start Button or press W8K + X keys and select Settings.

2. In the Settings app, navigate to Personalization > Themes.

FIX Recycle Bin Icon Missing From Windows 10 Desktop

3. Under Related Settings heading, click Desktop icon settings link.

FIX Recycle Bin Icon Missing From Windows 10 Desktop

4. Make sure on the window so open, Recycle Bin is selected/checked. Click Apply followed by OK.

This should restore the Recycle Bin icon on Desktop. If it doesn’t, try FIX 2.

FIX 2 – Using Registry

Registry Disclaimer: The further steps will involve registry manipulation. Making mistakes while manipulating registry could affect your system adversely. So be careful while editing registry entries and create a System Restore point first.

1. Press W8K + R and put regedit in Run dialog box to open Registry Editor (if you’re not familiar with Registry Editor, then click here). Click OK.

Windows 10 Registry Editor

2. In left pane of Registry Editor window, navigate to following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace

FIX Recycle Bin Icon Missing From Windows 10 Desktop

3. Expand the NameSpace registry key and right click on it, select New > Key. Name the newly created registry sub-key as {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}. In the right pane of {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} registry key (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}), right click and select New > String Value. Name the newly created registry string (REG_SZ) as (Default). Double click on this string to modify its Value data:

FIX Recycle Bin Icon Missing From Windows 10 Desktop

4. Type Recycle Bin as the Value data. Click OK and close the Registry Editor. Reboot to make the changes effective.

The Recycle Bin icon on the Desktop should be restored now.

FIX Recycle Bin Icon Missing From Windows 10 Desktop

Hope this helps!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *