# Finding the recycle bin in DOS box **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 17, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-recycle-bin-in-dos-box/503384 "2009-07-17T21:18:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-recycle-bin-in-dos-box/503384/1 "2009-07-17T21:18:40Z")
A friend has 3 deleted files in his Recycle Bin that he can’t seem to get rid of. I suggested first he right click on the desktop icon and hit B to delete them, and if that did not work, go to Win Explorer and near the bottom find Recycle Bin. Click on that and see if he can see the files there and delete them. Neither worked. So, I recall when I did everything in DOS (before being forced into Windows), one thing that worked when having trouble deleting something: you could go to the file in question, type in “deltree xxxx.xxx” and that almost always worked So, I opened a DOS box (in XP), but could not find Recycle Bin. I then recalled that in DOS you can’t use two words or anything more than eight letters (hey, it has been a long time). I then rememberd it was called Recycler in DOs, so typed “CD c:\recycler” and got there. I had delted a .doc file as a test, but when I hit dir, nothing showed up. Anybody know why? Does the Recycle Bin lurk in some other mysterious place in the C: tree? Wassup? ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-recycle-bin-in-dos-box/503384/2 "2009-07-17T22:02:16Z")
In Windows XP at least, it’s in a subdirectory of C:\RECYCLER with a weird name. As of when I sent this reply, mine seems to be C:\RECYCLER\S-1-5-21-448539723-436374069-839522115-2822 If you want to see where it is on your machine, you’ll need to Show hidden files and folders and turn off Hide protected operating system files in your folder options. ---
**Author:** ![Wheeljack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@Wheeljack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheeljack)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-recycle-bin-in-dos-box/503384/3 "2009-07-17T22:44:52Z")
Incidentally, deltree doesn’t exist in the XP command line because it isn’t really DOS. Whatever Windows is doing to keep those files from going away, you aren’t going to be able to outsmart it by going over its head like you could with previous versions of Windows. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-recycle-bin-in-dos-box/503384/4 "2009-07-17T22:51:39Z")
> [@Canadjun](#): > > In Windows XP at least, it’s in a subdirectory of C:\RECYCLER with a weird name. As of when I sent this reply, mine seems to be C:\RECYCLER\S-1-5-21-448539723-436374069-839522115-2822 Thanks for the suggestions. When I do a “dir” at \recycler, I get “no files or folders found” so there don’t seem to be any subfolders or files in it, even though the recycle bin now has 3 deleted files in it. I tried your weird numerical subdirectory, but it was not there Oh, yeah, I chose Show Hidden files & folders and Hide protected sys files a long time ago. Still no joy. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-recycle-bin-in-dos-box/503384/5 "2009-07-17T22:55:40Z")
> [@Wheeljack](#): > > Incidentally, deltree doesn’t exist in the XP command line because it isn’t really DOS. Whatever Windows is doing to keep those files from going away, you aren’t going to be able to outsmart it by going over its head like you could with previous versions of Windows. What was achieved with deltree in the Windows 9x shell and in DOS is achieved with the /s switch of rd in newer shells such as that of Windows XP, so there was no need to keep deltree. But you’re right that Windows shells do like to pretend that certain files and directories don’t exist. They’re still there, and third-party shells can see them and delete them just fine. ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-recycle-bin-in-dos-box/503384/6 "2009-07-17T23:14:07Z")
> [@Wheeljack](#): > > Incidentally, deltree doesn’t exist in the XP command line because it isn’t really DOS. Whatever Windows is doing to keep those files from going away, you aren’t going to be able to outsmart it by going over its head like you could with previous versions of Windows. ☹ Nuts! Maybe I’ll go back to Win3.11, whch I liked best anyway. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Awesome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Captain\_Awesome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Awesome)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-recycle-bin-in-dos-box/503384/7 "2009-07-18T05:57:26Z")
[MoveOnBoot](http://www.softwarepatch.com/software/moveonboot.html) is a fairly straightforward way to outsmart Windows. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-recycle-bin-in-dos-box/503384/8 "2009-07-18T06:06:34Z")
> [@KlondikeGeoff](#): > > When I do a “dir” at \recycler, I get “no files or folders found” so there don’t seem to be any subfolders or files in it, even though the recycle bin now has 3 deleted files in it. I tried your weird numerical subdirectory, but it was not there Try “dir /a”, it shows all files and directories, including the hidden ones. ETA: Windows XP also supports completion of commands. So if you’re in C:\RECYCLER, just type "cd " and press Tab; it will make your recycling bin folder’s name appear. ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-recycle-bin-in-dos-box/503384/9 "2009-07-18T20:10:49Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > Try “dir /a”, it shows all files and directories, including the hidden ones. > > ETA: Windows XP also supports completion of commands. So if you’re in C:\RECYCLER, just type "cd " and press Tab; it will make your recycling bin folder’s name appear. The “dir /a” works fine, and see the Recycler dir. However, when I go there, then try the “cd” and Tab, nothing happens, except it goes back to “C:\Recycler” with no list of the delted file. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![JimOfAllTrades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-recycle-bin-in-dos-box/503384/10 "2009-07-18T21:14:46Z")
> [@KlondikeGeoff](#): > > The “dir /a” works fine, and see the Recycler dir. However, when I go there, then try the “cd” and Tab, nothing happens, except it goes back to “C:\Recycler” with no list of the delted file. 😕 Now do another dir /a and you should see any files currectly in the recycle bin. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-recycle-bin-in-dos-box/503384/11 "2009-07-18T22:11:25Z")
> [@KlondikeGeoff](#): > > The “dir /a” works fine, and see the Recycler dir. However, when I go there, then try the “cd” and Tab, nothing happens, except it goes back to “C:\Recycler” with no list of the delted file. 😕 Did you type cd, then Space, then Tab?