Find Out Why Deleted Files Skip the Recycle Bin

Each volume has its own checkbox and its own size limit. A drive set to **Don't move files to the Recycle Bin** deletes permanently even when C: does not.

Get-ChildItem 'C:\$Recycle.Bin','D:\$Recycle.Bin' -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object -First 5 FullName,Length
reg query "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\BitBucket" /s 2>$null
Get-PSDrive -PSProvider FileSystem | Select-Object Name,Used,Free,Root

A file larger than the drive's maximum is deleted permanently with a warning. The percentage is per volume, so a full drive has a small effective limit.

Get-ChildItem 'C:\$Recycle.Bin' -Force -Recurse -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Measure-Object Length -Sum | Select-Object Count,Sum
Get-PSDrive C | Select-Object Used,Free
# Recycle Bin > Properties > select C: > Custom size

Files on a mapped drive or a UNC path never go to the local bin. There is no local storage for them, which is why deletion there is immediate.

net use
Get-SmbMapping | Select-Object LocalPath,RemotePath,Status
Get-Item '\\server\share' | Select-Object PSDrive,FullName

**NoRecycleFiles** under the Explorer policy key removes the option entirely. A managed device can have it set for every user.

Get-ItemProperty 'HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object NoRecycleFiles
Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object NoRecycleFiles
reg query "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\BitBucket" /v NukeOnDelete 2>$null

A file created, deleted and searched for in the bin proves the setting without risking anything. Do it on the drive that misbehaves, not on C:.

New-Item -Path 'D:\bintest.txt' -Value 'test' -Force | Out-Null
Remove-Item 'D:\bintest.txt' -Confirm:$false
Get-ChildItem 'D:\$Recycle.Bin' -Force -Recurse -Filter '*bintest*' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object FullName,Length

The bin restores files to their original path and recreates missing folders. If the original drive is gone, the restore fails and a copy to another location is the workaround.

Start-Process shell:RecycleBinFolder
# select the item > Restore
# or copy it out with
Get-ChildItem 'C:\$Recycle.Bin' -Force -Recurse -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Where-Object Name -like '*report*' | Select-Object FullName