How to stop windows 10 from automatically emptying your recycle bin

Do you delete all files in the Recycle Bin to empty it on Windows 10 computer? In this article, you can learn three effective methods to empty Recycle Bin. Just read on to find them.

Video guide on how to empty Recycle Bin in Windows 10:

How to Empty Recycle Bin in Windows 10

Way 1: Empty it in its Manage menu.

Open Recycle Bin, click Manage on the menu bar and choose Empty Recycle Bin.

Way 2: Clean Recycle Bin in its Context Menu.

Right-tap Recycle Bin, and select Empty Recycle Bin in the menu.

Way 3: Empty it in Settings.

Step 2: Choose System to continue.

Step 3: Open Storage, and select This PC (or a hard drive) under Storage.

Step 4: Click Temporary files and recycle bin.

Step 5: Choose Empty recycle bin and tap Delete.

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This article is divided into three parts. the first part tells you the way to let recycle bin automatically empty itself on schedule. The second part show the way to stop recycle bin automatically deleting files. The last part helps you recover lost files from recycle bin to aviod data loss.

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Part 1. How to Automatically Empty the Recycle Bin on Schedule

When you try to delete a file or folder, you’re not actually deleting it from your computer. It only gets moved to the Recycle Bin, which continues to use valuable space on the hard drive. Though you may have to know how to manually empty the recycle bin, you may forget the automatic steps.

In this Windows 10 guide, we’ll walk you through the steps to automatically empty the Recycle Bin using the Task Scheduler to keep the hard drive space optimized, while giving you enough time to recover deleted files.

1. Open Start, do a search for Task Scheduler, and press Enter.

2. Right-click Task Scheduler Library and click New Folder.

3. Name the folder My Tasks or anything descriptive. (You want to do this to keep your tasks organized and separated from the system tasks.) Right-click the newly created folder and select Create task.

4. On the General tab, enter a name for the task, such as Empty Windows Recycle Bin.

5. On the Triggers tab, click New to create an action that will trigger the task.

6. For the purpose of this guide, I’ll select and configure On a schedule, but you can pick from a number of trigger actions, including At log on, At startup, On an event, and more.

If you’re using the schedule option as a trigger, consider using the Weekly or Monthly option, which will give you some time to recover deleted files.

7. On the Actions tab, click New.

• Under Settings, on Programs/script enter cmd.exe.
• Under Settings, on Add arguments enter the following argument and click OK:

/c “echo Y|PowerShell.exe -NoProfile -Command Clear-RecycleBin” Then click OK to complete the task.

Once you completed the steps, the task will run automatically at the trigger condition you have configured.

Part 2. Stop Recycle Bin Automatically Deletion Windows 10

Two methods are provided below to help you stop recycle bin automatically deleting files.

Method 1. Delete the Task Scheduler

If you have created a new task to let your Recycle Bin empty itself, you can delete the task and the auto-deletion will stop immediately.

Method 2. Change Recycle Bin Settings

Step 1. Open Settings app. Navigate to System > Storage.

Step 2. Click Change how we free up space link. Uncheck the second option: delete files that have been in the recycle bin for over 30 days.

Then, your Recycle Bin will stop deleting files automatically.

Part 3. How to Recover Files from Recycle Bin

If you have lost some important files from Recycle Bin, you can still restore them with the help of EaseUS data recovery. It is a wonderful easy recovery tool which is really helpful to recover permanently deleted files from the emptied Recycle Bin in all Windows versions. It allows you to preview all the deleted files before you purchasing it. Here is the detailed guide about how to recover files deleted from recycle bin in Windows 10/8/8.1/7/XP/Vista.

Step 1. Select the recycle bin folder to scan

To specifically recover files emptied from the Windows recycle bin, hover the mouse pointer over the “Recycle Bin” option under the “Locations” section and click “Scan”.

Step 2. Filter wanted files

The software will start a quick scan immediately for all deleted files, and later a deep scan will launch automatically to scan more lost files. After the scanning process, you can use the Filter feature to filter a specific file type, such as pictures, documents, videos, etc.

