14 DAY TRIAL // Removing the Recycle Bin icon from the Windows 10 desktop certainly sounds like a no-brainer, though as many found out the hard way, it’s not really easy to do it.
In case you’re wondering why deleting this icon is such an important thing to do for many, it’s because it allows users to keep the desktop completely clean, as you can see in the screenshot posted below.
Typically, on a Windows 10 desktop, removing an icon is all a matter of pressing the delete icon on the keyboard, but for Recycle Bin, this feature is disabled by default. Which is quite awkward given that you can still do it, though it relies on a more complex process that’s not so straightforward at first glance.
As you may have observed, right-clicking the Recycle Bin icon does not allow you to delete the icon, as the option has been removed from the context menu.
In the process of merging Settings and the traditional Control Panel, Microsoft has moved all configuration options to the first, and this is where you’ll also find options to remove the Recycle Bin icon from the desktop.
And once again, Microsoft hasn’t made the process pretty intuitive, instead letting users manually click through all menus to look for the Recycle Bin. What’s more, searching for Recycle Bin in the Settings app does not return any results.
On Windows 10 Home
But on Windows 10 Home, Pro, Education, and Enterprise, users can easily disable the desktop icon of Recycle Bin if they know where to look.
And the place to look is the following (keep in mind that this does not delete Recycle Bin, but only its icon, so it would no longer show up on the desktop):
Settings > Personalization > Themes > Desktop icon settings > Uncheck Recycle Bin
As you may notice, the Desktop Icon Settings dialog features the same look as in the previous Windows versions, so it’s one of the parts that Microsoft hasn’t yet migrated to the new Settings app. This is probably one of the reasons the option isn’t placed in a more convenient place, and hopefully that’s going to change in the coming Windows 10 feature update (the next major OS release is Redstone 5 due in the fall, but preview builds do not bring any change in this regard).
On Windows 10 Pro
Systems running Windows 10 Pro have a second option to remove the Recycle Bin icon, only that this time IT pros are getting more power to do it without allowing standard accounts to then restore it.
This is possible using a dedicated group policy, which can be enabled from the Group Policy Editor. To launch it, you obviously need to be logged in with an administrator account.
Press the Windows key + R and then type gpedit.msc to open it – as an alternative, you can click the Start menu and type Group Policy Editor. Navigate to the following path:
User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Desktop > Remove Recycle Bin icon from desktop
Double-click this policy to open it and then select the option that reads Enabled to remove the icon from the desktop. Simply click OK and then refresh the desktop to hide the icon. As the policy explains, using this method also hides the Recycle Bin icon from File Explorer, from apps that users File Explorer windows, and from the standard Open dialog box.
If you want to enable the Recycle Bin icon once again, it’s enough to just follow the same steps only that you need to switch to Disabled or Not Configured.
