How to Recover Deleted Files on Windows 11: Recycle Bin, File History, and the Free Microsoft Tool
CodexFuse Team · 2026-10-27T17:11:50.914Z · 9 min read
Deleted a file on Windows 11? Recover it with 6 free methods in order — Recycle Bin, Ctrl+Z, OneDrive, File History, and Microsoft's Windows File Recovery tool.
You just deleted a file on Windows 11 and need it back. The good news is that in most cases the file is not gone yet. Windows moves a normally deleted file to the Recycle Bin first, and even a permanently deleted file can often be pulled back from a backup or with Microsoft's free recovery tool. This guide explains how to recover deleted files on Windows 11 in six steps, from the 30-second Recycle Bin check to the free Windows File Recovery command, and it tells you honestly when a file is probably gone for good. If the file was a photo on your phone instead, the steps are different — see how to recover deleted photos on your phone.
How Do You Recover Deleted Files on Windows 11?
To recover deleted files on Windows 11, check the Recycle Bin first, then press Ctrl+Z in File Explorer, then check the OneDrive recycle bin, File History, and Previous Versions, and finally run Microsoft's free Windows File Recovery tool — in that order, stopping at the first method that works. Trying the quick methods first matters, because the later methods take longer and work less often.
- Check the Recycle Bin and restore the file.
- Press Ctrl+Z in File Explorer to undo a just-made delete.
- Check the OneDrive recycle bin if the file was in a synced folder.
- Restore the file from File History, if it was turned on.
- Restore a previous version of the folder that held the file.
- Run Microsoft's free Windows File Recovery tool.
| Where the file was | Check first | What you need |
|---|---|---|
| Deleted normally from your PC | Recycle Bin | Nothing |
| In a OneDrive folder | Windows Recycle Bin, then the OneDrive recycle bin | Your Microsoft account |
| Deleted with Shift+Delete, or the bin was emptied | File History or Previous Versions | A backup made before the deletion |
| No bin copy and no backup | Windows File Recovery | A second drive to save to |
Why Should You Stop Using the PC First?
Stop saving, downloading, and installing anything on the drive that held the file, because a deleted file's space is marked as free and any new write can overwrite it. Microsoft puts it plainly on its Windows File Recovery support page: if you want to increase your chances of recovering a file, minimize or avoid using your computer, because any use of your computer can create files that may overwrite the freed space at any time. That warning is the single most important step in this whole guide. Do not install a recovery program on the same drive, do not download a big file, and do not keep working in the folder the file came from. If the file was on your C: drive and you only have one drive, do the recovery steps from this article on another device, or install any tool you need onto a USB drive instead.
Method 1: Check the Recycle Bin
Most files you delete from your PC's drive go to the Recycle Bin first, so this is where recovery starts. Double-click Recycle Bin on the desktop. If the icon is not there, press Windows key + S, type Recycle Bin, and open it. Find your file — select the Date Deleted column header to sort by the most recent deletions, or type the name into the search box. The Original Location column shows the folder each item came from. Right-click the file and select Restore, and it returns to its original folder. To restore several files at once, select them while holding Ctrl, then right-click and choose Restore. Restoring from the Recycle Bin is the closest thing Windows has to an undelete button for a file, and it takes about ten seconds.
A file might not be in the Recycle Bin for a few honest reasons. You deleted it with Shift+Delete, which skips the bin entirely. It was too large for the space the Recycle Bin is allowed to use. It came from a USB drive, SD card, or network location — those deletions are usually permanent. The bin was emptied, by you or by Storage Sense, which can remove items on a schedule if you set it to delete files that have been in the bin for a set time under Settings, System, Storage, Storage Sense. Or someone turned on "Don't move files to the Recycle Bin" — check by right-clicking Recycle Bin, selecting Properties, and looking at the settings for each drive. If any of these apply, move on to the next method instead of searching the bin again.
Method 2: Press Ctrl+Z to Undo the Delete
If you just deleted the file and have not done anything else in that folder, press Ctrl+Z in File Explorer right away. That undoes the last delete, and the file reappears where it was. This only works immediately after the delete. It will not work after a restart, or after you have done other file actions such as copying, moving, or renaming files. It is worth trying before anything else because it costs nothing, but if it does not bring the file back, do not press it repeatedly — move on to the next method.
