W10 v2004 text files

Do you have backups of these files?
DO you have an image backup of the entire drive?

Hello @roncoy,

Welcome to TenForums!

roncoy said:

Hi, for a variety of reasons i had to do a new install of W10 pro, I keep my subscription keys in text files, some go back years, whwn i try to open an existing text file in notepad or wordpad in the new install the text appears in what looks like a chinese font, i have tried looking for fotn , language, culture settings etc but nothing corrects it, the encoding is set to auto and i have tried opening with ansi encoding, i hope that i am missing something obvious but can anyone help?

[1] Are the text files kept on an external HDD / USB?
[2] If so, do other text files open on the external HDD / USB?
[3] Do the text files open correctly on another computer?

I hope this helps!

Hello @roncoy,

roncoy said:

The txt files are on both a data backup drive which lives in hot swap tray and on the pc in question the drive for which also lives in a hot swap tray, since this started both render as garbage, the issue did i believe start with the 2004 install, I have used these files for years and never experienced any thing like this, I have looked at the encoding which as usual is set to auto, my language settings appear to be correct
I do have images of the v1909 install
I have copied an example to my laptop and it is garbage when opened.

So the OS is corrupted somewhere in order for you not to be able to open them with Notepad or Wordpad.

[1] Have you tried opening them with say Notepad++ or another text editor?
[2] Did you clean install and then update to 2004 within the last ten days?
[3] Did the clean install work OK and then only stopped working once you had updated to 2004?
[4] Have you run sfc /scannow?

I hope this helps!

Are the drives encrypted?

roncoy said:

No they are not they are normal ntfs drives, i have now realized that the txt files effected were in the same folder on both drives(backup and local), I have restored a backup and deleted the directory's involved and the same file names now render correctly, so i will scratch my head a bit and move on but this really is weird, thanks to all for your time.

If you are happy, then please mark this thread as Solved!

Strange indeed, but a good resolution.