Step 3. Preview and recover files

Once you locate the desired files, you can double-click on a file for a full preview. Finally, select the wanted files and click “Recover”. We suggest you select a different volume or an external USB drive to save the recovered files to avoid data overwriting.

When you run out of disk space, Windows 10’s Storage Sense feature kicks in automatically. It also automatically deletes files in your recycle bin that are older than 30 days. This happened by coincidence on a PC that was receiving the upgrade. This is a one-of-a-kind feature. If your computer’s disk space is limited, you may require additional storage. Windows must remove files from the recycle bin that are no longer in use. In any case, you should not save files in your Recycle bin. However, if you truly want Windows to cease doing this, you can. We’ll walk you through the steps to stop Windows 10 from automatically deleting the Recycle Bin in this post.

Stop Windows 10 to delete files from Recycle bin automatically

To stop Windows 10 to delete the Recycle bin automatically, follow this procedure step by step.

Click the Search button. Type Settings in the search bar and choose the Settings option as the following image is showing.

As soon as you will choose the Settings option, the following screen will appear.

Select the System option from the Windows Settings screen as highlighted in the above image. As you will choose the System option, the following screen will appear.

As you can see that the screen is divided into two parts. Choose the Storage option from the left side of the screen as highlighted in the above image. After clicking the Storage option, the following screen will appear.

Scroll down and turn on the toggle button named Storage sense. Then click the option named Change how we free up space automatically as highlighted in the above image. As soon as you will click the option, the following screen will appear.

Toggle on the Storage sense toggle button now. Then choose the Delete temporary files that my programs aren’t utilizing checkbox. If files in my recycle bin have been there for more than a week, choose Never from the drop-down menu entitled Delete files in my recycle bin if they have been there for more than a week.

Windows 10’s Storage Sense feature automatically runs when you’re low on disk space. It automatically deletes files more than 30 days old in your Recycle Bin, too. This was on by default on a PC running the May 2019 Update.

This is a useful feature! If your computer is low on disk space, you probably want more. Windows will clear old files out of your Recycle Bin. You shouldn’t be storing files in your Recycle Bin, anyway. But, if you want to stop Windows from doing this automatically, you can.

To find these options, head to Settings > System > Storage. You can press Windows+I to open the Settings window quickly.

If you’d like to stop Storage Sense from doing anything automatically, you can flip the Storage Sense switch to “Off” here. To configure Storage Sense further, click “Configure Storage Sense or run it now.”

The “Run Storage Sense” box lets you control when Windows 10 runs Storage Sense automatically. By default, it runs “During low free disk space.” You could also have it run every day, every week, or every month.

To stop Storage Sense from automatically deleting files in your Recycle Bin, click the “Delete files in my recycle bin if they have been there for over” box under Temporary Files and select “Never.” By default, Storage Sense will delete files that have been in your Recycle Bin for over 30 days.

The “Delete files in my Downloads folder if they have been there for over” box will let Storage Sense automatically delete files from your Downloads folder. This option was off by default on our PC, however.

The Windows Storage Sense feature can automatically delete files in your Recycle Bin on Windows 10 in a bid to free up disk space to solve low disk space warning. Moreover, you may want to disable Recycle Bin auto-deletion for some reason. This post from MiniTool Software will show you how to stop Windows from automatically emptying files in Recycle.

Where Did Deleted Files Go?

If you want to delete a file on your Windows 10 computer, you can right-click on it and select Delete from the context menu. Then, you will find that that file disappears from its original location. Where is the deleted file? It is removed to the Recycle Bin. If you are regretful, you can access the Recycle Bin to restore it.

But sometimes, you may find that your Recycle Bin is automatically deleting files. This can cause an issue: when you want to restore a file from Recycle Bin, you find that the Recycle Bin is empty or you can’t find your needed files there.

