How to recover the files after Windows update

Below we will provide some quick and effective ways to recover lost data that has been destroyed after upgrading Windows 10 to the latest version.

How to recover the files after Windows update

Contents

  1. Hidden files
  2. Search for lost data on your computer
  3. Temporary account
  4. Enabling an administrator profile
  5. Windows.old folder
  6. Recovering files using access points, system reset or rollback
  7. File Restoring using Recovery Software

Windows Updates carry a large number of changes that fix performance problems, provide new system functions, and remove vulnerabilities in the security of the OS.

As a rule, Windows 10 is updated automatically, which allows you always to have the latest system version.

It should be noted that absolutely every update can lead to the loss of some data. It is because, during the installation of the new version of the folder paths, directories and system file locations may change. The files may be lost due to the failures during the installation process, when errors occur with data transfer to the new location.

If the user could not find his data after the upgrade, it is not a reason to panic! The information remains, but its location has changed, so you should use the methods described below to return the lost data.

Hidden files

After upgrading Windows 10, you should check the setting to display hidden files in the system, making some data invisible.

To do this:

Open Explorer in any folder, in the upper part of the window, select “View” and check the drop-down menu next to the “Hidden items” mode. After that, all hidden folders and files will be displayed as semitransparent.

How to recover the files after Windows update

Search for lost data on your computer

One of the easiest and most effective ways to recover lost data that has changed its location is through a standard Windows search function.

This feature’s disadvantage is that the user must remember at least part of the lost files’ name. Also useful will be knowledge about the type and extension of lost information (text documents txt or doc, photos JPEG or PNG, video files AVI or MPEG-4, etc.).

To search for information, you should:

Enter the folder “This PC” using the key combination Win+E. To search all the computer’s logical sections, use the search bar located in the upper right corner. For example, let’s try to find the executive file of an RS Partition Recovery program.

How to recover the files after Windows update

Depending on the filename you are looking for, search results may contain a huge number of documents, incomprehensible files, and other unnecessary information. To filter it out, click the “Search” button and use the presented functionality to limit the search environment by file type, size, date of change, and other parameters.

How to recover the files after Windows update

If the user finds out that the file has changed its location, it is enough to right-click in the search results on the desired object and select “File location” in the menu that opens. Being in a new folder with a file, you can move it to any convenient location.

How to recover the files after Windows update

In this way, you can quickly find the necessary files throughout the computer and restore their previous location.

If you can’t remember the name of all files, you should search for them manually. Recent Windows 10 updates have often resulted in users being unable to locate their files where they were stored at all times. At the same time, many were able to find information in the “Users” folder on the system drive.

To check the Users folder, you should:

Step 1: Open the folder “This PC” and go to the disk on which the operating system was installed (usually, drive C).

How to recover the files after Windows update

Step 2: Files should be searched on the path “C:Users” in the folders with user names.

How to recover the files after Windows update

Do not forget that some information may have come into Recycle Bin, so it should also be checked. If there are any problems with it, we recommend that you read the article “How to recover files after moving to Recycle Bin and cleaning them up“.

Temporary account

After upgrading Windows 10, the system can identify the current user to a temporary account, which does not allow you to view some items or change settings.

To exclude and correct access from the temporary account is necessary:

Step 1: Click the notification icon in the lower right corner and select “All Settings” in the menu that opens.

How to recover the files after Windows update

Step 2: In the “Windows Settings” menu, select the “Accounts” item.

How to recover the files after Windows update

Step 3: In the Accounts settings menu, select the column “Synchronize your settings”. Now you should pay attention to the message on the right side of the window. If it says about a temporary account, you should reboot your computer several times and then log in under your account. Such actions will return the lost data, and you will be able to detect them.

How to recover the files after Windows update

Enabling an administrator profile

In some cases, access to files may be blocked because the administrator account is disabled.

To change or check this, you should:

Step 1: Right-click on “Start” and select “Computer Management” in the menu that opens.

How to recover the files after Windows update

Step 2: In the menu that opens, go to “Computer management (Local) – System tools – Local users and groups – Users

How to recover the files after Windows update

Step 3: Search and select the “Administrator” item in the “Users” folder, then right-click on it. Select “Properties” in the drop-down menu.

How to recover the files after Windows update

Step 4: While in the properties, go to the “General” tab and uncheck the “Disable account” option. After you’ve performed this action, click the “Apply” button.

