Recycle Bin is a folder or directory where deleted files are temporarily stored. When you delete a file or folder by mistake, you can recover deleted files from the Recycle Bin generally. However, according to the Internet, many users find their Recycle Bin is grayed out. In this situation, they cannot open the Recycle Bin and cannot get deleted data back from the Recycle Bin.
Are you one of those who are suffering the same trouble? If yes, you’ve come to the right place. Here you can see how to fix Recycle Bin is grayed out.
The Best Alternative Way to Recover Deleted Files
When it comes to being unable to recover files from the Recycle Bin due to the “Recycle Bin is grayed out” issue, here I want to introduce an alternative way to recover lost/deleted files.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery, the best data recovery software, is designed to help you recover various types of files (documents, emails, videos, audio, pictures, etc.) from all file storage devices (SSDs, HDDs, USB flash drives, CDs/DVDs, and so on). This free data recovery software is fully compatible with Windows 11/10/8/7.
What’s more, MiniTool Power Data Recovery allows you to scan the desktop, the Recycle Bin, or a specific folder individually which saves you much time. When your Recycle Bin is grayed out, you can use this data restore tool to scan the Recycle Bin alone.
You can click the button below to download the free edition of MiniTool Power Data Recovery to start the data recovery process.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
After downloading and installing MiniTool Power Data Recovery to your computer, you can launch it to scan and recover your files by referring to the steps below.
Step 1. Choose the partition/device/specific location to scan.
Here you can choose to scan a certain partition from the Logical Drives recovery module or scan the entire disk from the Devices section. Also, you can choose to scan the Recycle Bin alone from the “Recover From Specific Location” section.
Step 2. Preview/Filter/Search found files.
To get the best scan and recovery result, it is suggested to wait for the scanning process to finish (you are allowed to stop or pause scanning once you find desired files). After scanning, you can preview up to 70 types of found files to check whether they are the wanted ones. You can also make use of the Filter and Search feature to find wanted files quickly.
Filter: This feature allows you to filter all found files by file size, file category, file type, and modification date. For example, if you want to view pictures only, you can select Picture only from the By File Type section.
To achieve this goal, you can also move on to the Type category list and click Picture.
Search: This feature can help you find a certain file by the file name.
Step 3. Select and recover found files to the location you want.
Now you can select all needed files and click the Save button to choose a storage path for them. It is highly recommended to select another drive to store recovered files to prevent data overwriting. Overwritten files cannot be recovered by any data recovery software.
Tip: Here you may be prompted to upgrade to the full edition to continue file recovery. This is because the free edition of MiniTool Power Data Recovery allows you to recover up to 1 GB of files for free. So, if the files you want to recover exceed this limit, you need to select a registered edition, and MiniTool Power Data Recovery Personal Ultimate is the most recommended one.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
After recovering your lost files from the Recycle Bin or from where they were previously stored, now you can apply the following methods to fix the “Recycle Bin is grayed out” issue without worry. Let’s see how to fix Recycle Bin is grayed out on the desktop first.
How to Fix Recycle Bin Is Grayed Out on the Desktop
Fix 1. Restart Your Computer
Rebooting Windows can be an effective way to solve many types of problems in Windows 10/11, such as being unable to select multiple files or selected files are not highlighted in File Explorer. So, before trying any advanced solutions, you can try to reboot your computer first to check whether the issue has gone. If this method does not work, you can follow the next way.
Fix 2. Re-Add the Recycle Bin Icon
Sometimes a desktop icon glitch can cause the Recycle Bin icon to be grayed out on your desktop. In this case, you can try to re-add the Recycle Bin icon to deal with this issue.
Step 1. Press Windows + I key combinations to open Windows Settings and select the Personalization option. Alternatively, you can right-click any blank area on your desktop and click Personalize.
Step 2. Move on to the Themes section and click Desktop icon settings in the right panel.
Step 3. In the pop-up window, uncheck the checkbox of Recycle Bin and click OK to apply your changes.
Step 4. Open the desktop icon settings again and re-check the option of Recycle Bin and click OK.
Step 5. Now you can check whether the Recycle Bin icon is back to normal and can be accessed. If not, you can try the next way.
Fix 3. Uninstall the Recently Installed Incompatible Apps
Some users reported that the Recycle Bin grayed out after they downloaded a new app. Although the chances of third-party applications affecting the Recycle Bin are very small, sometimes they do conflict with the Recycle Bin. For example, many users like to use desktop customization tools to customize Windows. So, to exclude this reason, you can perform a clean boot in Windows.