Method 3: Check the OneDrive Recycle Bin
If the file was in a OneDrive folder, such as Desktop or Documents when OneDrive backup is on, it may be in the OneDrive recycle bin instead of the Windows one. A file stored on the PC usually goes to the Windows Recycle Bin too, but an online-only file — one with a cloud icon — does not. It only goes to the OneDrive recycle bin. Go to onedrive.com in a browser and sign in with the same Microsoft account you use on the PC. Select Recycle bin in the left pane, point to the file, select the round check box next to it, then select Restore. The file returns to its OneDrive folder and syncs back to your PC.
Watch the clock here. Files in the OneDrive recycle bin for personal accounts are deleted automatically after 30 days. Work or school accounts keep them for 93 days unless an administrator changed that. Items from your Personal Vault only show up after you unlock it with Show Personal Vault items. Microsoft 365 subscribers can also restore their whole OneDrive to an earlier point, which helps after a large accidental deletion.
Method 4: Restore From File History
File History is the backup that can bring back a file the Recycle Bin no longer has, but only if it was turned on before the file was deleted. It is not on by default, so check first by opening Control Panel, System and Security, File History. If it was on, connect the external drive or network location that holds your File History backups. Press Windows key + S, type Restore your files with File History, and open it. Browse to the folder that held the file, use the arrows at the bottom to move back to an older backup, and check the date and time at the top to confirm you are looking at a backup from before the deletion. Select the file, then select the green Restore button. To save it somewhere else instead, right-click the green button and choose Restore to. If a file with the same name already exists in the folder, Windows asks whether to replace it, skip it, or compare the two.
If File History was never turned on, this method cannot help with this file — it cannot restore files deleted before it started backing up. Turn it on now with an external drive anyway, so the next accident has a safety net.
Method 5: Restore a Previous Version of the Folder
The Previous Versions tab lists saved copies of a folder from File History backups and, on some PCs, from restore points. Open File Explorer with Windows key + E, right-click the folder that held the file, and select Properties. Open the Previous Versions tab, pick a version from before the file was deleted, and select Open to look inside it. Then copy the file you need to a safe location, such as your Desktop. Avoid the plain Restore button on this tab unless you want the whole folder rolled back — restoring in place replaces the current folder and cannot be undone. Restore to saves the old version in a different place instead.
If no previous versions are available, Windows has no usable saved version of that folder to offer. One warning that saves people a wasted afternoon: System Restore does not recover deleted personal documents. It rolls back system files and settings, not your files. If you used the older Backup and Restore (Windows 7) tool in Control Panel, open it and choose Restore my files instead.
Method 6: Use Microsoft's Free Windows File Recovery Tool
When no recycle bin or backup holds the file, Microsoft's free Windows File Recovery app can sometimes get it back from internal drives, external drives, and USB drives. It does not work for cloud storage or network shares. It runs from a command line, so type the commands carefully. Install Windows File Recovery from the Microsoft Store — and remember the first rule of this guide: installing an app writes to the C: drive, so if the lost file was on C:, save nothing else there afterward. Connect a second drive to save the results to, such as a USB flash drive or an external drive, because the source and destination must be different drives.
Press the Windows key, type Windows File Recovery, open it, and select Yes when asked for permission. A Command Prompt window opens. Type a command in this format: winfr source-drive: destination-drive: [/mode] [/switches]. To look for Word and PDF files on C: and save them to E:, type winfr C: E: /regular /n *.docx /n *.pdf. To look for everything that was in your Documents folder, use winfr C: E: /regular /n \Users\YourName\Documents\ with your own user folder name, keeping the backslash at the end of a folder path. To search by part of a name, use wildcards, such as /n *invoice*. Enter Y to start. Recovered files go into a folder called Recovery_ followed by the date and time, on the destination drive. Open the recovered files to make sure they work before you rely on them.