How to recover the files after Windows update

After that, you should log in to your administrator account and find all your files. If you have any problems with your Windows profiles, we recommend that you read “Recovering a Corrupted Windows 10 Profile“.

Windows.old folder

After upgrading the operating system to Windows 10, the user may not find his data. It is because it may have been lost during system reinstallation and file transfer.

If this happened, you should find the folder “Windows.old” on your system disk and check the data in this folder. It should be noted that the folder “Windows.old” is a special directory that stores the previous Windows version and all the files of the old operating system. If you want, you can return it.

To check for important data in the folder “Windows.old” is enough to go into it through an Explorer and search for files in the folder “Users”. For easy access, just copy the path “C:Windows.oldUsers” into the explorer line.

To learn more about the work of the “Windows.old” folder, see the article “Recovering files of the previous version of Windows (Windows.old)”.

Recovering files using access points, system reset or rollback

One of the radical ways to restore data is to restore, rollback, reset, and other ways to restore Windows to its previous state with all files and programs saved.

You can also read a detailed description of such methods in our articles. Just go to the topic “Recovering data after reinstalling Windows” and choose the appropriate option to restore a previous Windows version with all files saved. In turn, we can recommend a less time-consuming method that will recover files and provide reliable protection from accidents that may occur when valuable information is stored on a computer or third party drives.


File Restoring using Recovery Software

If the methods described above did not help, we recommend you to use a data recovery application. We also strongly recommend using professional software only, as it can recover lost data with a 99% probability.

The best product to date is RS Partition Recovery. Therefore, for successful data recovery, you should:

Step 1: Download and install RS Partition Recovery on your computer.

Free  Download RS Partition Recovery

Step 2: The File Recovery Wizard will opens. Just click “Next”.

How to recover the files after Windows update

Step 3: Choose the disk that needs to be scanned and press “Next”

How to recover the files after Windows update

Step 4: At this step, you should choose the scan type. The full analysis function allows you to recover files that were lost even a few months ago.

How to recover the files after Windows update

It should be noted that RS Partition Recovery supports ALL modern file systems.

Step 5: After the scan is complete, just select the file you need and click on the file recovery wizard icon.

How to recover the files after Windows update

Step 7: In the File Recovery Wizard that opens, specify the place where the lost file will be recovered. We strongly recommend you to use a different drive from where the file was stored before. It will help to avoid overwriting the file. RS Partition Recovery also allows you to use an FTP-server. After you click the “Recovery” button, the file will be installed in the specified location.

How to recover the files after Windows update How to recover the files after Windows update

Recovery Software Company specializes in the development of affordable, convenient, and useful software to recover files of any type.

Utilities from Recovery Software allow you to quickly return deleted and randomly formatted information, data deleted by viruses, as well as files lost during problems with the logical structure and damage to hard drives. Data recovery software works with classic HDD hard drives, high-speed SSD drives, flash drives, and memory cards of absolutely any type, which allows you to return important files from your phone, camera, camcorder, and other electronic gadgets.

For ease of use, we recommend you to choose the best option for the recovery program. For example, RS Partition Recovery is a handy utility for complex information recovery after a drive failure, while RS Office Recovery and RS Photo Recovery are programs for fast recovery of office data and images of any type. It should be noted that all utilities have advanced work algorithms that allow you to recover data that was lost up to several months ago. You can get acquainted with the full list of recovery programs, features, and other characteristics at recoverhdd.com

Frequently Asked Questions

During an upgrade, Windows may move the files in the folder to a different location, and make them hidden. So first, enable the hidden files display and check your Windows.old folder.
First of all, we recommend that you use the built-in Windows search system. To do it, open the My Computer window and enter the name of the file or folder you want to find in the search field on the right. To speed up the search process you can filter search results by type.
Yes. RS Partition Recovery is designed exactly for such cases and can recover lost data due to accidental deletion, Windows update, drive logical structure corruption, and many other cases.
To filter search results by type, go to the Search tab in Windows Explorer and select the type of files you're looking for.
To enable the administrator account, right-click on "Start", and select "Computer management". Then go to "Computer management (local) " -> "Utilities" -> "Local users and groups" -> "Users". In the "Users" folder, find the "Administrator" item, right-click on it and choose "Properties". In the window that appears, uncheck the "Disable account" checkbox and click "Apply"
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