Windows 10 1809 update deleted all files from Documents!

Hi Tom -

Alas - it gets worse. Microsoft's Backup silently stopped backing up back in February and didn't tell me, and I didn't notice. So I have maybe 100 hours of tedium ahead of me as I try to reconstruct my financial records... And the restart (3x) didn't do anything. Sigh.

I am in the same boat. Following for possible assist with fix that won't take weeks.

This situation is inexcusable on Microsoft's part. I run 5 computers in my home, 1 of which has been in the Windows 10 Insider program since its inception. This problem never showed up in all the Insider Preview releases. On October 3, I updated the 4 other computers to 1809 with no problem and no lost files that I have been able to detect.

I have a question for those who say that they have lost many years of work. What backup system do you have in place? This situation is no different than it would have been had your hard drive failed. How would you have recovered your files in that situation? Hard drives can fail at any time, whether they are 10 days old or 10 years old. Multiple backups of data files are essential at all times.

Frankly, Microsoft needs to abandon the twice a year **"feature update"**approach. One time per year is enough. Even when things go smoothly, twice yearly is far too frequent for home users and for businesses. Let's all use this as a tough learning opportunity, and that goes 10-fold for Microsoft!

Last night I updated to 1809, and it all went smoothly, but then I find that all my files in Documents are DELETED. Gone. Poof. This included many crucial documents and financial info. Yes, I have a backup (I think - using Windows Backup to a NAS). But this is pretty bad. Did no one in the first two rings run into this yet?

I understand (from the news) that this happens to all files in Documents that aren't synced to OneDrive. Further, the Documents folder is really an agglomeration of "Documents" from several different paths - not sure how that works, and it may or may not relate.

i don't understand any of this i upgraded my pc to 1809 on the 4th of october i was given the option to keep my settings and files so i did and proceeded with the upgrade and i'm running windows 10 1809 without any problems could it be people chose not to keep their existing settings and files and just proceeded with the upgrade i also backup my files but as of today nothing has mysteriously deleted only what i myself have deleted so i am very baffled here why people are having problems and now microsoft have pulled the upgrade i have spoke to other people who have upgraded and neither have had these problems also there is another reason this may be happening they may have had malware on their pc that can delete files im sure microsoft will resume the upgrade very soon obviously they had cause to pull this and investigate those who are experiencing these problems i suggest running a deep scan on your pc's for malware etc

i don't understand any of this i upgraded my pc to 1809 on the 4th of october i was given the option to keep my settings and files so i did and proceeded with the upgrade and i'm running windows 10 1809 without any problems could it be people chose not to keep their existing settings and files and just proceeded with the upgrade i also backup my files but as of today nothing has mysteriously deleted only what i myself have deleted so i am very baffled here why people are having problems and now microsoft have pulled the upgrade i have spoke to other people who have upgraded and neither have had these problems also there is another reason this may be happening they may have had malware on their pc that can delete files im sure microsoft will resume the upgrade very soon obviously they had cause to pull this and investigate those who are experiencing these problems i suggest running a deep scan on your pc's for malware etc

Punctuation helps...  but if I get the gist, you were asked to check a check box or click ok on an item saying "keep your settings and files" when you ran the update? And you updated through Windows Update or how? I'm wondering myself now if people just didn't see that item...

Just because you haven't been affected doesn't mean it's not an issue - I've not either, but it's quite clear from the number of reports of the problem that it is a genuine issue which Microsoft needs to resolve.

Not quite sure why you are "baffled" - it's quite clear from the online coverage that while a significant number of people are affected, it's by no means everybody.