Sudden failure of W10 to load correctly

clayto · 13 Feb 2020

The last time I started my PC what appeared was not my Desktop with about 40 icons and a full Taskbar, but a largely blank screen with only a dozen icons confined to the left of the screen. Most of my apps / programs, files and folders are not available, without digging down to find them. Start Menu Tiles have gone, although the alphabetical list looks in tact. File Explorer was not visible, but I have managed to access it so it seems I can in a clumsy way launch most of the files I have tried; and so far the few apps tried mostly work although their data seems to have gone eg. Sticky Notes.Copy History. I have not tried saved documents, media and emails yet. Emails are on my phone.

My questions are about what to do now, to recover my system with minimum damage.I can access WinRE and have tried a Repair Reinstall without success, so are there other options in RE I should try? I have not found the Restore Points yet but on past experience do not have much confidence in them anyway. But I do have a full Disk Image Backup, created with Aomei Backupper (as I have been following advice on this site) --- it was created just after the May and then the November update so it wont have the more recent minor updates, or a number of programs / apps installed since the end of last year. Hence it could be better to try other possibilities first, if available. Advice will be very welcome.

dalchina · 13 Feb 2020

Hi, is your user profile correct?
Try typing
%userprofile%
into the address bar of file explorer - examine the content of the address bar- is it what you expect?

(See temporary profile:
Enable or Disable Log On Users with Temporary Profiles in Windows

A user profile is a collection of settings that make the computer look and work the way you want it to for a user account. It is stored in the user's C:\Users\<user name> profile folder, and contains the account's settings for desktop backgrounds, screen savers, pointer preferences, sound settings, and other features. User profiles ensure that your personal preferences are used whenever you sign in to Windows.

A user's profile folder also contains their personal folders such as the 3D Objects, Contacts, Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Favorites, Links, Music, OneDrive, Pictures, Saved Games, Searches, and Videos folders.

If Windows cannot access the user profile folder or the profile contains errors that prevent it from loading, Windows will sign in the user with a temporary profile by default.

)

Virtual desktop - could you be using a virtual desktop?
Open Task View in Windows 10
Option 2 - will show any you have at the top of the screen

Clearly you now realise the need to use disk imaging more frequently- a base (initial image) after a new build and subsequent differential or incremental images e.g. as available with your program.

zbook · 13 Feb 2020

Open administrative PS and type or copy and paste:

Get-ComputerRestorePoint

Start with the oldest restore point and keep repeating up to the most recent restore point.

Alternatively restore an image prior to the current problems.

clayto · 14 Feb 2020

zbook: There is only one Restore Point left which was created after the problem appeared, any others having been removed.

dalchina : User Profile is not shown as you describe, all that is displayed is a few Library Folders mostly empty. It does no show any of the detail you describe. I am not familiar with what should be there but it is clearly greatly damaged. I will search the topic now so I have a better idea of what to expect.

dalchina · 14 Feb 2020

Try typing %userprofile% into the address bar of file explorer - examine the content of the address bar- is it what you expect?

This is important- if you are not logged in to your normal profile you will not see what you expect. That depends on the path- the folder names. Usually that is derived from the first 5 of a string you create when creating the account.