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Tech Tips / Windows NT / Disk and File Management

Fix that Recycle Bin

The Info file in the Recycler folder sometimes gets corrupted and thus will show an empty Recycle Bin even if there are files in the Recycler folder. Windows will automatically recreate the Info file if it's missing, so the easiest way to repair this is to delete the Info file. Here's how:

1. Start a command prompt or type cmd at the run prompt.
2. Move to the Recycler folder.
3. Enter the following command: attrib -h info*.*
4. Enter this command to delete the file: del info
5. Restart the computer.

If it's actually the Recycler folder that's become corrupted you may need to remove the system and hidden attributes before deleting. To do so, use this command: attrib -h -s c:\recycler.