Automatic Update deleted all my files!

Anonymous
2010-04-29T14:22:13+00:00

Last night my laptop running Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit on a Dell Inspirion Laptop performed an automatic update. After rebooting, all my personal files including two 15 page papers I was working on for my degree were deleted.

All my pictures, word docs, and personal files are gone. Only the shell of My Documents folder, including the sub folders I created, is left.

I ran the System Restore going back to a two day old restore point, but non of my personal files were recovered.

I searced the internet w/ " Windows automatic updates deleted/erased all my files" and came up w/ several threads reporting this automatic update issue, but no solutions.

 Similar questions have been asked in other parts of this forum w/out satisfactory answers:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/itprovistaapps/thread/dd1beef0-4cae-4220-87fd-6556fd1c4d7d

<removed link>

I even displayed all hidden folders and searched the entire hard drive w/ *.doc and did not get a single file back!

I need help!

My papers are due in a week and all my course work is gone.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Files, folders, and storage

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-08-24T18:30:24+00:00

    Thank you, thank you, thank you. It worked. You are wonderful for sharing this fix. I created the guest user account, restarted, logged into guest user, logged out, logged into my main account, and everything was back. 😁😁😁😁

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-10-06T20:51:29+00:00

    I almost lost it went in to do a presentation and everything was gone. If Gates would have been there I would have strangled him.

    Tried your suggestion and it worked still mad as hell never authorized the win 10 upgrade it did it on its own.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-11-12T17:36:36+00:00

    This was extremely helpful, was able to restore most of my documents (some came out in gibberish). Thank you so much!

    Hi Dan,

    Losing your personal files is a serious problem. 

    Visit the Microsoft Virus Solution and Security Center for resources and tools to keep your PC safe and healthy.  If you are having issues with installing the update itself, visit Support for Microsoft Update for resources and tools to keep your PC updated with the latest updates. 

    It can be downloaded from here:  http://download.cnet.com/Restoration/3000-2094_4-10322950.html.  It can be used to retrieve files that seem to have been permanently deleted.  I have used this program several times with great results. You will have the best results if you run this program as soon as possible after the accidental deletion.

    I hope you are able to retrieve your data.  It also serves as a reminder that System Restore will not actually restore your user files; it’s only for system files and settings.  To backup your data files, you need to use Windows Backup or some other backup program.

    Good luck,

    Barbara

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-11-12T20:05:13+00:00

    Windows7

     After windows updates, i lost all my work documents. How i can get it back?

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  5. Anonymous
    2015-11-13T02:24:08+00:00

    Which updates?

    Were you composing the work documents when Automatic Updates restarted the computer or...?

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