Why is my Recycle Bin empty? You will ask this question. It is quite possible that the Storage Sense feature works to empty the Recycle Bin within some days to free up disk space. How to stop Recycle Bin automatically deleting files? In this post, we will show you a guide.

How to Disable Recycle Bin Auto-Deletion?

You can follow this guide to stop Windows from automatically emptying your Recycle Bin:

1. Click Start and then go to Settings. You can also press Win+I to directly open Settings.

2. Go to System.

3. Switch to Storage from the left menu.

4. Turn off the button for Storage Sense can automatically free up space by getting rid of files you don’t need, like temporary files and content in your Recycle if you want to disable Recycle Bin auto-deletion. Here if you want to enable Recycle Bin auto-deletion, you need to turn it on.

5. If you want to make some further changes for Storage Sense, you can click Configure Storage Sense or run it now to continue, and then you will see the following interface. The default setting for Run Storage Sense is During low free disk space. You can also set it as Every day, Every week, or Every month according to your requirements.

6. Scroll down to the Temporary Files section ad you will find that Delete files in my recycle bin if they have been there for over is set as over 30 days. If you want to disable Recycle Bin auto-deletion, you will need to change it to Never.

After these settings, Windows will not automatically delete files in Recycle Bin.

In this post, we will show you how to skip Recycle Bin for deleting files on Windows 10 by using the corresponding shortcut keys and modifying settings.

How to Recover Permanently Deleted Files?

If you can’t find your deleted files in Recycle Bin, it means that they are permanently deleted. If these files are important for you, how to get them back? You need to use a free file recovery tool. You can try MiniTool Power Data Recovery, which is specially designed to restore your lost and deleted files that are not corrupted or overwritten by new data.

This software has a trial edition and you can press the following button to get it.

After downloading and installing this software on your PC, you can open it, select the drive that has contained the deleted files you want to restore to scan, and then go to see whether you can find your needed files from the scan result.

If this software can find the files you want to recover, you can upgrade it to a full edition and then check your needed files to recover. For a personal user, the Personal Ultimate edition can fully meet the requirements.

Bottom Line

Now you should know how to stop Windows from automatically emptying your Recycle Bin and vice versa. Should you have any related issues, you can let us know in the comment.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Position: Columnist

Stella has been working in MiniTool Software as an English Editor for more than 4 years. Her articles mainly cover the fields of data recovery including storage media data recovery and phone data recovery, YouTube videos download, partition management, and video conversions.

Windows 10 came with an interesting default settings after its 2019 update. Automatic deletion of recycle bin is one of such features. Storage Sense is a default feature added in Windows 10 to manage all the storage settings. One of the features of Storage sense is that, it automatically deletes the files that are lying in recycle bin for more than 30 days by default. In general, this is a useful feature as you always need free disk space and by default windows does your job by automatically removing unwanted files. However, you might have a habit of storing files in recycle bin. In such case, you can stop windows from automatically deleting files from bin. In this post, let’s look the ways to stop windows 10 deleting files automatically from recycle bin

It you don’t have windows 10, update by clicking here

Stop Windows 10 Deleting Files Automatically:

• Open “Settings App” (Short cut Key: Windows+I) —->System —–> Storage
• Under Storage, you see two main options. 1. ON & OFF , 2. Configure Storage Sense or Run it now

Storage Sense, Default Feature in windows 10

• If you don’t want storage sense to run anything automatically, you can flip the switch to “OFF” mode. It makes Storage sense to function only on your command.
• If you want to further configure storage sense, click on “Configure Storage Sense or Run it now”. It opens a New Window.
• (Note: “Run Storage Sense” gives options for you to have control on, when you want Windows 10 to run Storage Sense to remove files from bin i.e., Every day, week or month. In general, it has “During low free disk space” as default. You don’t have to change anything under this)

Configuring Storage sense to stop deleting files in windows 10

• Scroll down to “Temporary files” —-> “Delete files in my recycle bin if they have been there for over” ——> Choose “Never” (By default, it empties bin for every 30 days)

Opting for “Never” stops windows 10 from automatic deletion of files

• “Delete files in my Downloads folder if they have been there for over” is “Never” by default. If you want to change, you can.

