Discussion all my files are gone

[DinoHUN]

Hello, everyone.

I have logged into my computer and instead of "Welcome" I saw "Preparing Windows". Then it came to my knowledge that all the folders and files I had on my C drive are gone. Even the wallpaper got reset. I turned off then back up my computer and some files were back. Then I used my computer for quite some time and when I shut it off and turned it back on, everything was gone again!! The interesting part is that there are a few files that are still on my computer, but 90% of it is just gone and I cant find it anywhere. There were a few folders that I could try to open on quick access and it says that that the folder is unavailable.

Can someone please help?! I have tried quite a few things and they didn't work! I would be still helpful if someone would have an idea what actually happened

 

[R_1]

is there a windows.old folder on the drive?
it sounds to me like the reset feature was triggered. windows was either reset or reinstalled. if you are lucky the windows.old folder will have your data in it.

 

[helpstar]

check your hard drive/SSD for errors with its manufacturer´s tool

scan for viruses with malwarebytes

 

[DinoHUN]

is there a windows.old folder on the drive?
it sounds to me like the reset feature was triggered. windows was either reset or reinstalled. if you are lucky the windows.old folder will have your data in it.

I looked around, there is no windows.old folder. Just installed Recuva see if I can recover anything there.

 

[SkyNetRising]

If windows for some reason can't load user profile, then new temporary user profile is created and you're logged into it.

Check C:\users folder. There should be multiple user profile folders. All your files should still be there.

 

[DinoHUN]

If windows for some reason can't load user profile, then new temporary user profile is created and you're logged into it.

Check C:\users folder. There should be multiple user profile folders. All your files should still be there.

I have the following folders in users:
Administrator
Default
defaultuser()
Dino <- Me
Public

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

Windows.old would be right on the system drive. example C:\\Windows.old.

it may be some type of anti-malware software causing the problems. if it has malfunctioned it could auto-setup a reset Windows option. maybe trying to re-institute your old OS and just not succeeding is why you have seen some of your files accessible again some of the time.
do you have any installed?

if a "go here for a solution" prompt with foreign sites appears than i would say it's malware infected. if nothing like this happens i would guess it is a major fault in Windows.

this was a legit Windows installation, correct? it may be locking users out for using a pirated version. you haven't gotten any "register\activate Windows" prompts, have you?

 

[DinoHUN]

I have the following folders in users:
Administrator
Default
defaultuser()
Dino <- Me
Public

I looked into administrator - my files arent there
I looked at Default - everything is empty
defaultuser() - empty
Dino - obviously missing a lot of files
Public - has public folders but none of them have my files

 

[DinoHUN]

Windows.old would be right on the system drive. example C:\\Windows.old.
it may be some type of anti-malware software causing the problems. if it has malfunctioned it could auto-setup a reset Windows option. maybe trying to re-institute your old OS and just not succeeding is why you have seen some of your files accessible again some of the time.
do you have any installed?

if a "go here for a solution" prompt with foreign sites appears than i would say it's malware infected. if nothing like this happens i would guess it is a major fault in Windows.

this was a legit Windows installation, correct? it may be locking users out for using a pirated version. you haven't gotten any "register\activate Windows" prompts, have you?

Yes, I have Windows activated. I do have Malwarebytes installed. Should I uninstall it, see what happens? Or should I look in a different path?

 

[SkyNetRising]

I looked into administrator - my files arent there
I looked at Default - everything is empty
defaultuser() - empty
Dino - obviously missing a lot of files
Public - has public folders but none of them have my files

Ok .. Then this is not issue with temporary/new profile being loaded.
If it were, then you'd see profiles like:

Dino​

Dino.YourComputerName​

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

Yes, I have Windows activated. I do have Malwarebytes installed. Should I uninstall it, see what happens? Or should I look in a different path?

check Malwarebytes backup folders/options. if it has a ton a space taken up, there is a good chance an image of your previous setup could be stored there. hopefully you would be able to institute a "reset to previous date" or similar option through the software and get back to normal.

you can also try this through Windows. check for a "Restore Point" from before this all happened and see if Windows can reset back to there.

if possible to get back to a good point; backup everything before the problem may happen again.

 

[DinoHUN]

check Malwarebytes backup folders/options. if it has a ton a space taken up, there is a good chance an image of your previous setup could be stored there. hopefully you would be able to institute a "reset to previous date" or similar option through the software and get back to normal.

you can also try this through Windows. check for a "Restore Point" from before this all happened and see if Windows can reset back to there.

if possible to get back to a good point; backup everything before the problem may happen again.

I checked if there are some restore points, there aren't

But it turns out Windows probably reset itself without keeping my files, though I have all my games, it's only the desktop that's been wiped as I can see.

So guys:
Put games on SSD
Everything else on HDD

I had a huge folder where I coded things, python, html, css, you name it...
So I'm gonna keep this PC for games, and work through this whole summer so I can get a MacBook where I can do the coding, cause this is BS.....
Will still look around for solutions but this seems pretty certain that it's gone forever

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

I've had a few HDs die on me and many OS failures that have corrupted or lost numerous files over the ~20 years of computing. Have lost tons of home videos, converted CDs & DVDs(that i then sold), save points, forms, etc. Every time i have always sworn i would start regularly backing up everything important. Still, all this time later i only have one 3TB backup drive that is usually ~98% full of install packages and other audio/video purchases that i could always re-download from Amazon, GOG, or wherever i may have purchased if needed.
I guess I/we all really gotta get on this backing up chore one of these days.

Hope you find a solution...

 

[DinoHUN]

I've had a few HDs die on me and many OS failures that have corrupted or lost numerous files over the ~20 years of computing. Have lost tons of home videos, converted CDs & DVDs(that i then sold), save points, forms, etc. Every time i have always sworn i would start regularly backing up everything important. Still, all this time later i only have one 3TB backup drive that is usually ~98% full of install packages and other audio/video purchases that i could always re-download from Amazon, GOG, or wherever i may have purchased if needed.
I guess I/we all really gotta get on this backing up chore one of these days.

Hope you find a solution...

Yeah, I'll definitely start backing up my files, but I still can't comprehend the fact that Windows just randomly decided to reset itself. I'm only 16 but I'll make sure that I can work as much as possible to get a MacBook one day so that I can do coding there. I heard for web development (what i want to do on it) it's very good and it also has good data security. And if I want to play I'll just get on my windows pc.