Windows has been corrupted

Question

Hello,

I am a user of Windows 10, I have faced this issue a couple of times before but this time it seems unsolvable.

So basically when ik turned my laptop on, I noticed the lock screen background had been turned to the default pictures. Moreover, when I tried to sign in to my device my profile pic was empty. And when I signed in after a couple of mins, the whole preferences were gone. My background, windows color taskbar, and all were reset to default.

All my apps were still installed but I have been kicked out of my accounts.

before today, this happened to me 2 to 3 times but when I restarted my device all would go back to normal.

However, this time no matter how many times I restarted the problem wasn't fixed.

I have tried signing in to my Microsoft account, and I have been successful. but the preferences or data won't recover and I am still stuck with windows that seem new and blank.

I also checked update histories but there isn't any record of updating for the past few days.

Thank you for your help.

Answer 1

Hi, I am Dave, I will help you with this.

From your description of the problem, you are logged into a temporary account.

Before you do anything or move any files around

Restart (not shut down) your PC 4 times, each time let your PC get to the Desktop before the next restart, this will fix this issue a lot of the time.

Otherwise:

Open Windows File Explorer

Navigate to C:\Users

Do you see two user folders that look like yours?

Open those folders and check inside Pictures, Documents... etc. and see if your files are there

If your files are there:

NOTE VERY IMPORTANT: Do Not copy your files into the Temporary profile you are currently in, when the situation is corrected, your files will be deleted with the Temporary Profile and will not be recoverable !!

Create a new user profile with Admin privileges

Log into the new user profile

Copy all your data from the old profile to the new profile (Documents Library, Pictures Library... etc.)