| File system | Situation | Mode to use |
|---|---|---|
| NTFS | Deleted recently | Regular |
| NTFS | Deleted a while ago | Extensive |
| NTFS | After formatting a disk | Extensive |
| NTFS | A corrupted disk | Extensive |
| FAT and exFAT | Any situation | Extensive |
Use /regular for files recently deleted from an NTFS drive, which is what most PC drives use, and /extensive for older deletions, formatted or corrupted drives, and FAT or exFAT drives such as SD cards and many USB sticks. If you are not sure, start with Regular. If Regular mode finds nothing, try again in Extensive mode. If the destination drive fills up mid-recovery, Windows File Recovery will ask you to free up drive space on it before resuming — if that happens, free up disk space on Windows 11 on the destination drive first, then choose Resume. Depending on the size of your source drive, recovery may take a while, and Extensive mode takes longer than Regular. To stop the recovery, press Ctrl+C.
How Do You Recover Shift Deleted Files?
Shift+Delete skips the Recycle Bin, so a file deleted that way has no bin copy to restore. Go straight to File History or Previous Versions, and if neither has it, try Windows File Recovery in Regular mode first, then Extensive mode. The same applies to a file deleted from a USB drive or SD card, which also skips the bin — Windows File Recovery in Extensive mode is the method to try, saving the results to a different drive. Be honest with yourself about the odds: recovery may not work, especially once an SSD has cleared the space the deleted file used. SSDs often clear freed space soon after the delete, so speed matters more on an SSD than on a hard drive. If the file is irreplaceable and the first attempts fail, stop trying — repeated scans and writes lower the odds further.
When Should You Stop and Call a Professional?
Stop and get professional recovery help instead of making repeated attempts in three situations: the drive is failing or making clicking sounds, the drive is not detected by Windows at all, or the file is irreplaceable and the free methods have already failed. A failing drive gets worse with every power-on, and a do-it-yourself scan can finish the job a specialist could still have saved. Also, never use a factory reset as a recovery method — it wipes the drive and destroys what is left to recover. A factory reset Windows 11 is a last resort for a PC you are giving away or rebuilding, not a way to get a file back.
How to Avoid Losing Files Next Time
Turn on File History with an external drive, or set up a regular backup, so a deleted file has somewhere to come back from. Use OneDrive folder backup for Desktop, Documents, and Pictures, so deleted files land in the OneDrive recycle bin as well. Keep the Recycle Bin on, check it before you empty it, and read the Storage Sense settings before you turn it on, so it does not empty the bin sooner than you expect. The same back-up-first rule applies to your phone — back up your phone before you delete anything from it, because a phone with no backup has no Recycle Bin to fall back on. A backup you set up once quietly saves you from the next accidental delete.
Sources
- Microsoft Support — Windows File Recovery (winfr syntax, Regular vs Extensive modes, the different-drive rule, and the minimize-use warning) — support.microsoft.com
- SolveYourTech — How to Find and Recover Deleted Files on Windows 11 (method order, OneDrive 30-day and 93-day retention, File History steps, Storage Sense, Windows 10 end of support on October 14, 2025) — solveyourtech.com
- HP — How to Recover Deleted Files in Windows 10 (Now 11) (act fast, Recycle Bin restore steps) — hp.com
- AllThings.how — How to Recover Deleted Files on Windows 11 (File History, Windows File Recovery command examples, third-party tools) — allthings.how
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I recover a file after emptying the Recycle Bin?
Sometimes. Try File History, Previous Versions, or Windows File Recovery. The sooner you try, the better your chances, because new files can overwrite the space the deleted file used.
How long do files stay in the Recycle Bin?
Files stay until you empty the bin or it runs out of space. Storage Sense can also delete them on a schedule if you turned that setting on.
Is File History turned on by default?
No. You have to turn it on in Control Panel, System and Security, File History, and choose a drive. It cannot restore files deleted before it started backing up.
Does Windows File Recovery work on an SSD?
It can, but results are less likely. SSDs often clear the space a deleted file used soon after the delete, so act quickly and keep using the drive as little as possible.
Can I recover files deleted from a USB drive?
Usually not through the Recycle Bin, because deletions from USB drives skip it. Try Windows File Recovery in Extensive mode, saving the results to a different drive. If the drive is failing or not detected, stop and get professional help.