Windows 10: Documents folder is empty upon restart/update

The problem started about a month ago when windows updated. At that point I was able to find the missing documents under "this PC/c:/users/username/documents". I copied and pasted the documents back to the primary locations; "this PC/documents". The computer updated and restarted again a week later. The files were now gone completely. I ran both Recuva and Recoverit and found ghosts of the files but all files were overwritten and destroyed. I was able to restore the most important files from backups, but lost most of my documents.


Today it happened again. Computer had restarted overnight. I logged in and the computer was acting like a brand new computer. All of my files are gone again. This time I was running OneDrive and didn't permanently lose anything.


The strange thing is my Download folder found at "This PC/C:/Users/username/Downloads" has all of the original content in it. The only thing different is that I did not move the content of this folder back to the standard location.


I have scanned for viruses, shut off auto-updates through regedit, and am ready to give up on Windows entirely and go buy a Mac.


What is going on!?!

:)

 

Downloads folder is the Documents folder

Hi Chris,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community.

I suggest you to Restore to Default the folders and document settings and see if it helps.

Step 1:

Please follow below steps and check if it helps.

• Go to Download folder.
• Right click on the Download Folder and go to Properties.
• In Properties go to Location tab.
• In location Tab Click on Restore Default.

Step 2:

Please follow below steps and check if it helps.

• Go to Documents folder.
• Right click on the Document folder and go to Properties.
• In Properties go to Location tab.
• In location Tab Click on Restore Default.

After performing above steps change the settings as you required and check if it helps.

Hope these information helps, please get back to us for future support, we’ll be glad to assist you further.

Thank you.

 

Multiple 'Documents' folders under 'This PC'

Hi,

Thank you for your interest in Windows 10.

This may happen if one the “documents” folder has been stored on different target location.

Follow the methods below and check if it helps:

Method 1

I suggest that you check both the folders location where they are saved using the below method:

• 
  Right-click on any one documents folder and then click Properties.
  
• 
  Click the Location tab, click Restore Default, and then click Apply and OK.
  
• 
  Check what happens, try these step on all the documents folder.
  

Method 2

If the above step fails then try checking the target location of both the folders by using the find target option:

• 
  Right-click on any one documents folder and then click Properties.
  
• 
  Click the Location tab, click Find target.
  
• 
  Check where the target location of both the folders is and check if any one goes to the user name location and later delete the one which goes to wrong location.
  

Hope this information is helpful. Please do let us know if you need further assistance, we’ll be glad to assist you.

 

Documents/Pictures folders under 'This PC' refer to onedrive - not the local folders

Since the only folder that has incorrect file path is the Documents folder under This PC, we would suggest you do the same steps provided above. However, do it in your Documents folder under This PC. To do so, kindly follow the steps below:

• Open File Explorer
• Click This PC
• Right-click on Documents
• Click Properties
• Click Location
• Click Restore Default
• Click Apply
• Click OK

Also, we would like to inform you that "winhelponline.com" is not associated with Microsoft.

Let us know how it goes.