How-to Remove Recycle Bin from Desktop in Windows XP

For those of you who wanted a plain Windows desktop screen with no icons, here is a simple registry tweak on how to remove recycle bin from desktop, which is not easy to remove in traditional ways.

1) Go to start -> Run.. and type regedit

2) From the left pane of the registry editor window navigate to the following key-
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerDestkopNameSpace

3) You will be getting some number strings in NameSpace. Select the one that shows
recycle bin on right side pane when clicked on it or else just click on {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

4) Now, right-click on the default string value in the rightside pane and select delete. Close registry editor and restart your PC.

That’s it!! Your Recycle Bin is removed from desktop.

Note: If you ever wanted to restore recycle bin back to its place on desktop, traverse through the same registry path and when you right-click on the default string value under {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} registry key, choose modify and input value data as Recycle Bin and click OK. Restart, the deleted recycle bin is restored back on desktop.

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