Windows 10: Temp profile - files and folders lost 'You've been signed in with a temporary profile'

Most folders and files under c:\users\xxxxx\ is either empty or completely missing. No trace anywhere! This issue is haunting lot of our users. The old fix of restoring through regedit winnt\profilelist doesn't help. I would like to know the root cause of this issue as we have so many people lost files. At this point I am not sure if this is due to a windows update or hardware issue. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

:)

 

Lost files in temporary profile

If a Temp user isn't where I suggested then the temp profile isn't present. There could be temporary files in other temp folders though. c:\windows\temp (for example) but if you have used disk cleanup then I would have expected those to have been removed
already. Have you emptied your recycle bin.

When running disk cleanup then after the first pass scan select system files and look down the list when the scan is complete.

 

Lost files in temporary profile

Hi,



Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community.



It must be difficult when things do not work as expected.



I guess you have moved files to temporary User Profile, instead of copying them. Right? Let me confirm that anything like files or folder that you have worked or saved on temporary User Profile will be lost once you come out of
the Profile. I mean, when you sing-out or restart your PC, those files will be lost.



You can see this temporary User Profile, when system fails to read the User Profile correctly. Restarting your PC will revoke this temporary profile. Hence any files or folder saved on this profile will be wiped away on restarting
your PC. So, there is no possibility of getting back these files and folders back, since they are removed permanently.



However, check with the following locations to see if you find missing files.

· Check the files in AppData and Temp folders (Press Windows Key + R and type %appdata% and %temp%)

· Check the files in OneDrive folders, make sure PC is connected to the Internet

· Check the files in other drive if available (D:, E

· Check the files in Recycle Bin

If you don't find any files, then it indicates that they are removed permanently from your PC.



Keep us posted if you require further assistance.

 

Fix You've been signed in with a temporary profile in Windows 10  


Yeah, anything done while in a temporary profile will be lost when you sign out.

If none of the profile folders in the "C:\Users" folder contains your files, then it appears it's gone. You could create a new profile for your account to use instead though. To do this, delete all SID keys for that account. The next time you sign in, a new profile folder should be created for your account without it being a temp profile.