Windows 10: I removed an admin user account on windows 10 and my files have disappeared

Hello,


I know many have asked this before. so here it goes

I have 2 admin accounts on my windows 10, so I deleted one, it turned out to be the one with all my data,

now
I have a clean slate, no files


and to top it with a cherry there is no restore point


how can I retrieve my folders and files?


Thank you

:)

 

Remove account

I suggest you backup your personalized files first before removing the account.
To delete an account, follow these steps:

1. Press WIN + X keys and click Command Prompt (Admin) from the menu.
2. Type the following command and press Enter. Replace test with the name of your sister's account. Code:

 

My admin account switched to a user account!

The first of the many diagrams in this thread show that the link Sign in with a local account instead is displayed for the account that is currently logged on and so the reversion procedure might work for this account. For normal circumstances, that would initiate the conversion back to a local account for the user account currently logged in - see my 23rd & 26th September 2016 posts in revert to local account from one converted to MSAccount. I have no way of knowing how Windows will react to an attempt to use this procedure for the Built-In Admin account and I do not know if that link Sign in with a local account instead will be displayed or not.

I think I side-stepped this issue by suggesting that that

• An extra password-protected Admin level account is created, and
• The Built-In Admin is disabled, and
• The recovery attempt focuses on whichever existing user account remains active afterwards.

Personally, I would reinstall Windows 10 without even attempting this recovery. Installation takes very little effort once everything is backed up and the only necessary user interactions are right at the start & right at the end so it can be initiated before making a pot of tea. It took about 30, 60 & 90 minutes for each of my computers [the 30 minuter is 6 months old, the 60 minuter is 7 years old, 90 minuter is 12 years old].

Raner - I am trying to avoid sounding like I am nagging you into doing a clean install.

• Once you have recovered the existing user account you can attempt to re-enable & remove the MSAccount link from your Built-In Admin if that link appears in Settings, Accounts.
• Bree says it cannot be done and I think the same but I have never tried - I have never been able to get to Settings using the Built-In Admin because it cannot run any Windows 10 Apps so I do not know how it can be done [but the diagrams in Bree's link shows that those users got there].
• Even though I have the safety of having created two spare password-protected Admin accounts I would not want to know that my Built-In Admin was sitting in the background but unable to help me if my other accounts were corrupted.

Denis

 

My user account set to admin but I have 'insufficient priviledges'...

It sounds as though the installer is not acting correctly. It ought to bring up this dialog



in order for you to invoke your Admin status.

Is that not happening? If not then there is something wrong with the installer. You could force it by right-clicking on it & selecting Run as Admin but that would not change the fact that the installer was at fault.

Do note that an Admin user is initially only logged in with Standard status. It takes that dialog to invoke Admin permission for that task and that task only [if you later have another task that needs to use Admin status then it must call for it again]. That's how Windows handles things.

If this does not resolve your problem then please post a screenshot of the error message you see.


Here's a set of screenshot instructions & tutorials. I think the first one is the most relevant to the current issue.

A basic guide to using the Snipping tool - TenForums

Take a screenshot- TenForumsTutorials
Take a screen snip with Snip and Sketch - TenForumsTutorials
Steps Recorder - TenForumsTutorials

and for photos How to tidy up computer screen photo - TenForums

How to upload and post screenshots and files - TenForumsTutorials
How to remove a screenshot or image from a TenForums post - TenForumsTutorials

How to post a screenshot of Disk management - TenForumsTutorials


Denis