Article by George Norman

On 02 Dec 2009

The Microsoft developed Windows 7 operating system lets the user disable the Recycle Bin desktop icon. This is a topic that we’ve covered in detail here. If you remove the Recycle Bin desktop icon, you will no longer have easy access to it – unless of course if you pin the Recycle Bin to the Taskbar.

Pinning the Recycle Bin to the Taskbar is not as simple as removing the Recycle Bin desktop icon. Still, it is not something so difficult that you couldn’t pull off on your own. Just follow the detailed, step-by-step instructions presented below and you will have a Recycle Bin item in the Windows 7 Taskbar in no time at all.


Here is what you have to do to pin the Recycle Bin to the Windows 7 Taskbar:

Step 1. Minimize all open windows -> right click an empty space on the desktop -> from the context menu select Shortcut.

Step 2. The Create Shortcut window will appear. In the text box under Type the location of the item type in the following:

explorer.exe shell:RecycleBinFolder

Now click Next (bottom right hand corner of the window).

Step 3. In the text box under Type a name for this shortcut type in Recycle Bin.
From the bottom right hand corner of the window click Finish.

Step 4. You now have a desktop shortcut that takes you to the Recycle Bin. The problem is that it doesn’t look like the Recycle Bin. So right click the desktop shortcut -> from the dropdown menu select Properties.

Step 5. The Recycle Bin Properties window will appear -> click the Shortcut tab -> click the Change Icon button.
In the text box under Look for icons in this file type in the following:

%SystemRoot%/system32/imageres.dll

Now click OK or press Enter -> select the Recycle Bin icon and click OK.

Step 6. In the Recycle Bin Properties window click Apply -> click OK.

Step 7. You can now right click the Recycle Bin desktop shortcut you created and select Pin to Taskbar. Or you can simply drag and drop it to the Taskbar. Once the Recycle Bin is pinned to the Taskbar, you can delete the desktop shortcut you created.

Tips and warnings

• To remove the Recycle Bin from the Taskbar, simply unpin it.
• You won’t be able to drag and drop items to the Recycle Bin in the Taskbar (if you want to delete something, simply press the Delete button). But you will be able to easily open the Recycle Bin and view all the files you’ve previously deleted.

Tags: Microsoft, Windows 7, Recycle Bin, Taskbar

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