Reference number: CH001021

How do I change the Recycle Bin icon?

Question:

How do I change the Recycle Bin icon?

Answer:

Windows XP users

1. Open the Control Panel
2. Double-click on Display
3. In the Display Properties window click the Desktop tab
4. Click the Customize Desktop button.
5. In the Desktop Items window select either the "Recycle Bin (full)" or "Recycle Bin (empty)" folder and click the Change Icon button.

Editing through the registry

As mentioned above there are two icons for the Windows Recycle Bin, the empty and full. Below is the Windows Registry path to where you can manually adjust these icons.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
SOFTWARE\
Classes\
CLSID\
{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\
DefaultIcon

In the DefaultIcon folder, there are two strings.  "Empty" and "Full." Double-click the icon you wish to adjust by double clicking on either of these, and change the Value data to the location of the icon you wish to use.

Additional information:

• See our Recycle Bin definition for additional information about this term and related links.