5 Ways to Delete Files Bypassing Recycle Bin in Windows 10

When you delete a file, a group of files or folders in a Windows computer, these deleted files are sent to the Recycle Bin. The reason is obvious, if you realize that you have deleted a file in haste and later want that file back then you can undo your actions and restore it from the recycle bin. Prior to Windows 10, the operating system used to show confirmation about sending a file to recycle bin, but starting with Windows 10 this confirmation has been removed by default. What if you do not want to send the files being deleted to recycle bin first and delete them permanently?

There are 5 ways of deleting files bypassing the recycle bin in Windows 10:

  1. Modify Recycle Bin Settings: In Windows 10, you can right-click on the Recycle Bin icon that is displayed on your Windows desktop and choose Properties. From the Recycle Bin properties window, you can select the option – Don’t move files to the Recycle Bin. Remove files immediately when deleted. After this, Windows will bypass the Recycle Bin when deleting files from Windows File Explorer.Bypass Recycle Bin
  2. Shift+Delete: When deleting files in the Windows File Explorer, do not use the delete options from the right-click context menu or from the toolbar. Instead, in order to delete the files, just select them and then press the hotkey Shift+Del (hold down the Shift key and then press the Delete key). You will be shown a confirmation whether you want to permanently delete the file. Deleting files this way bypassed the recycle bin.Delete Files Permanently
  3. Using CMD shell (Command Prompt): You can use the erase or the del command to remove files using the command prompt. When you delete files using command prompt, they are not sent to the recycle bin. You can start CMD shell by clicking on Start button, typing cmd.exe and then hitting the Enter key. After this, a del command can be used to delete files. Delete Files using CMD.exe
  4. Using PowerShell: Microsoft introduced PowerShell in 2006 and it can do almost anything in your Windows PC including deleting files. It can be started by pressing Win+X key combination and selecting PowerShell from the menu that appears. After that the command Remove-Item will remove any file or folder. No confirmation is shown and it bypasses the recycle bin.Delete Files using PowerShell
  5. Using FAR Manager: It is a file manager that uses an old world interface from the DOS days but does offer very powerful features without any clutter or bloat. In FAR Manager, you can select a file and then press Shift+Del key combination to delete files without sending them to the Recycle Bin first.Delete Files using FAR Manager

When you use any of these methods, files or folders are deleted instantly and you might not be able to restore them even when you use file recovery tools like Recuva. So be careful when deleting files using these methods as the deleted files might be erased forever.

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