Pictures that appear to have been deleted, but show up when I search This PC

Question

Pictures that appear to have been deleted, but show up when I search This PC

The Boss 0

About 3 months ago I deleted all of the folders that resided in Onedrive>Pictures>HVAC Pictures with the exception of two folders that held pictures for our personal HVAC equipment and that of my daughter's and her husband's HVAC equipment. I also decided to no longer store pictures in my Onedrive account, opting to store them locally in the each of the three user account's Pictures folder. About a month ago I had occasion to view some of those pictures, but when I tried to access them the folders were empty. When I searched for them in This PC and they were displayed with a Microsoft Photo app icon above the picture's name and with an icon to the left of the picture's name that resembles an old fashioned file cardboard storeage box.

Can anyone tell me why the pictures disappeared from these two folders, what this means and how I might be able to access these pictures? I created two other Microsoft accounts, after deleting the HVAC pictures folders, in addition to my original Microsoft account biringing the total to three Microsoft accounts. I searched for the lost pictures in all three Onedrive accounts, but to no avail.

Also, when I try to paste one of the pictures into the user account's Pictures folder that I copied from those that appeared in the search result I get the following message: The cloud file provider is not running [Error 0x8007016A].

Thanks, Rick.

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3 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

The Boss 0

Thanks to those that responded to this question. I'm happy to report that this issue has been resolved. I discovered a backup that contained the missing pictures as well as many more I can now access if need be.

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Answer 2

Hi The Boss,

I understand why this is confusing, especially when the picture names still appear in a This PC search.

The 0x8007016A message usually means that Windows is trying to access a OneDrive Files On-Demand item, but the OneDrive sync client is not currently able to provide the file. The search result itself does not necessarily confirm that the photo still exists. Windows Search may continue showing an indexed filename and its previous path after the original file has been deleted, moved, or is no longer available in OneDrive.

Please start the OneDrive desktop app from the Start menu and make sure the correct Microsoft account is signed in and syncing. Then right-click one of the search results, open Properties, and check the full Location, Size, and Size on disk. You can also select Open file location. If the listed folder no longer exists, or the item disappears after the search index is refreshed, it was most likely an outdated search entry rather than a recoverable copy of the photo.

Since the deletion happened about three months ago, please check the OneDrive website’s Recycle bin for each account as soon as possible. For personal OneDrive accounts, deleted items are normally retained for 30 days, and files permanently removed from the OneDrive Recycle Bin cannot be restored through OneDrive. You should also check the Windows Recycle Bin and any backups, external drives, File History copies, or other devices on which the photos may previously have been downloaded.

Official references:

If you can share the exact Location, Size, and Size on disk shown in Properties for one affected result, that will help determine whether Windows is seeing a real local file, an unavailable OneDrive placeholder, or only an outdated search-index entry. Thank you so much for your understanding.

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Answer 3

A This PC search result does not prove that the photo still exists, so first open its actual location; if Windows cannot open that location, treat the result as a stale search-index entry and proceed with recovery.

1. Determine whether the search result is a real file

In File Explorer, search This PC for one missing photo.
Right-click the result and choose Open file location.
If available, select Properties and note:
- Location
- Size
- Size on disk
Try opening or copying the photo to a new folder outside OneDrive, such as C:\Recovered HVAC Photos.

Interpret the result as follows:

It opens: immediately copy it to another drive or folder.
It points into a OneDrive folder and shows a blue cloud: it is online-only. Start OneDrive, connect to the Internet, right-click the file, and select Always keep on this device. A blue cloud means the file is online-only; green status icons indicate locally available files.^1^
“Can’t open file” or “Make sure OneDrive is running”: select Start, search for OneDrive, and open the OneDrive desktop app.^2^
The location does not exist or the result disappears after refreshing: it is probably an indexed reference to a file that is no longer present.

The Microsoft Photos icon only identifies the app associated with that image type. The cardboard-box overlay is not one of Microsoft’s documented standard OneDrive availability icons, so it cannot by itself establish whether the photo is archived, deleted, or recoverable.

2. Check both recycle bins

Because the three OneDrive accounts have already been searched, focus on their recycle bins rather than repeating the account search:

Sign in to the OneDrive account that originally contained Pictures\HVAC Pictures.
Select Recycle bin.
Restore any matching photos or folders.
Also open the Windows Recycle Bin, search for the filenames, and select Restore if found.

For a personal OneDrive account, deleted items can normally be restored for 30 days unless they were permanently deleted. Cloud-only files do not appear in the Windows Recycle Bin, so both locations matter.^3^

Deleting an online-only file from a synced OneDrive folder deletes it from OneDrive online and other synced devices as well; moving a file outside the OneDrive folder should first download it and then remove it from OneDrive.^4^

3. Conditional: restore the entire OneDrive

If the original account has a Microsoft 365 subscription and the disappearance occurred within the last 30 days:

Open the Restore your OneDrive options: https://onedrive.live.com/?v=restore
Choose a point immediately before the photos disappeared.
Review the listed changes, then start the restore.

This reverses OneDrive changes after the selected time. Files created afterward may be moved to the OneDrive Recycle Bin, so download any newer important files first.^5^

4. Restore from File History or Previous Versions

This works only if File History or another previous-version mechanism was enabled before the loss.

Check both places where the pictures may previously have existed:

The original OneDrive\Pictures\HVAC Pictures folder.
Each local user account’s Pictures folder.

For each location:

Open its parent folder in File Explorer.
Right-click the affected folder and select Restore previous versions.
Select a version dated before the disappearance.
Choose Open in File History to inspect it.
Prefer Restore to… and restore onto another drive or folder, avoiding replacement of current content.^6^

5. Recover deleted local copies

If none of the above works, minimize use of the PC because new data can overwrite deleted files. Windows File Recovery can recover only photos that actually existed on the local disk; it cannot recover content that was always online-only in OneDrive. The recovery destination must be a different drive, such as an external E: drive.^7^

After installing Windows File Recovery from Microsoft Store, run:

winfr C: E: /extensive ^
 /n \Users\<username>\Pictures\*.jpg ^
 /n \Users\<username>\Pictures\*.jpeg ^
 /n \Users\<username>\Pictures\*.png

Repeat with the original OneDrive path if those files had been downloaded locally. Recovered files will be placed in a Recovery_<date and time> folder on the destination drive.

References