Windows 7: Recycle bin stuck on preparing to delete, calculating... for 6 hours!

Hi All.

Hoping you can help me.

I have 60k files in my recycle bin, and like any eco warrior... I want to recycle!

So I click 'empty recycle bin' and after asking me if I'm sure, which I am, it goes to preparing to delete... calculating... and doesn't progress. I've given it more than 6 hours and nothing happens.

I've tried restarting... to no avail.

I tried moving the files to a folder, with the idea of shift deleting them from there... same thing happens - preparing to move... hours pass and nothing happens.

Can someone please help my pc get over its constipation (so to speak)?

Thanks in advance all!

Hi Oliver Dewar, welcome to 7F!

Sounds like your recycle bin is corrupt, have you tried to empty it in Safe Mode?

Try to get the files out of the recycle bin. Put them in 1 folder on the desktop. Then go into the properties of the recycle bin and change it to delete the files right away instead of storing them. Uncheck the delete confirmation message as well. Now send that folder to the bin and see if that works.

If you are still having problems refer to this post: Recycle Bin is corrupt?

From SIW2's post on down there are a few more ways to correct your problem, and there is a tutorial link in his post to explain the procedure.

If you are having problems with permissions turn off the UAC, go to Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\User Accounts it will be the last item listed in the main view.

First thing to do would have been to shut down the computer fully. Then to have restarted it and tried again. I suppose it is too late now to do so because with all the tips that you have got the problem must have got solved by now.

The OP already tried that, I've tried restarting... to no avail.

A full power off may help. That will reset more than a restart does.
This may help too SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker Run 3 times with reboot between if it finds erros it can't fix.

Hi All.

Thanks so much for all your responces.

Just tried a full shut-down restart... to no avail.

Went into safe mode and tried to delete from there... same result as normal mode.

I'll try another suggestion now and keep you posted (excuse the pun!).

Hi All.

Next thing I tried was the elevated command prompt and the code that was provided...something along the lines of (code I can't remember) + C:\$Recycle

Anyway, for those following after, the code is either in this thread, or the thread suggested by one of the posters.

It worked, and has cleaned the recycle bin, it did take about 6 or 7 minutes to complete.

Thanks so much for your help everyone... I can't believe Microsoft made me go through that for deleting a corrupt file!

That's great, I'm glad that worked!

I don't think it is entirely Microsoft's fault. This could be an indicator that your machine may have other problems.

It wouldn't hurt to run: SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker, and you will see in the tutorial that you should run it three times, with restarts after each run.

Don't forget to mark this thread solved if you are happy with the results.
It helps other members to find solutions.