Bottom Line

You never know what files you might need. If you leave windows 10 to run storage sense by default, it removes every file in your recycle bin for every 30 days. If you’re very good at organizing your files, then automatic deletion reduces your work load and your PC is always clean. But if you’re not, you might be in trouble recovering the deleted files. Hence,

Does your Windows 10 delete files automatically? Many users experience this problem. Read here to learn why Windows 10 deletes files and how to fix it.

Theo Lucia

Sep 14, 2021 • Filed to: Recover Files • Proven solutions

When working on Windows 10, Windows Defender sometimes deletes files automatically. This happens when the Defender detects any download from any untrusted source. This guide will discuss why Windows 10 deleting files automatically and how to resolve this problem.

Yesterday I downloaded one program from the internet, but today I cannot find it on my system. I have experienced it before too. Why is Windows 10 deleting files automatically? Can anyone help me with this?

Are you also experiencing the same? Deleting files from untrusted sources is sometimes good as it keeps your system protected from viruses. But at the same time, sometimes your Windows also delete some of your important files.

Here we will discuss why Windows 10 keeps deleting files and different methods to fix it.

Why Does Windows 10 Keep Deleting Files

There can be numerous reasons behind the deletion of files from Windows 10. Some of them are:

• Windows 10 encounters low disk space, so it can delete some files to free up more space.
• Files downloaded from an untrusted source can pose a threat to your system. For this reason, Windows 10 removes them to keep your system protected.
• Any update is causing the issue.

Fix 1. Prevent Windows Defender from Automatically Deleting Files

To keep your system protected, Windows Defender keeps viruses away from your system. If any unsafe file is detected, Defender will delete it without taking any permission. In such cases, you can stop Windows 10 removing programs without permission with the following steps:

Step 1: Go to settings and tap on the option Update & Security. Look for the Windows Security option.

Step 2: Go to “Virus and threat protection,” which is found in the protection areas. Then in “Manage settings,” look for “virus and threat protection settings.”

Step 3: Then, under Exclusions, tap on the option “add or remove exclusion”

Step 4: Now add the respective file types, files, and folders that you do not want to be deleted by Windows 10. You can even add file extensions here.

Fix 2. Keep Storage Sense Off

To keep the system from running into low disk space, Windows 10 new feature, Storage Sense “Off” would be of great help. It deletes the recycle bin files automatically after 30 days. Sometimes it even clears the files from the “Downloads” folder. To prevent it from doing this, here are the steps for you:

Step 1: In the “Settings,” go to “System” and look for the “storage” option.

Step 2: The “Storage Sense” option is “On” by default. Turn it off so that Windows 10 doesn’t delete any of the files from recycle bin or downloads folder automatically.

Step 3: Turning “off” Storage Sense will restrict the Windows from emptying recycle bin automatically. So, if you are not willing to do so, you can “configure storage sense.”

Step 4: Now, under temporary files, set the frequency to “Never” under delete files in recycle bin.

Fix 3. Uninstall Recent Updates

Sometimes Windows 10 deletes files with recent updates automatically. If you experience this that here are the steps for you:

Step 1: Go to Control Panel – > Programs – > Programs and Features

Step 2: You can view a list of recent updates. You can uninstall any recent update, reboot the system, and the issue is fixed.

Fix 4. Recover Windows 10 Files Getting Deleted Automatically

Windows 10 delete files automatically. So if you have lost any of your important documents, then Wondershare Recoverit Software can help you recover them. The recovery tool is compatible with almost all file formats.

Step 1: Select location
Launch Recoverit on your system and select the location from where data is lost. After making the selection, click on “Start.”

Step 2: Scan location
Once you click on “Start,” Recoverit will begin with the “All Around” scan. Usually, the scan is very quick, but if the file size is large, it can take a few minutes more to finish the complete scan. You can even see the results in real-time. While the scan is running, if at any point you feel like the file you are looking for is recovered, you can stop the scan right away.

