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PowerShell - Empty Recycle Bin

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Empty Recycle Bin

Code Properties

  • Language: PowerShell
  • API: Shell32 (Windows API)

Overview

PowerShell script that empties the Windows Recycle Bin using the Shell32 SHEmptyRecycleBin API function.

Code

Add-Type Shell32 @"
    [DllImport("shell32.dll")]
    public static extern int SHEmptyRecycleBin(
        IntPtr hwnd,
        string pszRootPath,
        int    dwFlags
    );
"@ -NameSpace System
 
$SHERB_NOCONFIRMATION = 0x1
$SHERB_NOPROGRESSUI   = 0x2
$SHERB_NOSOUND        = 0x4
$dwFlags              = $SHERB_NOCONFIRMATION
 
$res = [Shell32]::SHEmptyRecycleBin([IntPtr]::Zero, $null, $dwFlags)
 
if ($res) { 
    "Error 0x{0:x8}: {1}" -f $res, (New-Object ComponentModel.Win32Exception($res)).Message
}
 
exit $res

Usage

Run the script to silently empty the Recycle Bin without confirmation:

.\Empty-RecycleBin.ps1

To customize behavior, combine flags:

# silent with no progress UI and no sound
$dwFlags = $SHERB_NOCONFIRMATION -bor $SHERB_NOPROGRESSUI -bor $SHERB_NOSOUND

Appendix

Note created on 2024-09-18 and last modified on 2024-12-31.

See Also

(c) No Clocks, LLC | 2024

creation_date: 2025-12-31 modification_date: 2025-12-31 author: Jimmy Briggs jimmy.briggs@noclocks.dev tags:

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  • PowerShell - Empty Recycle Bin publish: true permalink: description: cssclasses:
  • code

PowerShell - Empty Recycle Bin

Code Properties

  • Language:
  • Packages:

Overview

Sources:

  • Source URL or reference

Description of this code snippet/script/module.

Code

# code goes here

Usage

How to use this code:

# usage example

Notes

Additional notes about the code.

Appendix

Note created on 2025-12-31 and last modified on 2025-12-31.

See Also

(c) No Clocks, LLC | 2025

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