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ITsVISTA Tip 42: Fix Your Broken Recycle Bin Icon in Vista

TipsAfter posting my tip on how to “Restore Your Vista Recycle Bin Icon“, a number of readers commented on how their icon didn’t work right after restoring it. Even with items in the bin, the icon remains ‘empty’. Well, one of my readers found the fix.

As suggested in the comments section of that post, Sam listed the solution as follows:

  1. Right-click on your desktop and choose Personalize
    Right-click to get Personalize
  2. Click on the Change Desktop Icons link in the upper left hand corner
    Change Desktop Icons
  3. In the Desktop Icons Settings window, click on the Recycle Bin (empty) icon and then click the Change Icon button
    Change Icon
  4. In the Change Icon window, click on the Recycle Bin icon that looks full, probably in the first row, 7th icon from the left, and then click OK
    Change Recycle Icon
  5. Repeat this process by choosing the Recycle Bin (full) icon in the Desktop Icon Settings window, clicking on Change Icon, choosing the icon for the empty Recycle Bin (probably the 7th icon from the left in the second row), and clicking OK
    Change Icon
    Change Recycle Icon
  6. Click the Apply button, and your Recycle Bin icons are now completely backwards. But of course that’s not what you want! Now repeat the process for the empty and full Recycle Bin icons, but put the original icons back with each one. (the full looking icon for the ‘full’, and the empty looking icon for the ‘empty’)
  7. Once you’ve done this, Click OK to exit the Desktop Icon Settings window, and your Recycle Bin icons should start behaving themselves again.

Thanks once again to Sam for contributing the solution for this problem that a few readers were affected by. If it helps you, leave a comment below to show your appreciation as well!

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Comments

  • Vejay

    Mar 9, 2007 at 3:23 pm

    Thanks for the amazing post!

    Very helpful!

  • It Worked! Thank You!

    Mar 12, 2007 at 4:54 pm

    Thanks!

  • It Worked! Thank You!

    Mar 12, 2007 at 4:55 pm

    It Worked! Thank You!

  • Flo

    Mar 13, 2007 at 5:48 pm

    I had the same problem only it was the other way round. It worked fine for me too. Thanks!

  • Carlos

    Mar 19, 2007 at 11:35 am

    Thank you so much. I changed my icons in XP to Vista look and the bin wouldn’t change unless I pressed F5. I tried this exactly and worked fine.

  • EddieWan

    Mar 23, 2007 at 9:27 pm

    Thank you very much. This solution worked wonderfully. Been having this problem every since I accidently deleted my recycle bin and put it back.

  • MARTIN

    Apr 8, 2007 at 12:44 pm

    Thanks for the fix, worked well for me.
    I also found another fix that resolves the same problem.
    I found that if you change the Theme to Windows Classic, click apply, then change back to Windows Vista theme, the problem is resolved.

  • Joe

    Apr 8, 2007 at 2:06 pm

    Thanks, good to know there’s another option.

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    May 28, 2007 at 12:05 am

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  • Albert

    Jul 12, 2007 at 2:57 pm

    I try everything I Follow all the steps and it didn’t work at all.

  • Kevin

    Aug 8, 2007 at 6:38 pm

    Great isn’t it,you really have to play around to learn how to even find fixes to quirky small problems,just when you think Jeeeeeez, bingo,you find great people out there who allways find a solution to help the rest of us out.
    The difficult bit is knowing where to start to look.
    You just have to keep at it,the more you look,the more you get to understand how to do it.

  • brandon

    Sep 1, 2007 at 9:07 am

    worked great!!

  • sue

    Sep 29, 2007 at 3:16 pm

    Thanks…its worked… Vista is really quirky!

  • michael

    Oct 1, 2007 at 8:18 pm

    That’s just retarded… but whatever, it worked! Thank you for this POS, Microsoft.

  • zaq

    Oct 15, 2007 at 2:18 am

    you can pick any icon for empty or full then change it back to the correct version

  • ESM

    Oct 18, 2007 at 2:03 pm

    I’ve had this problem for the longest time and just gave up hoping for a fix to come through the updates.

  • Planet Vista

    Nov 1, 2007 at 3:01 am

    Excellent… congratulations for the fix. I always count on intuitive folks to try the unexpected and share the great findings. I would have never thought about doing this process.

    My cretinous Recycle Bin disappeared today ( I don’t really know what happened ), so I was able to get it back, but without having the proper visual workings.

    I just finished going through this process and all is well!!

  • Joe

    Nov 1, 2007 at 6:28 pm

    Hey… I followed the instructions and I still have the problem… But now its working the other way around: ie when its full its showing empty… So instead of before always showing full; its always showing empty… =(

  • Norby

    Dec 6, 2007 at 9:27 am

    Obwohl ich Nicht so gut englisch kann hat mir dieser Tipp sehr geholfen.
    Nun funktionieren der Papierkorb Icon wieder normal.
    Danke

  • mEsoL

    Dec 8, 2007 at 7:16 am

    give a shot of my collection of vista themes. i have iPhone Theme, Xbox 360 Theme
    PlayStation 3 Theme, Mac OS X Leopard Theme and much more.

  • Jenna

    Jan 2, 2008 at 9:03 pm

    Wonderfully written! This fixed my recycling bin completely. Thanks so much.

  • Olli

    Jan 4, 2008 at 10:04 am

    Thanks.
    It worked. All other tips didn´t work, except yours.
    A happy new Year

  • Mikhail

    Jan 6, 2008 at 7:42 pm

    Yes, It does work!
    Thank you so much!

  • Jase Pegg

    Jan 13, 2008 at 3:25 pm

    The icon change solution did not work fore me but the solution mentioned by Martin of changing theme to windows classic then back to aero worked for me. great!!

  • Martin

    Feb 4, 2008 at 10:08 am

    Superklasse!!!!!!!

  • jainth

    Feb 6, 2008 at 2:21 pm

    sir, i deleted recyclebin unknowling, i tried above way but that check box was disabled ,,, can i get some alternate way to enable recycle bin on desktop please tell me atleast mail me ::

    jainth_shar@yahoo.co.in

  • gavin

    Feb 7, 2008 at 5:25 pm

    cheers sam, worked a charm.

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    Apr 10, 2008 at 10:29 am

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