You can add filters to look for the different files, like file type, file path, etc.

Step 3: Preview and Recover

Once the scan completes, you can have a preview of the files found in the scan. Select any of your target files to ensure whether the one you are looking is ready to be recovered completely. Once you are assured, click on “Recover,” and save the file at your selected location.

The Bottom Line

Windows 10 has come up with amazing new features to give a better user experience to its users. But to improve the security, sometimes Windows 10 keeps deleting files automatically. In the above guide, we have discussed the different methods to fix this issue. Follow the detailed steps and keep your files secure.
However, if you lose your data, you can recover it easily with Wondershare Recoverit Data Recovery software.

People Also Ask

Does Windows 10 delete pirated files?

Yes, as per the new End User License Agreement, Microsoft can delete pirated files, to improve system security.

Does Windows Defender automatically delete files?

Yes, to free up disk space or if detected any suspicious file, Defender deletes files automatically. This is good to keep the system protected. But sometimes, you may end up losing your important file.

Why do my files keep disappearing?

Windows 10, delete files downloaded from unknown sources and even clear the recycle bin after 30 days. This is only done to improve the security of the system and keep your files secure.

First things first, the data in the recycle bin occupies the space on your disk. If your intention to delete unwanted files is to save some disk space, then you must understand recycle bin too occupies the data. Unfortunately, we always forget to empty the bin, piling up the files in it hence eating disk space. So what to do? How about recycle bin emptying it’s contents on it’s own?? You heard it right. We can schedule recycle bin to empty it’s contents on it’s own. Follow the steps below to know how to empty Recycle Bin in windows 10 automatically.

It you don’t have windows 10, update by clicking here

Empty Recycle Bin in Windows 10 automatically

Step 1: Click —->“Windows” and search for —->“Task Scheduler”

Task Scheduler in Windows 10

Step 2: Click on “Task Schedule Library”, Right click on it —-> New Folder —-> Name the folder as “My Tasks”

Creating “My Task” folder in the process of emptying Recycle Bin in Windows 10

Step 3: Right Click on “My Tasks”—>Create Task. It opens a new window

Creating a Task

Step 4: Create A Task :

In create task window, there are 5 tabs; General, Triggers, Actions, Conditions & Settings. We need to give commands in General, Triggers and Actions tabs

General Tab:

Click on “General” Tab —> “Name”. Give a name like “Schedule Recycle Bin to Empty” or any other name of your choice.

Creating a task to empty recycle bin

Triggers Tab:

• Click on “Triggers” Tab —> “New” at the bottom left—–> Click on “OK” which opens a New Window

• For the purpose of this post, I am choosing “On a Schedule” among other trigger actions. You can choose any other trigger actions like “At Log on”, “At Startup”, “On an event”, “At Task Creation/modification”, etc as per your requirement

• If you chose “On a Schedule” trigger action, consider choosing “Monthly” under “Settings”, as it gives ample time for you to recover deleted files from bin if needed. You can also give particular Months, Dates and Days under “Settings”.

Actions Tab:

• Click on “Actions Tab”—–> “New” at the bottom left —-> Click on “Ok” which opens a New Window

• In New Window, Action—->Start a Program
• Settings—->Programs/Scripts—->copy and paste this —–> cmd.exe
• Under —–>Add Arguments (Optional) —–>copy and paste this command —–> /c “echo Y|PowerShell.exe -NoProfile -Command Clear-RecycleBin” ——-> Click on “OK”

Now you are all set. The system will automatically empties the bin at the trigger action commands you have created.

Bottom Line

By looking at your work desk and your desktop, one can estimate the type of person you are, in terms of organizing. A clean work desk and a desktop always leaves a positive impression for others and positive vibes for you. A clean work desk is your job but you can leave the half of the desktop cleaning job to itself by scheduling recycle bin to empty on it’s own.

