How Do You Add Recycle Bin to This PC in Windows 11?

How to add the Recycle Bin to “This PC” for your personal user account

Adding the Recycle Bin 🗑️ to This PC for your personal user account only requires editing your own Registry files without affecting other people who share your computer. You can do this by opening the Run box, launching the Registry Editor, and creating a new key inside 🗝️HKEY_CURRENT_USERcopy so the shortcut appears only under your specific Windows 11 user profile.

1. Open the Run command box. Press the Win and the letter R on your keyboard at the same time. A small box will pop up in the bottom left corner of your screen.
2. Launch the Registry Editor. Type regedit into the search 🔍 box and hit Enter on your keyboard. Your screen might flash or ask for permission from Windows Security—go ahead and click Yes to let the app make changes.
3. Navigate to the correct folder path. Look at the top address bar in the Registry Editor window. Delete whatever is currently sitting in that bar, paste this exact path into it, and press Enter:

   🗝️Registry

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   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace

4. Create the special Recycle Bin 🗑️ key. Right-click any empty blank space on the right-hand side of your screen. Hover over New, select Key, and paste this exact text as the name of the new folder:

   💻Code

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

This long string of letters and numbers is a special system code (known as a Class ID or CLSID) that Windows uses specifically to recognize the Recycle Bin 🗑️.

5. Restart your 🔄 file browser to see the magic. Close out of the Registry Editor window. To make your changes show up right away, press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open the Task Manager 📊, find Windows Explorer 📁 in the list, right-click it, and select Restart. Open “This PC” in your file browser, and your Recycle Bin 🗑️ will be sitting right there waiting for you.

How to add the Recycle Bin to “This PC” for every user on the computer

Adding the Recycle Bin 🗑️ to This PC for every user on the computer requires making a system-wide change so the shortcut appears for all profiles. You can accomplish this by opening the Registry Editor with administrator rights and adding the correct folder GUID key to the 🗝️HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINEcopy path, which updates the File Explorer 📁 layout for everyone who logs in.

1. Open the Registry Editor with administrative rights (Requires Admin Privileges). Press Win + R on your keyboard, type regedit into the box, and press Enter. Click Yes on the security prompt.
2. Navigate to the system-wide folder path. Clear out the address bar at the top of the window, paste this path into it, and press Enter:

   🗝️Registry

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   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace

3. Add the Recycle Bin code key. Right-click on any empty area in the right-pane window. Choose New, click Key, and name the new key using the special Recycle Bin code:

   💻Code

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

4. Refresh your computer interface. Close your Registry window and restart your PC, or restart Windows Explorer using Task Manager. Anyone who logs onto this machine will now see the Recycle Bin neatly organized inside "This PC".

How to remove the Recycle Bin from "This PC" if you change your mind

Removing the Recycle Bin from This PC is a simple process you can do at any time if you change your mind about the layout. You just need to open the Registry Editor, locate the custom folder key you created earlier inside HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace or the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE equivalent, and delete it to restore the default view.

1. Open the Registry Editor. Press Win + R, type regedit, and hit Enter.
2. Locate your custom key. If you want to remove it just for yourself, head back to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace. If you want to remove it for everyone, use the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE path instead (Admin privileges required for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE).
3. Delete the Recycle Bin key. Look at the folder tree on the left side under NameSpace. Find the sub-folder named {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}, right-click it, and select Delete. Confirm that you want to permanently delete the key.
4. Apply the removal. Close the editor window and restart Windows Explorer. The shortcut will instantly vanish from your "This PC" window, leaving your drives flying solo once again.

How to automate the process using PowerShell scripts

Automating the process of adding the Recycle Bin to This PC using PowerShell scripts lets you apply the Registry tweaks instantly without clicking through menus. You can run an administrative PowerShell window and execute a short command to create the necessary registry keys automatically, which is especially helpful if you need to set up multiple Windows 11 computers.

1. Open PowerShell as an administrator (Requires Admin Privileges). Click your Windows Start button, type powershell, right-click Windows PowerShell in the search results, and choose "Run as administrator".
2. Run the command to add the Recycle Bin. To instantly add the Recycle Bin icon to "This PC" for all users across the workstation, copy and paste this exact command into the PowerShell window and press Enter:

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   New-Item -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}" -Force

3. Refresh your desktop environment. Run this quick command in the same PowerShell window to restart your file explorer and lock in the changes right away:

   💻Code

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   Stop-Process -Name explorer -Force

4. Run the command to remove it later if needed. If you ever want to strip the Recycle Bin back out using PowerShell, run this command instead:Remove-Item -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}" -Force

Summary

Adding the Recycle Bin to This PC in Windows 11 cleans up your desktop and gives you quick access to deleted files from inside File Explorer. You can easily set this up for just your own user account or for every user on a shared computer by editing the Windows Registry manually or running a quick command in PowerShell.