Windows 10: Files and folders were deleted from "Downloads" folder after selecting "Compress your OS...

I selected the "Compress your OS drive" option in "Disk Clean-up" after which a lot of data got deleted from the "Downloads" & "Documents" folders.

Then i found the option "Compress this drive to save disk space" was already selected on the C: Drive, so unchecked it after which the data in "Documents" folder got restored.

But the data in "Downloads" folder was not restored.

Can some one please help me, i spoke to a Microsoft engineer by calling their support line. But he was not able to help me.

I have Win10 Pro installed on a Samsung SSD.

:)

 

Trouble deleting a folder

Thanks for the suggestion but it says "delete folder failed for E:\....." for each folder I try.

*Confused

Will I be forever stuck with these unnecessary folders? *Oh Well hwell:

 

Trouble deleting a folder

Download norton commander for windows and try it. I`m using it for deleting those autorun.inf virus files that stuck to the USB drives or second non system partition. If no file is used from windows folder NC should erase it easy. And there is Hiren`s boot disk that you can download it is bootable and has volkov commander on it similar to NC and it runs in DOS and it will delete windows folder 100%. Or you can make USB stick bootable and use deltree command.

 

Removing Windows.old folder

I recently had to reinstall my OS (don't ask). Once I did there were files that I couldn't delete. Basically SecuROM files. Anyway long story short I found this workaround that I wanted to share with my fellow newbs. This will work for any file and works like a charm. Just follow the directions. *Toast :toast:
Note: there is no space between "Administrators: (F)" I just had to but one in because it kept giving me an "unhappy face"

When installing Windows Vista, Windows stores any existing installation of Windows on the install partition inside a hidden folder called windows.old. This folder could take up a large amount of disk space.

Note: Please check the contents of the windows.old folder before deleting it to make sure there are no files stored there that you may wish to keep.

Deleting the window.old folder using the disk cleanup wizard
Click start
Type: disk cleanup
Press enter
Select "Files from all users on this computer"
Follow the rest of the instructions listed on the wizard and select the option to delete the windows.old folder
Deleting the windows.old folder manually
1) Open an elevated command prompt

Click start
Type: cmd
right-click it under programs
click Run As Administrator
2) Take ownership


Change the directory to the windows.old folder (e.g. cd c:\windows.old)
Type: takeown /F . /A /R /D Y > NUL
3) grant yourself permission

Type: icacls . /grant:r Administrators: (F) /T /L /Q
4) Delete everything

Make sure you close any explorer or command windows that are looking at or inside the windows.old folder (except for the command window you are using). If you don't, you will receive an error while performing this step.

Type: cd ..
Type: rmdir /S /Q windows.old