Deleted System Profile Desktop

I have a 5 year old Lenovo ThinkPad X230.

Lately I was running into severe issues where the system lags when doing anything, such as clicking on the Start Menu, closing a window...anything.

Opening Task Manager, it showed Disk usage at 100%.

After researching online, I tried multiple resolutions including: ran AV scan, deleted Adobe, turned off Skype, changed Chrome settings, disabled Superfetch and some other tips I can't remember.

For awhile it seemed to resolve the issue...only to come back with a vengeance.

Going into Resource Monitor, it seemed as if svchost.exe was the culprit.

I disabled about 50 of these 1 by 1 until eventually the disk usage reverted back to normal: 0%.

The problem was, when I attempted to restart, the system took a very long time to even get to the login screen.

When I finally got there (20 to 30 minutes) and logged in, I received the following error message

"C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\systemprofile\Desktop is unavailable. If the location is on this PC, make sure the device or drive is connected or the disc is inserted, then try again. If the location is on a network, make sure you're connected to the network or internet, then try agian. If the location can't be found, it might have been moved or deleted."

It then loaded a blank/generic desktop without any of my files/apps.

Would someone please suggest what I could do to restore my old desktop/profile?

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

dalchina said:

Hi, please check if you've just upgraded to build 1803. It's possible that happened (long boot), and as happens for some after upgrading, you're logged in with a temporary profile.

See 4th post:
windows 10 - desktop unavailable after updates - Microsoft Community
Go Back to the Previous Version of Windows in Windows 10 | Windows 10 Tutorials

What is your current build? Windows key + R, winver.
Please post a screenshot of your Update History (via Settings).

Please also take the opportunity to check your disk.
Download Portable HD Tune 2.55
(You don't have to install it- it can run from a flash drive e.g.)
Post a screenshot of the Health tab and Error Scan.

Once we know if you've just upgraded, hopefully someone who's familiar with this can help. There are other threads you can find on temporary profiles after upgrading here.

Thanks.

The problem is I cannot even access Settings from Windows + I key. Clicking Start to bring up the menu doesnt do anything either. Nothing happens when I click the Search icon. And even double clicking the Recycle Bin triggers an error message saying cannot find Explorer.exe.

I think my stopping those svchost.exe processes broke something