Windows 10 1809 update deleted all files from Documents!

Anonymous
2018-10-04T19:09:32+00:00

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.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Windows update

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.

0 comments

163 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2019-05-02T17:38:42+00:00

    Sorry mate im sure you mean well but were not stupid, i would know if they had just been moved, im talking about 500gb of files not 5

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Neil D 34,280 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2019-04-24T16:15:44+00:00

    If you were signed-in with a temporary profile when you moved files out of windows.old and then you started again you were signed-in with you correct profile then your files were deleted from the temporary profile. (that's what happens with a temporary profile)

    A mistake you may have made was to move the files and not copy them. You should never move files to a temporary profile as it will be deleted on the next start.

    If you suffered from the initial problems with version 1809 (on its first release, beginning Oct 2018) then one thing the advice gave was to stop using the device and call the MS number. If you have updated to version 1809 recently then you were not affected by the initially issue that the MS phone number was for. A system restore will not recover personal files, a roll back to the previous version of windows might if you haven't moved them from windows.old.

    PS I don't work for MS either and I don't believe any user here does.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2019-04-23T17:01:04+00:00

    Hello AP. First let me say that "I do Not work with Microsoft" and, I to also lost my items a year ago after 1803 to 1809 update and boot also. you could Try this because sometimes it isn't even in Windows.Old Folder...

    It may have lost control of File History and Backup!  Use PowerShell to find out what is going on with your Backup and Run this command:

    Get-ControlPanelItem Back* | Show-ControlPanelItem          ...see if it finds it?

    Also, read theses articles @:  https://www.backup-utility.com/windows-10/recover-lost-files-windows-10-8523.html

    Lord Bless and help you, Michael.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2019-04-12T19:01:55+00:00

    Without you being able to check now, as you have rolled back, you may have been signed in with a temporary profile so your files were not available in the temp profile.

    First reboot it wouldn't even come to my desktop. I don't have a login password but it was stuck at the sign-in page and I forgot the error. So I rebooted via the power icon in the corner of the screen. After that reboot it came to my (empty) desktop... I did not try to reboot again, that's when I rolled back. Like I said I want to do a FULL backup before letting windows take a dump again...

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  5. Neil D 34,280 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2019-04-12T17:58:35+00:00

    Without you being able to check now, as you have rolled back, you may have been signed in with a temporary profile so your files were not available in the temp profile.

    If you had been affected by the original bug then rolling back would not have recovered your files.

    You may get offered version 1903 once you un-pause the updates and skip version 1809.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments