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Article ID: 173416 - Last Review: January 20, 2007 - Revision: 1.3

Cannot Empty Recycle Bin or Modify Recycle Bin Properties

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This article was previously published under Q173416

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SYMPTOMS

You may experience the following symptoms:

When you right-click the Recycle Bin, the Empty Recycle Bin command may be unavailable.
When you right-click the Recycle Bin, the Properties command may be unavailable.
Files that you delete may be permanently deleted rather than moved to the Recycle Bin.

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CAUSE

This behavior can occur if your fixed hard disk is marked as a removable drive.

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RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
Double-click System.
Click the Device Manager tab.
Double-click the Disk Drives branch to expand it.
Click your hard disk, and then click Properties.
On the Settings tab, click the Removable check box to clear it.
Click OK, and then click OK.
Restart your computer.

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MORE INFORMATION

Note that you cannot use these steps to treat an actual removable drive as a fixed drive. If the drive is removable, the Removable option is reset when you restart the computer.

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