Author Topic: Windows Repair 4.9 - all document directories & files have been deleted  (Read 3198 times)

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Offline balbados

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Running Windows 10 version 1909 (Build 18363.900).  I opened Windows Repair this morning to fix a few issues and was prompted to update to the latest version.  This was done and I ran repair in Safe Mode, logged in as Administrator.  Repair was run with the defaults that were loaded with the upgrade.  Disaster!! All of my document directories and files were deleted and the Desktop layout was completely different with many program icons missing from the Desktop.  Fortunately the document directories and files are backed up and I have a recent disk image that I can restore.  This is the second time that Windows Repair has drastically modified my computer after an upgrade.
I have had to restore the hard drive as I urgently needed to access some of the deleted files, thus the log files and registry file are no longer available from this problem are no longer available..
« Last Edit: June 20, 2020, 09:35:06 pm by balbados »

Offline Boggin

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Sorry for the lateness in replying.

I will pass this onto Shane with a link to your thread.

Offline Boggin

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Shane suggests that Windows could have created another profile.

I'm waiting to see if he can tell me how/why.

A Win 7 user has reported similar problems but Shane says the program doesn't have a line of code that could cause that loss of files.

Offline balbados

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Thank you for your reply Tom.  I did briefly notice some Windows related activity on the screen, but did not take any notice at the time.  (I was away from the computer whilst Windows Repair was running and just caught a passing glimpse of some Microsoft related messages as I walked by.)  I had set Windows Repair to shut down the computer when it had finished, so did not have a chance to observe any messages.  There are a number of lessons arising from this event, namely:
1. Always create a Windows restore point before running Windows Repair
2. Always backup all document files before repairing
3. As an ultimate safeguard, create an image file of the hard drive before repairing
4. If there is a problem with the repair, always make a backup copy of the Repair log files to another drive before restoring
Given that I restored the hard drive from an image file (wiping out the log files) it is no longer possible to identify the problem, so we must put this event down to experience.

Offline Boggin

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I'm still waiting for Shane to get back to me as to why Windows should have done that.

Prior to test running new versions of the repair program, I always used to create a Macrium system image as I would get about 14 instances of a problem with a particular app and it would reset it to something else - this was even with the App repairs unchecked.

However, I haven't test run any new versions for a while, so don't know if it would cause the same problem on mine.