Lost Desktop Files

dalchina said:

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.

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????
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?

dalchina said:

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

Why is Windows.old empty anyway?

pandora said:

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????
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?

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

pandora said:

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????
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?

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??????

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

Files could be hidden. File Explorer Options->View->Show hidden files and folders (check on)

Always backup before doing upgrades , installations, etc. Macrium Reflect

Notkaeppchen said:

Hi guys, I made an account just so I could post this. I think I found a solution, that is, it worked for me.

Like so many of you I upgraded to win10 and after I thought it was done, it made me log in with my password. I found a nearly empty deskop, with only a few of my usual icons and the win10 default background. So, I looked up my c:\users\username\desktop folder and transfered what I felt was most important to the shiny new desktop. Then, a while later, I had to reboot for some more updates and when I logged back in, there was my old desktop, as I had left it before the upgrade, only with the important bits I had transfered missing.

Apparently, when you upgrade to win10 the first time it you don't log into your own account, but a TEMP user account, that is, conveniently, deleted upon the next reboot. Wish I'd known that beforehand. But I was able to recover my lost files by using the ShadowExplorer app. If it's not too late and the shadow copies of your files have not yet been overwritten you can find them under c:\users\TEMP\desktop and recover them.
I sincerely hope this helps anyone and Microsoft fixes this issue soon.

Hello,
I made an account just to thank you.
I had the same problem. I was searching the whole day for a solution and nothing worked.
After reading your post, i made excaclty the steps you wrote and it worked.

PS: I spend more time to create an account in this forum, rahter than saving my files
But i felt the need to thank you, there were really important files for me.