How to Enable or Disable Confirm File Delete Popup in Windows 10 1

How to Enable or Disable Confirm File Delete Popup in Windows 10

Windows 10 includes multiple safety and security features to help you avoid deletion of your data due to accidental clicks and presses. So as soon as you select a file/folder and press the Delete button on the keyboard, you will see a popup to confirm the deletion. So, how can I disable this confirmation dialog?

The popup always says ‘Are you sure you want to move this file/folder/shortcut to Recycle Bin?’ he asks. with two options — Yes and No. This is how Windows works to help users avoid accidentally deleting important files. Knowledgeable users know better and will only be frustrated by this behavior. If you’re part of this group, you’ll be happy to know that Windows has thankfully offered a way to turn these confirmation messages off.

On the other hand, some Windows users want this feature back in Windows 10, which is disabled by default.

Let’s start.

1. Enable or Disable Delete Confirmation Dialog from Settings

Stage 1: Locate the Recycle Bin on your desktop and right-click to select Properties. You will also find the Recycle Bin in File Explorer (Windows key+E shortcut).

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Step 2: You can easily enable or disable it by checking/unchecking ‘Display deletion confirmation dialog’. Click Apply and OK to save the changes.

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Did you notice that there is another option to bypass the Recycle Bin completely when deleting a file? Checking this will remove the file immediately, so only use the file if needed.

2. Enable or Disable Delete Confirmation Dialog Using Registry Editor

Registry Editor is available in all versions of Windows, including Home Edition. Registry Editor is difficult to edit and therefore you should make a backup before proceeding with this solution.

Stage 1: Open the start menu and search for Registry Editor. Click Run as administrator to open with appropriate rights.

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Step 2: Navigate to the following folder structure.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Note: If a folder is missing, you can right-click the parent folder to create a new subfolder. For example, if the Explorer folder is missing, right-click on Policies and choose New > Key and name it that. In the Registry Editor, the folders are called Keys and the files inside are called Values. To make it easier for our readers to understand and follow the steps, we call them folders and files.

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Stage 3: Open ‘ConfirmFileDelete’ in the right window pane. If it’s missing or you’ve just created the required folders, right-click anywhere on the right to select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value and name it accordingly.

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Step 4: Double-click the ConfirmFileDelete file to open it and set the value to 1. Save the changes. Check if you still get the delete confirmation dialog when you press the Del button on the keyboard.

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3. Enable or Disable Delete Confirmation Dialog in Group Policy Editor

Unlike Registry Editor, Group Policy Editor or GPE is only available in Windows Pro and Enterprise editions. If the above share does not work or does not work in a company with a corporate server setup, you can apply this method. Second, it will allow you, as the system administrator, to apply these settings on all or a group of computers connected to the server. If in doubt, talk to your supervisor.

Stage 1: Search for Group Policy Editor in the start menu and open it. You will be asked for administrator rights. Please allow me.

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Step 2: Examine the folder structure below.

User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\File Explorer
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Find the ‘Display confirmation dialog when deleting files’ entry in the right window pane and double-click on the same to open it.

Stage 3: Select Enabled radio in the popup below to enable the delete confirmation dialog and Disable to disable it. Don’t forget to click Apply to save the changes before closing the popup.

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delete in windows

Now that you know why Windows is giving you the confirmation popup, you can deal with it however you want. If you want to bypass the confirmation message, hold down the Shift key and then delete the files directly from your computer. Fortunately, even if you accidentally delete something, it can be easily recovered from the trash or directly deleted. There are file recovery apps on the web like Recuva that help with the process. However, these applications work better on HDDs because SSDs work differently. So always keep this in mind when deleting files directly or from the Recycle Bin.

Next: Did you know that Microsoft comes with a built-in file recovery tool? Click the link below to learn everything you need to know about it.