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The Windows 10KB4532693 update was intended to fix various technical bugs, but some users have seen theirfiles have disappeared, or that at login the system seemed to have changed to the default settings.
The KB4532693 update was released on February 11, and since then users have been detecting the problems: when they restart the PC they find the desktop without its icons, with the default wallpaper and without any of its customizations.
During Windows 10 upgrade a temporary user profile is created, and the crash that makes the files disappear occurs when this new profile is not deleted after finishing installing KB4532693.
Regarding lost files, in some cases they can be recovered, and in others they appear to have been permanently deleted. If the error affects us, we must go to the path where the profiles are saved, which is the following folder on the hard drive:
C:\Users
Hopefully, there we will find a file with extension.000 or.bak where the missing files are. We have to change its name, removing the extension, and maybe our original user folder will appear.
Within it will be the files of the desktop, of My Documents and all the additional information of the profile, although the configuration of the desktop will be easier to do it again manually.
Now, not on all PCs with Windows 10 the previous system will work, as there are those who claim that they do not have the.000 or.bak files.
Restore points, a possible solution
Another option that works for some netizens is use a system restore point, if Windows created it before installing KB4532693. It can be checked in the following path:
Control Panel -> Recovery -> Open System Restore -> Choose Restore Point
Since Control Panel is rarely used in Windows 10 anymore, an easy way to open the tool is by typing "Recovery" in the search boxfrom the taskbar.
The restore point will return the PC to the state prior to KB4532693, then we have to block the update in Windows 10, to avoid to install again and cause the problem again.
If we still can't find the files, our advice is to be patient. These failures, as well as possible solutions, are being detected by those affected. Workarounds may be discovered in a few days, or Microsoft may release a patch that fixes it.
You must avoid formatting the PC, because if the files are still available after the failure of KB4532693, when restoring the computer from factory we could end up deleting them.
Of course, Windows 10 security updates need better quality control, because too many times they cause errors, sometimes worse than those they claim to solve.
Has files disappeared after installing KB4532693 in Windows 10? Have you managed to recover them with these steps?
