You Require Permission from SYSTEM. How to Delete $Recycle.Bin

This post gives answer to various questions:

You require permissions from 1-2-5-21 to make changes to this folder

You require permission from SYSTEM to make changes to this file

How to see $Recycle.bin files in a drive in windows 7

How to delete contents from $Recycle.bin

If anything like above is coming in your mind, here is the solutions for you.

$Recycle.bin is a system folder that helps you recover your files and folder that you have deleted from a drive. It contains local drive's contents which appear in Recycle Bin on your desktop. There are cases you have files in local $Recycle.bin folder which you have probably deleted from Recycle Bin but you still see them here. These are called 'Orphaned'. And they usually take a lot of space which you don't know about.

How to see $Recycle.bin files in a drive in windows 7

Now, to see this folder simple 'show hidden files and folders' won't work for you. You need to uncheck 'Hide protected operating system files' in folder options. Now you will be able to see this folder.

How to delete contents from $Recycle.bin

Once you can see this folder you can enter there and remove contents from it. But wait! It’s not so simple. While removing contents from it you might get a folder 'folder access denied' message 'You require permissions from 1-2-5-21 to make changes to this folder'. This will stop you from deleting some of the files from this folder.

Follow the steps below:

Step 1: Get access to administrator account (built-in):

In Control panel go to System and Security and then Administrative Tools. Enable Administrator account from there(I suppose you can do it easily).

Step 2: Log on to the Administrator account.

Step 3: Setup security setting to allow changing files and folders owned by SYSTEM:

Now go to the folder in $Recycle.bin that you want to delete. Open properties and go to Security tab. Click on Advance button. Change the owner of this this folder/file to Administrator account. Check the option 'Replace owner on sub containers and objects'. This will allow you to modify files and folders inside this folder.

Step 4: Simply delete the files/folder now. You will be able to do it now.

About The Author:

Mohammad Roman is professionally a web developer, working as a Lecturer in Kohat University of Science & Technology. His specialties are in ASP.Net using C# but he can also handle projects in PHP.He is a Gold Star Contributor at our Blog.