Part of my data has been lost after signing in

Anonymous
2025-04-25T08:10:59+00:00

Hello, so yesterday I put my laptop (Windows 11) to hibernate and today I turned it on. It first displayed an error that said something about not being able to sign in. I searched the web a bit and it might have been this error, but I'm not sure honestly.

I just clicked OK and signed in normally and it took a couple of minutes to sign in (Preparing Windows).

Once inside, I noticed my desktop and my theme was the default one, the taskbar too. I checked the archives and there is nothing inside the Downloads, Documents, Gallery, One Drive, Music, and Videos folders.

The local disk seems to be alright though.

Does anyone know why this happened? And is there a way to restore the lost data?

Also my Windows Security won't open, but maybe if I restart the computer it will work.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Files, folders, and storage

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DaveM121 937.9K Reputation points Independent Advisor
2025-04-25T08:42:55+00:00

Hi, I am Dave, I will help you with this.

Most likely, you are logged into a temporary account.

Before you do anything or move any files around

Restart (not shut down) your PC 4 times, each time let your PC get to the Desktop before the next restart, this will fix this issue a lot of the time...

Otherwise:

Please open Windows File Explorer

Navigate to C:\Users

Do you see two user folders that look like yours?

Open those folders and check inside Pictures, Documents... etc. and see if your files are there

If your files are there:

NOTE VERY IMPORTANT: Do Not copy your files into the Temporary profile you are currently in, when the situation is corrected, your files will be deleted with the Temporary Profile and will not be recoverable !!

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-04-25T10:18:40+00:00

    Hello. The issue has been fixed, you were probably right about the temporary account. I only had to restart the computer once to get it back to normal.

    Thank you so much for your help and have a great day !!

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