Add Recycle Bin to Computer folder in Windows 7

In the older versions of Windows (prior to Windows XP), the Recycle Bin was present in the My Computer. But later it was removed. If you are used to the old way of Windows and want the Recycle Bin back in the Computer folder, you can follow these instructions :

Method 1

  1. Press the key combination Windows logo key + R to bring up the Run dialog.
  2. In the Run dialog, type regedit and press Enter to start the Registry Editor.
  3. In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following key :
    HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorer
  4. Under the Explorer key, create a new subkey MyComputer if already not present. To create the subkey, right click on Explorer and select New → Key. Type the name of the new key as MyComputer.
  5. Under the MyComputer key, create a new subkey NameSpace.
  6. Under the NameSpace key, create a new subkey {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}.

  7. Close the Registry Editor and restart Windows for the changes to take effect.

Method 2

  1. Open an elevated command prompt.
  2. In the command prompt, type the following command and pressing Enter. It is better that you copy-paste the command into the command prompt. To paste the command in the command prompt, right click inside it and select Paste :
    REG ADD HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerMyComputerNameSpace{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

  3. Restart Windows for the changes to take effect.

Method 3

Download the command script of the command we used in method #2. Extract the contents to a folder. Right-click on recycle_bin_in_computer.cmd and select Run as administrator.

Restart Windows for the changes to take effect.