Windows 10: Lost Desktop Files

Omg guys i have experience the same thing!! Can anyone out there help us?

 

It happens to me as well. your folders and files are still dere in ur system. all what you need to do is to go to to Drive C, thats the partition where your OS is installed. go to Users, then from there navigate your document, desktop, picture, videos, downloads and music. You will see your files there.

In the case of the cause of this problem, its not yet gotten as am stl loking for a way out.

 

I am experiencing the same thing BUT, thankfully, I can browse to the desktop and see everything in explorer. A pain yes and now (after several weeks) have time to fix it. I remember someone showing multiple desktops to me and just figured I had the wrong one
displayed but didn't know how to switch back. I'm hoping it is that easy.

 

This process sort of worked for me. I upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10. Freaked out because all my desktop files were gone, but I went into C:\USERS\USERNAME\DESKTOP and found the files and moved them to my desktop. But then none of my applications were working, so I restarted my computer and it deleted everything again! (It must not have been done downloading. After seeing this, I tried ShadowExplorer and found all my files under C:\USER\USERNAME\DESKTOP. I can see the files and I attempted to restore them, but so far have no had any success. But it's encouraging to me I at least found the files.

 

Not only should you always make backups, but you should never save important files/folders on your desktop. Store them in the correct user folders so that they are synced and backed up correctly.

The desktop is for program shortcuts, or setting shortcuts to access folders quickly. It is not for storing all of your data.

 

A key way to avoid losing data in Windows is NEVER store ANYTHING important on C:

That way you can mess up Windows atrociously and still keep your data (most probably)

Partition your drive (esp. laptop) or use multiple drives.

Use disk imaging before any important change, and regularly.

Otherwise, you do have 30 days after upgrading to Windows to revert. If Win 10 isn't working, and you need sthg that does on your only PC, you can revert.

 

I had this exact same problem. I can't believe this is happening. What a major flaw.
if I revert back to 8.1 will my files be there?
I can see the files in Shadow Explorer, but when I export them, the files are corrupt.

 

Are the files not available in Windows.old created in the Nov upgrade in the desktop folder in Windows.old?

 

They are not. When I first found my files, they were in C/User in the user folder. I then moved them to the Desktop. Then I restarted/updated and had the same problem people are saying that the old desktop came back and all the files disappeared.

 

Hello, I upgraded my Windows 7 PC to 10 yesterday and encountered the same problem. I thought upgrade was done so I logged in, did some things, logged off and restarted. Then all my document files and photos were gone!! There were all there when I initially logged in *cry I searched everywhere including /user, /temp/, windows.old, etc. but I couldn't find them.

Then I saw a post about Stellar Phoenix and installed and ran it. And I could recover all of my files!!! It's free up to 1GB recovery. Since I had files over 40GB, I had to purchase it ... ($99 *Sad ) But I couldn't lose all my files so ... Anyways, if anybody is having the same issue, I highly recommend the software. Seriously Microsoft ... why don't you show some warnings or instructions!! *Mad

(Update) I preemptively posted above. I couldn't recover 'all' of my files - could recover about 2/3 of them. But it was much better than losing all ... I could recover some very important files and photos. But this shouldn't have happened to anybody!

 

I thought I was going mad when I upgraded from Windows 7 to 10 and none of my Documents or Pictures were in the correct folders. I found them and moved them into the new Documents and Pictures folders so I could see them. Why oh why did I move and not copy them? and why oh why does Microsoft not tell you the upgrade is in two parts so DON'T move any files????*Mad
I used another forum and someone is kindly trying to help with my lost data. Yes, everything has gone from the new Documents folder as the contents of the old My Documents (which I had carefully emptied in moving everything to where I thought it should be) was reinstated on the 2nd bootup i.e. the 2nd part of the upgrade.
I have learnt over the past few days to download Shadow Explorer which then finds all those missing files - yippee I thought - but they are all corrupted and NOTHING will open, not a document, a picture, a jpg or anything at all. I could cry
Has anybody had any success with recovering corrupted data?

 

Why is Windows.old empty anyway?

 

Basically the same thing happened to me ... when I upgraded and logged in first time, I copied (that's what I thought) files to new directory and the next time when I logged in, everything was gone. Anyways, I used Stellar Phoenix Windows Recovery software. I could recover about 2/3 of files, although I still lost some old photos and some recovered files are corrupted. Just better than nothing *cry

 

Hello,
This is exactly what happened to me.
After a long installation of windows 10 it appeared to have completed and I had access to all my folders.
I found all my document files (music, downloads, pictures, etc) in C:/users/nameuser/...., and duly moved them to the new folders.
Everything appeared to be there and worked, so I was content.
On rebooting the computer appeared to go through a complete startup process and on completion, to my horror, all my files were gone from the new location and not in C:/users/nameuser either.
Could you or someone help me please?????? *Sad *Sad *Sad *cry

 

This just happened to me today! I thought the update was finished & i noticed that my files are not in the same place i left them so i moved them back, and somehow i restarted my laptop, when i tried opening my files it says that they're not found or might be deleted, so i searched in c:/ but the folders are empty!

Did anybody found a solution? I lost very very important files *Sad