Windows 10: Tax Return Files Gone ???

I updated from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and later noticed my Tax Return File (from 2014)
has disappeared.

It was under the Documents Folder, which is now empty.

If the update is going to clean out some Directories while processing, I wish they would say so
up front so I could have saved them to an external drive.

Maybe they are hidden somewhere, the update moved them ??

Any hope finding them ??

Thanks and Happy Holidays to all.

Richard S.

:)

 

Lost photos in "My Pictures" after Windows 10 download

I went back to windows 7. My stuff is nowhere to be found. Years of pictures and tax returns are now gone and apparently Microsoft doesn't care to help.

 

Vista file to Windows 10 problem

My apologies I am not familiar with "turbo taxes". Is this a program that you use to compile your tax returns? Or a particular file format?

If it is either of these then my first question would be have you setup the Windows 10 laptop to work with these files, perhaps by installing the turbo taxes software (if such a thing exists?)?

 

Hi, this is one of the unfortunate problems some experience with MS's well tested build 1511 ('the November upgrade') release- disappearing files. Usually the desktop - well, people would notice that.

If you upgraded <30 days ago you will have a Windows.old folder (your old Win 7 installation). If you're lucky, they will be there. However, usually people find they are not.

You can try data recovery software such as Recuva, but this relies on the files not having been overwritten.

The lesson: always back up; create and keep updated disk images (Aomei Backupper or Macrium Reflect - both free- the boot medium, and external storage for the backups. Disk images are both full backups and allow you to restore your PC as it was in the event of disaster including HDD failure.

 

Always have a backup of important files, 2 or more backup copies if the files are of particular importance. This is particularly important before doing something like an OS upgrade. There are too many ways that mistakes can be made, too many ways to misunderstand what will happen, and too may ways something can go wrong to be without a backup.

 

Let me thank you for that most helpful reply. I am glad to see such a level of expertise on this group.

rs

 

Thanks- everyone loses something sometime- all you can do is act defensively. There are plenty of people here more experienced than I.

It's been said vellum is the best long term storage medium. Nothing around today is guaranteed to remain readable so long. Now, where do I get a vellum-based backup system.... write speed could be rather slow, and storage density minimal- as for access time...*Biggrin

 

I cannot tell from your reply if you found your file or if your comment was made in frustration of not finding it. If the former, great. If the latter, additional options are as follows:

1. Have you tried searching your entire drive for " *.tax2014 "?
[Be sure your search is looking at the entire drive(s), not just a folder or location.]

2. It's possible that if/when you load TurboTax 2015 its own search engine may find it as it automatically looks for prior year returns.

BOTH SUGGESTIONS ASSUME YOU USED TURBOTAX .

 

One guy on here had the same problem. He somehow discovered that the files were "hidden" (I took it as in system files) and not deleted. I wish I could be of more help but I can't remember exactly he found them. I believe it was through search. Maybe someone with more experience can help.

 

I've read elsewhere recently about this problem arising from a 'temporary profile' being used in the process of the transfer - I've added this below.

Other comment says a temporary profile is just that- it's deleted on restart - C:\users\TEMP


=====================
XweAponX:

"I agree, see if there is a Windows.old folder. But you are probably not logged in to the same user profile you were in when you saved the files. Check other accounts on the laptop.

Also, check if you are logged in to a "Temporary Profile" - It's an issue that goes back to Vista. For some reason your user profile gets corrupted, forcing Windows to load a Temporary Profile. When it does this, you won't have access to your desktop items. They will be in your regular account folder. Look in "users" for a "Temp" profile, that will be the one you are actually logged in to.

There are ways to fix it, but you have to edit some registry keys, and finally you have to activate your Administrator account and then create a new user. Then log into administrator in Safe Mode. In Safe Mode, you can move all files in your user account to the new account. Except for all files that say "NTUSER". Then you reboot, and log into the new account and all of your stuff will be there.

Note: You have to move all folders in Users/Username to the new account including appdata, so you have to change your folder view options so that you can see all files and folders, hidden files, system files, etc.

If this is indeed what happened (Temp Profile) search the tutorials section for "Temporary Profile" and find the tutorial that shows how to fix it. If there is no tutorial here, you will have to check "eightforums.com"

Here's the tutorial, it's the same process in Windows 7,8,10
You've been signed in with a temporary profile - Fix
"

 

Don't use Turbo-Tax.

rs

 

I have given up, it's easier just to recreate the data from the hard copy I saved.
Paper still rocks !!!

rs

 

Sorry to hear that.
Think I'll stay on WIN 7 until I get a new computer with WIN10 on it natively.
A friend of mine who works in IT just had his lost his entire system after converting to 10 and cannot even get it to boot anymore.

 

..which is why it's always best to make/update a disk image before and after any major change.

I had that experience on my first attempted upgrade from Win 8.1- I had to restore my image, run 8.1, uninstall Aeroglass, redo the upgrade. I'm sure your IT friend has appropriate backups.. hope so!