Windows 10: Empty Users Folder after trying to access SSD as secondary on new PC

Hello everyone,

I recently got a new PC and the first time I tried to access my old Users Folder it was empty. Now at the old PC, it's still empty (Windows is populating automatically with public).

Giving more context, I have 1 SSD with the old system and 1TB HDD with the Users Folder (which is 10yo).
The new system is in a new SSD naturally.

Things that I've tried:
- Show hidden files
- Scanned with Malwarebytes and ADWcleaner
- Check if I'm in a temp user (this happened some weeks ago, my start menu was broken I had to logout the temp)
- Checked permissions / encrypt
**Now, these last two tries below in my opinion are close to the solution somehow**
- I can't access my controlled folder access, I enabled with regedit and gpedit BUT I still can't access...
- I ran the EaseUS data recovery and not a single file from my old Users folder appeared. Seems like IT'S STILL ALIVE somehow but I don't have the access apparently

Another thing that could have some blame, I was having some problems with the pagefile.sys it was huge (9GB in a 256 SSD), now it's gone but it wasn't respecting the configured size.

I think that't all, thanks in advance.

winver= 1903

:)

 

Error Access Denied while acessing the folders from User> AppData folders on Windows 10

Hi,

Welcome to Microsoft Community and thank you for posting. We appreciate your interest in Windows 10.

I understand the inconvenience you are facing with access files and folders.

Do let us know the complete error code/ error message of this issue?

As you have tried with providing the permissions to each folder and issue persists after the restart, try the below and check if it helps.

Step 1: Try to disable the third party anti-virus software if installed any and check.

Step 2: As, as a work around, I suggest you to enable the built-in administrator account and check if this issue persists.

Steps to enable Built-in administrator.

• • Press Windows + X key together on your desktop screen.
  • Click on Command Prompt (admin) to open Command Prompt.
    
  • Type the following command and hit Enter:

• net user administrator /active: yes (Check for the spaces)

　　　4. Now log off from the current user and try to login to the administrator account that is enabled.　　

Note: Please follow the same steps and type net user administrator /active: no to disable admin account after the troubleshooting is done.　

Step 3: I suggest you to refer to the below Microsoft article with 3-diffrent issues related to accessing the files and folders and check if it helps.

"Access Denied" or other errors when you access or work with files and folders in Windows

(Applies to Windows 10 as well)

Hope this information helps. Reply to the post with an updated status of the issue to assist you further.

 

Setting New Location Of User Folder to another User Folder

Hi Renee,

Having an easy access to the Desktop folder can give you a convenience on opening your files. Regarding your concern about the Desktop folder that was moved to the Downloads section, we recommend that you create a new local user or administrator account to
resolve the issue.

To create a local user or administrator account, follow the steps listed on this
link.

In addition, to move your files from the Downloads folder back to the Desktop folder, we suggest that you manually copy and paste the files to avoid any data loss.

Feel free to post back if you need more help.

 

Quick Access not searching Pictures folder

Summary, that last suggestion didn't work.

• I moved the pictures to another folder temporarily.

• Then I tried to remove the Pictures folder with option one at Add or Remove Folders from This PC in Windows 10 | Windows 10 Tutorials. Even after rebooting, the Pictures folder remained.
• So I tried using option two. Same thing: reboot >> Pictures folder still there.

• Since there were no troubleshooting steps for this scenario, just for the heck of it, I ran through the restore steps. Copied some pictures into the Pictures folder, ran a Quick Access search and initial problem remains: Searching all of QA doesn't find any files in Pictures folder, running search on just the Pictures folder does. I want to run a global search and find matching files in any/all of the Documents, Music, Videos, and Pictures folders.

That article dates from 2015 and I'm guessing is out of date. I hope it didn't create potential future problems in my registry.

Bottom line: I'm still looking for a fix.