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C:/windows/system32/config/desktop is unavailable

Anonymous
2020-08-13T23:34:34+00:00

Hi

As I logged off last night i was notified of a Windows update.

I logged back on this morning and the system has tried to log me on as a different user. I restarted the pc and the screen flashed with Hi, pc is completing updates, don’t turn off your pc.

After 6 hours of screen flashing the same message, i tried to restart.

now that i’ve restart, the pc logs in and brings up an error. C:/windows/system/config/desktop is unavailable.

This appears ona black screen and flashes. No other buttons can be pressed.

Can you please assist?

Shayne

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Windows update

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-08-14T00:03:05+00:00

    Hi and thanks for reaching out. My name is William. I'm a Windows technical expert. I'll be happy to help you out today.

    You can try to fix by created the required path in C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\desktop. You will need to be an administrator. Just use file explorer to navigate as far as you can into the path and create the required subfolder until you have the entire path and restart.

    Note, the path is C:\Windows\System32, not C:\Windows\system as you eluded to in your post.

    10 people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2020-08-14T00:39:41+00:00

    You can press Windows key + R to open Run box and type explorer to open file explorer.

    If that does not work, you can try to do it from Safe Mode. There are several way to start safe mode, see here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12376/...

    Finally, if none of those work, start Windows in Recovery Mode go to Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt and use the make directory command to create the missing folder. From here, you would perform the following commands (press Enter after each line):

    Change to system drive:

    C:
mkdir Windows\system32\config\systemprofile\Desktop

    Restart when done, restart.

    Here is more graphical guide: https://www.wintips.org/fix-windows-system32-co...

    7 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2020-08-14T00:26:40+00:00

    Hi

    With the flashing error screen I am unable to access file explorer.

    Is there another method?

    Thanks

    5 people found this answer helpful.
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