edit: I've written a much better version of this guide and posted it to the technet forums. The improved version allows you to protect any arbitrary mapped drive without relying on folder redirection. social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/a349801f-398f-4139-8e8b-b0a92f599e2b/enable-recycle-bin-on-mapped-network-drives?forum=w8itpronetworking You may have noticed that when you delete a file stored on a network location or mapped network drive that the file is permanently deleted. It does not go to the local computer's recycle bin and does not go to the server's recycle bin. I have discovered a work-around that extends recycle bin coverage to include mapped network drives. The solution is not 100% perfect, but works extremely well and does not rely on Shadow Copies or 3rd-party software. Here's how: 1. Map a network drive to the network share you want to use. Make sure that the drive is re-connected on logon. If you don't know how to do this, search Google. 2. Browse to C:\users\<user name>. 3. Right-click on one of the folders in this location (I chose saved games) and click properties. 4. Select the Location tab. 5. Click Move, browse to to root of the drive you mapped in step 1, and click Select Folder. 6. Click Ok and click yes in the dialogue box that appears. 7. Repeat these same steps for all users on the computer. You can now verify that the network drive is protected by the recycle bin by right-clicking on the recycle bin and clicking properties. The network drive should be listed in the Recycle Bin Locations column. Some warnings: 1. This only protects files accessed through the mapped network drive, and not by UNC paths. So for example, if you mapped \\server\share to z:, and delete something off the z drive, it will go to the recycle bin. However, if you browse to \\server\share and delete a file, it will be deleted directly. 2. I don't know what will happen if your network drive is not available, so beware. This may not work well with laptops. 3. What ever files that were supposed to be stored in the folder you select in step 3 will now be stored on your mapped network drive by default. This can actually be quite useful. Future goals: I don't currently know how to add this functionality to additional folders. As far as I can tell, only folders stored in C:\users\<user name> get this functionality. I'm still looking into this, but will update this post if I find additional information. --Russel
Network recycle bin Thank you so much Russel, The trick you gave works brilliantly. I hope many will find this very useful. Owen
You seem to be the only person in the universe who has figured out how to do this. Everyone else says "can't be done, go suck eggs." THANK YOU. I'm wondering why it seems to work only with the weird folders that Windows creates inside the <Username> folder - what's different about (e.g.) the Saved Games or My Videos folders? There is no "location" tab when you try this on a folder that you (or another program) created inside the <Username> folder. Any idea?
Very good! Well done Russel. Found some interesting stuff... search google for "user folders restore default location" (cant post a link due to insufficient posts) Maybe this can give one more ideas.
Third company utility Network Recycle Bin Good tip ! But also there is the utility Network Recycle Bin Tool from 1st Security Software Center (just google it). It moves deleted files from network drives to own recycle bin folder. Unlike backup software you can restore a deleted file as it was at the time of deletion.
Your tip is very useful. Also you can use the Network Recycle Bin Tool. It is very useful for us. You can install as a local machine version as a server version on the server side. It will catch deleted network files and copy them to some predefined folder.
Dear Russel, thank you very much for your topic. I've used the method posted on technet with an own "known folder" and it's working like a charm when the network share is available, but I have an issue when it is not available. All clients (Windows 7, 8 and 8.1) do have a big lag on context menus when the "server" is offline or not reachable. When I right-click the first time on My Computer or try to open the context menu of a document in Windows Explorer, it takes 10 to 60 seconds (depends on the client used) to show the context menu. Any ideas or solutions?
That would copy the deleted file to local machine Recycle Bin, right? Which would be far from acceptable... sebus
Strange anomaly Hi Russel, I have followed your excellent guide and it really saved the day for me. The workstation is Win 7 64 and I moved unused "My Music" and "Contacts" across to the two mirrored sets of drives on a Win 2008 R2 server - thus preserving the Recycle Bin option. However, yesterday, about a week after the above moves I discovered a strange anomaly on the server. When accessing the server using Remote Desktop Connection I noticed that Drive C: had 'lost' my web server folder and Drive D 'lost' my master data folder. Strangely, the correctly mapped folders were still visible and running fine when accessed via the workstation. After the panic subsided.... I discovered that each 'missing' folders had mysteriously assumed the name of the moved folder on both drive sets - i.e Web became My Music and Master Data had assumed the identity of Contacts. Cobian Backup is installed on the server and scheduled backups are running fine so it is still seeing the correct paths. I have subsequently renamed the moved folders but that might have been a foolish thing to do, perhaps. Normally the server is considered a hallowed place and system changes are very infrequent and carefully considered. The only change yesterday was upgrading MS OneDrive to 1Tb but it is only backing up a trial dataset at present. I wonder if there are any others who have experienced this phenomenon and would appreciate any guidance. Alternatively a recommendation as to where to ask. I must add that I am a programmer and not greatly experienced in server management!
How can i undo it? hi Rusabus, How can I undo that? I need to do it in a differet folder?? Thanks a lot Juan
I have done this procedure and it did work but, every once in a while after my PC reboots it changes the name of the folder I wanted to protect to "Saved Games" This is a problem because other people on the network have trouble finding the folder until I name back to what it should be. I would like to figure out how to Undo it now?