How to Restore Missing Recycle Bin Icon and Recover Deleted Files from Recycle Bin

I don’t know why or how but my Recycle Bin icon has been missing from my desktop. Did I delete my recycle bin? How am I supposed to restore it and the data that is in the recycle bin?

Have you ever been in the same situation where your desktop Recycle Bin icon is lost and you cannot access the deleted files? You don’t have to worry about the Recycle Bin being deleted accidentally because unlike other folders, you cannot actually delete the Recycle Bin. Windows Recycle Bin is a virtual folder that exhibits the information of files deleted in Window Explorer by users. It collects the information such as name, deletion date and the original location of every deleted file. Recycle bin is not an actual folder so it does not have an absolute path. So how to restore the Recycle Bin icon if it is missing?

Although you can’t delete the Recycle Bin, you might have accidentally hidden it from the desktop. Follow below steps to get it back:

For Windows 8 and 10 users

• Right-click on the Desktop.
• Select Personalize in the pop-up menu.
• In the left navigation menu, click on Themes.
• Under Related Settings, click on the Desktop icon settings option.
• Check the Recycle Bin box and click OK.

For Microsoft Windows Vista and 7 users

• Right-click on the Desktop.
• Select Personalize in the pop-up menu.
• In the Personalize appearance and sounds window, click the Change desktop icons link on the left-hand side.
• Check the Recycle Bin box and click OK

Once you have your Recycle Bin icon back, you can open Windows Recycle Bin by double-clicking on the icon, then right-click the deleted files and choose Restore.

How to Recover Recycle Bin Deleted Files?

Emptied Recycle Bin means “permanent” deletion by default because Windows doesn’t provide any tool to view or restore these deleted files. This doesn’t necessarily mean these files can not be retrieved. With the right data recovery tool such as H Data Recovery Software, you can easily recover deleted files from emptied Recycle Bin.

Step 1. Install and launch H Data Recovery Software. Select the “Emptied Recycle Bin Accidentally” module.

Step 2. Wait while H Data Recovery Software scan for deleted files in the Recycle Bin. The Scanning will only take several seconds to complete. When the scanning is done, all the recoverable files will be listed for your browsing. You can select a file type to filter the results so that you can quickly locate what you need.

Step 3. Select the files you wish to recover and choose a secure destination to save them. You should save these recovered files on another drive or partition to avoid potential overwriting.