How to Hide or Remove Recycle Bin icon in Windows 11

While the Recycle Bin is a great thing to have on a computer, you may want to hide it for some reason. You may want to hide the Recycle Bin on Windows 11; maybe you don’t want to see it because you find it irritating, or you want to keep the desktop screen clean.

Whatever the reason is, it’s possible to hide the Recycle Bin on a Windows 11 computer. Here’s how.

1. Hide the Recycle Bin from Settings

In this method, we will utilize the Settings app of Windows 11 to hide the Recycle Bin.

1. Click on the Windows 11 Start button and select Settings.

2. Switch to the Personalization.

3. On the right side, select Themes.

4. Select Desktop Icon Settings.

5. On the Desktop Icon Settings, uncheck the Recycle Bin.

6. After making the changes, click Apply, then OK.

2. Hide the Recycle Bin using RUN

You can even execute a RUN command to hide the Recycle Bin icon on Windows 11.

1. Press the Windows Key + R button on your keyboard. This will open the RUN dialog box.

2. On the RUN dialog box, type the given command and press Enter.

desk.cpl ,,5

3. Uncheck the Recycle Bin checkbox and click Apply, then OK.

3. Remove the Reyce Bin icon using the Registry

You can change the Windows Registry file to hide the Recycle Bin icon. Here’s what you need to do.

1. Type in Registry Editor in the Windows 11 Search. Open the Registry Editor from the list of best-match results.

2. Navigate to this path:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons

3. Right-click on the NewStartPanel and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.

4. Rename the new registry as:

{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

5. Double-click on the file and enter 1 in the Value Data field. Once done, click OK.

6. Right-click on the ClassicStartMenu and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.

7. Name the new DWORD file as:

{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

8. Double-click on the DWORD file you’ve just created. In the Value data field, type 1 and click OK.

4. Hide All Desktop Icons

If you have been using Windows for a while, you may know that the operating system allows you to hide all desktop icons with a single click.

This is the fastest way to get rid of the Recycle Bin and all desktop icons. To hide all desktop icons, right-click on a blank space on your desktop screen.

On the context menu, select View > Show desktop icons to hide all desktop icons. To show all desktop icons, check the Show Desktop icons option again on the context menu.

This guide is about hiding the Recycle Bin icon on Windows 11 computers. To bring back the recycle bin icon, you have to revert the changes you made.