A clean boot is a way of booting into Windows with only the necessary drivers and startup applications. It is always used to troubleshoot a software issue within Windows. By performing a clean boot, you can determine whether a background program is interfering with your program, and then you can uninstall the corresponding application.
Tip: Performing a clean boot does not affect your files and do not delete your programs or applications.
If you do not know how to perform a clean boot, you can read this article: How to Clean Boot Windows 10 and Why You Need to Do So?
How to Fix Recycle Bin Is Grayed Out in Desktop Icon Settings
In addition to being grayed out on the desktop, the Recycle Bin sometimes is grayed out in the Desktop Icon Settings section. When the option of Recycle Bin is grayed out in the Desktop Icon Settings, you may find that the Recycle Bin is not showing on the desktop and you cannot re-add it to your desktop.
How to cope with this issue? Here we list two feasible solutions to help you get the Recycle Bin option back.
Solution 1. Using the Registry Editor
Windows Registry Editor is a powerful tool that enables you to make root-level and administrative-level changes to the Windows registry key, including adding a subkey or a value, changing a value, deleting a value, and more.
Here you can fix the “Recycle Bin Is grayed out in Desktop Icon Settings” issue by editing the registry with Registry Editor.
Tip: Before making changes to the registry key, you need to back up the registry in advance so as to restore them from the backup files in case of any accidents. And, please follow the steps below strictly, because any wrong operations to the registry could make your computer unbootable.
Step 1. Press Windows + R key combinations to open the Run window. Or you can right-click the Windows logo key to select Run.
Step 2. Type regedit in the pop-up window and press the Enter key on your keyboard or click the OK button.
Step 3. Copy and paste the following location to the address bar and press Enter. Or you can navigate to this location one folder by one folder.
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\NonEnum
Step 4. Here you should see a DWORD value named {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} in the right panel. And you need to double-click it and set up its value data to 0.
If there is no DWORD value with the name above, you need to create a new one: Right-click any blank area in the right panel and click New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, and then set its name as {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} as shown below.
Then double-click it to make sure its value data is set to 0. Finally, click OK to save your changes. After that, the Recycle Bin icon should be normal in the desktop icon settings. If not, you can try the last way.
Solution 2. Using Local Group Policy Editor
Group Policy Editor is a Windows administration tool that allows you to configure and modify lots of important computer settings. Here we will show you the step-by-step guide to making the Recycle Bin icon visible on your desktop.
Step 1. Press Windows + R key combinations to open Run. Then type gpedit.msc in the text box and press Enter to open Local Group Policy Editor.
Step 2. Navigate to this location: User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Desktop. In the right panel, find a file named Remove Recycle Bin icon from the desktop.
Step 3. Double-click Remove Recycle Bin icon from the desktop to configure it. In the new window, make sure the option of “Not Configured” or “Disabled” is selected. Then click the OK button to save your settings.
Now the Recycle Bin icon should be displayed on your desktop normally.
Two Useful Tips
Tip 1. Back up your data regularly.
Although the Recycle Bin can generally store your deleted files temporarily, you cannot always retrieve your lost files from the Recycle Bin, because there is a size limit for the Recycle Bin, and data deleted from the USB flash drive will not be put into the Recycle Bin (you can use MiniTool Power Data Recovery to perform a USB stick recovery).
To protect your files effectively, you can use professional and reliable data backup software. MiniTool ShadowMaker is such a file backup tool that can help to back up files, folders, systems, disks, and partitions. And it offers you a 30-day free trial. So, you can download the trial edition to have a try.
MiniTool ShadowMaker TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
Tip 2. Use other ways to empty the Recycle Bin.
The files in the Recycle Bin still occupy the storage space on your computer, so it is very important to clean up the Recycle Bin files regularly. When you cannot access the Recycle Bin, there are other ways to empty Recycle Bin, such as using Windows Settings and File Explorer. For a detailed guide, you can read this article: How to Empty Recycle Bin in Windows 10? (6 Simple Ways).
Bottom Line
After reading this post, I believe you will not be bothered by the issue of “Recycle Bin is grayed out”. When you facing this problem, just try the methods listed above.
Should you have any questions or suggestions about MiniTool software, please do not hesitate to contact us via [email protected]. Or you can leave your comments in the comment area below directly.
About The Author
Position: Columnist
Shirley graduated from English major and is currently an editor of MiniTool Team. She likes browsing and writing IT-related articles, and is committed to becoming a professional IT problem solver. The topic of her articles are generally about data recovery, data backup, and computer disk management, as well as other IT issues. In spare time, she likes watching movies, hiking and fishing.