No More Mundane Tasks For You, Bin Empties On It’s Own

Brady Gavin
Brady Gavin
Writer

Brady Gavin has been immersed in technology for 15 years and has written over 150 detailed tutorials and explainers. He’s covered everything from Windows 10 registry hacks to Chrome browser tips. Brady has a diploma in Computer Science from Camosun College in Victoria, BC. Read more.

Any time you delete something in Windows, it goes to the Recycle Bin. It sits there until the Recycle Bin reaches it’s preconfigured maximum size (or until you empty the bin), at which point Windows deletes the oldest files in the bin to make room for new ones. This gives you a chance to restore deleted files before they’re permanently gone.

Most people just leave the Recycle Bin alone, never adjusting its default settings and letting it do its job. Today, though, we’re going to talk about those settings you can adjust.

Change the Maximum Size the Recycle Bin Can Reach

The Recycle Bin has a maximum amount of storage it can reach before Windows deletes old files to make room for new ones. The default storage size is a little tough to nail down. On a personal computer used by one person that’s not part of a managed network, the Recycle Bin takes up just over 5% of the total size of a volume. So, for example, on a normal 1 TB drive (which has about 930 GB of usable space), you can expect the Recycle Bin’s default size to be around 46 GB.

And yes, each volume has its own Recycle Bin. It’s stored as a hidden system folder named “$RECYCLE.BIN” at the root of each volume. In the image below, you can see it on the drive I use to hold my virtual machines.

Even though each drive has its own Recycle Bin folder, the contents of all those folders are combined in the normal Recycle Bin view so that you see all your deleted files, no matter where they come from.

Note: If you are in a managed environment that assigns disk quotas to users, your Recycle Bin will hold about 5% of your allowed quota instead of the entire volume.

Most of the time, that default will be fine. There are times, however, when you might want to adjust it. If you have a 2 TB hard drive that holds files you rarely delete, there’s not much point in the Recycle Bin taking up 100 GB of space.

Open up the Recycle Bin properties window by right-clicking the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop and then clicking the “Properties” command.

In the properties window, you’ll see each volume listed. If you have only one volume (your system or C: drive), that’s all you’ll see. Select the volume for which you want to change the size and then type a specific size in MB in the “Custom Size” field.

Stop Using the Recycle Bin and Have Items Deleted Immediately

If you prefer to have things deleted immediately rather than sitting in the Recycle Bin, you can make that happen. We don’t recommend it for general use, but it can be handy in some situations. Maybe you need to delete a bunch of things at once that you know you won’t need again and you don’t want to affect what’s already in the Bin.

To make this happen, in the Recycle Bin Properties window, select the “Don’t move files to the Recycle Bin. Remove files immediately when deleted.” option.

When you have this option enabled, it might be wise to also enable the confirmation box by ticking the “Display Delete Confirmation Dialog.” This option forces Windows to prompt you any time you delete something, to make sure you really want to delete it.

Set Recycle Bin to Delete Files Automatically After a Set Time

In one of the early updates to Windows 10, Microsoft added a feature named Storage Sense that’s aimed at helping you free up space on your drive. The big thing Storage Sense can do is automatically clean up your hard drive the way that Disk Cleanup and tools like Ccleaner do.

It also includes one setting that relates to your Recycle Bin: the ability to delete files from the bin automatically when they have been there for a specified number of days: you can set it to 1, 14, 30, or 60 days.

To enable it, open up Settings by hitting Windows+I, head to System > Storage, and then click the “Change how we free up space automatically” link.

On the next page, scroll down a bit to the “Temporary Files” section and then enable the “Delete temporary files that my apps aren’t using” option. Use the first drop-down menu in that section to set the number of days you want.

The Recycle Bin is something most of us never give a second thought, but with a little tweaking, you can make it work the way you want.

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Brady Gavin
Brady Gavin has been immersed in technology for 15 years and has written over 150 detailed tutorials and explainers. He’s covered everything from Windows 10 registry hacks to Chrome browser tips. Brady has a diploma in Computer Science from Camosun College in Victoria, BC.
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