Every time Windows 10 Updates, it deletes all saved desktop icons, clears my taskbar, deletes all my saved favorites, passwords, and more!

Question

Every time my PC updates my desktop  wallpaper goes back to default, and all saved icons, favorites, passwords, etc are gone. Every. Single. Time. This is getting tiring and I'm losing so much time at work saving my icons again, paswords, etc. What is going on? Also keeps changing my default printer even when the box is left un-checked, when the computer updates and restarts the box will be checked. Its almost as if the computer is set back to default after every update. Please help. I've tried quite a few things to fix and no luck.

Answer 1

I had a similar problem with only a temp account available and no way to log into my main logon account, as I have a full image backup, I decided to see if I could solve my issues.

1: 1st time I managed to roll back the update., everything appeared to be back to normal. Ran the usual Windows repair tools and they found no problems with the window installation, files or system.

2: Tried to re-install the update and same condition, however a second user account I had created previously worked.

3: Once again Recovered the partition from my backup (about 6 minutes)  

4: Downloaded the update directly to the drive and tried installing it.

5: Same problem, could not log into main account, only a temp account showed up with default almost blank desktop and an error message about logging out and back in to fix the problem etc. 

At this point I tried everything suggested on the net, editing the reg, powering on / off etc, all  made no difference, in the end the admin account went south followed by the user account. 

My fix:

1: I again recovered the partition from my backup - so back to square 1, ran the usual Windows repair tools again and they found no problems with the window installation, files or system.

2: Downloaded the latest Windows 10 ISO.

3: Mounted the ISO, let it get updates first and then did a Repair, selected keep all my files and settings (including installed applications and settings). 

4: Perfect, the only program I had to reinstall was Acronis true image as it crashed if I tried to do a backup, reinstall of Acronis fixed the problem. I have a lot of programs and a programming environment, everything went back to normal, desktop resolution and all settings restored.

And it's now running with the latest problem update installed.   

EDIT:  My Administrator and default user accounts are now restored and working normally again in the users file system.  

My take:  

As I was digging into the USER accounts and security settings, it became apparent that even before the update, there was some inconsistencies in the system when compared to a second Win 10 PC.

I believe that over the past two years, the user account sections of my Windows 10 PRO 64 bit install had become compromised, either due to earlier window updates or during the trial of certain programs. 

This may be why this update is causing problems with some users, an underlying glitch in their Windows system, one that does not show under normal Windows diagnostics.  

EDIT:  A repair is initiated by running setup from the Windows ISO. The wording seem to change in various articles, some call it a Repair / Reset but a Reset is different.  When asked to download important updates before the Repair proceeds, do so. Before the repair starts there is a small clickable text area asking you to "Change what to keep" , select "Keep personal files apps and Windows settings".

Answer 2

that's great but if your telling me that the problems are fixed there not. all of my apps do not respond. my email is only available through the internet and the list is long

Answer 3

that's great but if your telling me that the problems are fixed there not. all of my apps do not respond. my email is only available through the internet and the list is long  

I don't believe I said that?  And I did write "update is causing problems with some users" so most users have no problems.

What I also said was that in my case it worked for the specific problem of "Windows keeps logging you into a temporary account" with all apps and settings missing AFTER installing the KB4532693 update. Lot of users having this problem - and only this problem.  As mentioned in earlier posts, some are pointing the finger at some Anti Virus software upsetting the KB4532693 update, so their appears to be a number of conditions that can cause the Account policy upgrade that happens as part of this latest update to fail. 

If a windows rollback or a repair via the Win ISO does not fix the problem, then IMHO, you really have only one option left to try if you want to continue using the Windows OS, something appears to be seriously broken in your case. Unfortunately that option sucks and again, just IMHO.

Answer 4

I assume you're running Win10 1903 or 1909, and just installed the February 2020 cumulative update.

By any chance, are any of the afflicted machines running Avira or AVG?

It's been implicated in the bug.

Best solution so far is to uninstall the buggy cumulative update, KB4532693. Details to follow.

We run hp and dell laptops and norton av. Her computer restore by uninstalling the updates but in beginning april different updates brought back temp profile issue. My dell never resolved the temp profile issue. Stupid me expected Microsoft to release a Fixit patch since they caused the issue I have tried every fix on my dell registry edits new keys, copy folders into other folder command line user tricks with hidden admin account..no help.

Answer 5

One thing I've noticed all my affected machines have in common is I'd deleted their recovery partition at some point (not smart.) That probably made Windows think it's doing a reimage and pave over my desktop settings. Just a guess.