Reset My PC With "Keep My Files" Removed Files From Downloads Folder

Hi

Thanks for your reply.

I know you're still having trouble recovering your files. It's indeed strange that your files from the Desktop, Documents, and Pictures folders were not preserved, as the "Reset this PC" option with "Keep my files" should leave these folders intact.

In regards to the Downloads folder, when you use a data recovery tool, it's indeed possible that the tool can recover files that were deleted before the system reset, but not the ones deleted during the reset. This is because the data recovery tool works by looking for files in the system that are marked as deleted but have not yet been overwritten by new data. However, during a system reset, it's possible that some files were immediately overwritten, which would make them unrecoverable.

As for your Desktop, Documents, and Pictures folders, these files should have remained in their original locations after the reset. If they're not there, it's possible that they were moved to a different location during the reset. You could try doing a system-wide search for one of the missing files to see if it turns up in a different location.

Finally, if you're still unable to recover your files and they are crucial, you might want to consider a professional data recovery service. They may have more advanced tools and techniques for recovering lost data. However, please note that this can be quite expensive and there's still no guarantee that they'll be able to recover all your files.

Hi

Welcome to Microsoft community.

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. When you use the "Reset this PC" feature with the "Keep my files" option, it preserves your personal data files, but only those located in the user folders such as Desktop, Documents, and Pictures. It does not keep files in the Downloads folder, as this is often used for temporary files.

As for recovering your lost files, you may try the following options:

1. File History: If you had File History enabled and were backing up your Downloads folder, you might be able to restore your files from there. Go to Settings > Update & Security > Backup > More options > Restore files from a current backup.
2. Windows.old folder: After a system reset, Windows sometimes creates a Windows.old folder which contains old system files and may include your personal files. Check if this folder exists in your system drive (usually C: drive).
3. Data Recovery Software: There are several third-party data recovery tools that might be able to recover your files. Please note that the effectiveness of these tools can vary and there's no guarantee they'll be able to recover all your files.
4. Professional Data Recovery Service: If the files are extremely important, you might want to consider a professional data recovery service. These services can be costly, but they often have more advanced methods for recovering data.

It's always a good idea to back up important files regularly to an external drive or cloud storage to prevent data loss.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any further updates, thanks.

Best regards

Derrick Qian | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Thank you for your response. I had already tried option 3, but when I did so it seemed that not a single one of the files appeared that got erased by the "Reset this PC". Strangely, files that I had fully deleted from my recycle bin prior to using this feature did appear. I assumed that the "Reset this PC" rewrote over or deleted the files in my download folder more directly. Since you suggested this as an option though, was this not the case? I am willing to investigate this option further if you believe that it has merit.

I tried to look at option 1 and 2, but it seems that my file history not enabled or it got lost in the reset, and the subfolders within the Windows.old folder in option 2 were essentially empty.

I also appear to have lost all my files in my desktop, documents, and pictures folder, however. These files were signifigantly less important than the ones in my downloads folder, but it would be nice to have these again. Where can I find these files that were intended to be saved? Or were they supposed to just remain within those folders following the "Reset my PC"? Thank you again.