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Windows 10 Update deleted some of my Desktop folders, how to get them back?

Anonymous
2019-08-18T17:51:23+00:00

Hello,

On Thursday 15th I was playing Hearthstone in the Battle Net app, when I exited, my most vital files and folders on the desktop were gone, I was unable to find any of the missing files/folders - not a single one (!!!) using Search in Explorer, or 4 different recovery programs.

It's like they never existed. And it's vital I get them back.

When that happened, I had the Windows 10 update lined up and the backup for it already created in the Windows.old folder, but without the missing files (the Desktop folder was empty). My best guess is that the files were deleted automatically to make space for the update and the backup because before that I had about 15GB of free space and afterwards it was about 100GB. I'm positive this was the case as the deleted folders started with # and A (they had roughly around 100GB of data in them), the rest of the alphabethically ordered folders remained. 

I've been running recovery software in my free time since then, now I'm out of options.

To sum up:

- the files / folders were clearly deleted as there was an additional free space afterward so they are not on the disc anymore

- not the whole Desktop was deleted, a majority of my files and folders are still there

- I tried restarting couple of times

- I tried creating a new User profile with Admin - still nothing showed up

- I tried various recovery software which found absolutely nothing of the missing folders / files ever existing before

Does Microsoft have any on-site experts I can visit in my city?

Please help, the files are very important to me.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Windows update

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-10-09T13:46:52+00:00

    Hi, sadly no solutions worked for me. I'm still pretty outraged that MS sells a product that can just take someone's data away without even so much as a notice (I didn't ask for the update that did it, btw!). There's a ton of things that require Admin confirmation on every step if a user wants to do something but that apparently doesn't mean anything when MS decides to tamper with our data.

    A lesson? Backup everything frequently, leave as little stuff in the Desktop directory as possible. Don't trust MS.

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-08-20T12:30:37+00:00

    Hi expert,

    I have the same problem, my folders are missing since last nights update. I read your suggestions and none of those would work for me. What other solutions do you recommend?

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-08-29T21:50:44+00:00

    did you ever find a solution? as of right now i quit using the laptop that was updated to prevent further loss of data, im planning to buy a copy of recovery software called r studio, i tried the demo version and it found my files on the hard drive, but unfortunately i didnt have the cash to buy it just yet. I am very frustrated and dissapointed in microsoft as well, seems like ever since weve had win10 it has been nothing but problems, now it seems we can trust windows to watch videos and play solitaire and thats about it

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-08-20T11:43:01+00:00

    Hello Andre,

    Thank you for the support so far.

    Unfortunately I have no backup available that would contain the files I lost.

    I will try to backup more often now but I would also like to know why they disappeared in the first place as I have lost faith in Microsoft, seeing that my files can be taken away at any time without warning. Is there any way to reach out to the developers to shed some light on this? If we know how the files disappeared maybe it'll be easier to prevent it in the future.

    One more thing comes to my mind, actually. If the files don't show up in any recovery programs, maybe they haven't been normally deleted but removed in some other fashion. In that case, only the developers might know.

    Thanks.

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  5. Anonymous
    2019-08-18T18:30:36+00:00

    Hi Tomas

    My name is Andre Da Costa; an Independent Consultant, Windows Insider MVP and Windows & Devices for IT MVP. I'm here to help you with your problem.

    I am concerned about the part where you mentioned you had "the backup for it already created in the Windows.old folder, but without the missing files (the Desktop folder was empty)."

    Were you saving files to Windows.old folder by any chance?

    Setup would not create Windows.old until after a successful installation.

    Also, you need to clarify what was installed:

    Was it a new version of Windows 10 - Feature Update?

    or

    Was it a regular update for Windows 10 - Cumulative Update?

    Cumulative updates don't delete data and are not major enough to make any destructive modifications.

    If you performed a feature update, then your files would remain in their current location and Windows folder swapped out for the new version. Files you had on the desktop, shortcuts, should all be where they are.

    Only case is where you might have been logged into a corrupt user profile.

    If that were the case, then files should be in your account under a folder in C:\Users

    Have you looked there?

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