I cannot empty my Recycle Bin

Question

When I try to empty my Recycle Bin, I get the following error:

Cannot remove folder [folderName]. The directory is not empty.

Any idea what's going on here?

Answer 1

You could fix it by running Command Prompt and entering these commands:

cd\recycler
attrib -r -s -h * /s /d
del * /f /s /q
rd /s /q .

The last line will cause the error "The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process." That's just because you are currently in the directory for the recycle bin and is actually for your protection. It can be ignored.

Answer 2

I get this quite often when I have an application looking at that folder. Command Line is quite an offender. Explorer Windows can do this too. Visual Studio did it as well, even after it was closed. Had to open a different solution.

Otherwise, it might be hidden or system files.

Answer 3

I've had this problem before, this was easily solved by running CHKDSK

Answer 4

Try restoring the files, then force delete them from the command line instead of sending them to the recycle bin.