How To Remove Recycle Bin Icon From Desktop In Windows 7 ?

The Recycle Bin icon on the desktop always bugs me. I feel that no one uses it unless they want to run the Empty Recycle Bin command. I’m sure there are others out there who delete the unneeded icons from the desktop to give it a well-organized and clean look. Honestly, I never really open the Recycle Bin to view the deleted files, though I do use the ‘Empty Recycle Bin’ command to permanently delete the data of the system. That is why one of the first things that I do after a clean Windows installation is removing the Recycle Bin icon from the desktop. If you also don’t use it quite often, then today we bring you a simple how-to for removing the Recycle Bin from the desktop right after the jump.

Before you begin, it’s worth mentioning that the following process doesn’t actually remove the Recycle Bin, rather it hides the icon from the desktop. Using the Windows Desktop Icon Setting dialog, you can unhide it at any time without any restrictions.

First off, bring up the Desktop right-click menu and select Personalize. Alternatively, you can open the Personalization window from Start Search (just hit the Windows key), type in Personalization, and press Enter.

Next up, select Change desktop icons option from the left sidebar.

This will open Desktop Icon Settings dialog. Now, simply uncheck Recycle Bin option and then click Apply followed by OK to hide the Recycle Bin icon from the Desktop.

You can always access the recycle bin folder from Start Search or by typing in “Recycle Bin” in the folder’s address bar. Also note that you can add/remove other icons on your desktop such as ‘My Computer’, ‘Control Panel’, and ‘Network’ etc. In case you want to bring the Recycle Bin icon back to your desktop, simply head over to the ‘Change desktop icons’ dialog and check the box for ‘Recycle bin’.