How to Recover Accidentally Deleted User Folder on Windows 10 Or 11

Help! Accidentally deleted Users folder on Windows 10

The Users folder is a critical component of any Windows computer. Every user has their own User folder, which will contain important library folders such as documents, downloads, pictures, and music, as well as the user's credentials and other information needed to run the computer. 

However, many users are inclined to delete some data to free up more storage when C drive is almost full. They may accidentally delete Users folder in the course of clearing the cache.  There are two scenarios after deleting User folder:

✦ You can't log on to Windows normally and you need to enter Safe Mode to continue.

✦ Windows creates a temporary profile that allows you to use it for one session only. When you log off, it will not retain what you have modified. So, you still need to find a way to recover the lost user profile data.

Can we recover the accidentally deleted user folder on Windows 10? Yes, you can. Next, this guide will provide the step-by-step guide of recovering deleted User folder on Windows 10/11.

How to recover accidentally deleted User folder on Windows 10

Here in this part, we list 4 effective ways for you to recover accidentally deleted public User folder on Windows 10 and 11. 

▶ Way 1. Recover deleted user folder by performing System Restore

A System Restore Point can restore your system to a previous working state, thus fixing problems and helping you retrieve deleted or corrupted user profiles. However, that all applications, drivers, and updates installed after a restore point will be deleted.

If the way above cannot help you recover deleted user folder, then performing system restore is also a great solution to achieve the goal.

Step 1. Find "Create a restore point".

Search "Create a restore point" in the search box and then open it.

Step 2. Check if the System Restore Point is activated.

Go to the “System Protection” tab, under Protection Settings, and check whether your system drive is enabled or not. If your system drive shows as On, it means your system restore point is activated.

Step 3. Click“System Restore”> “Next”.

Also, you should note that when you can't log in to Windows 10 after the User folder has been deleted, hold down the "Shift + Power" button at the login screen and select "Restart". Next, on the next screen, select Troubleshooting > Advanced Options > System Restore.

Step 4. Choose one restore point to restore it.

Select a restore point you want to restore from the list. And click "Scan for affected program" to check a list of items that will be deleted if you determine to restore to this point.

Step 5. Confirm your choice.

Click "Next". Then confirm your selected restore point again and click “Finish”. For the pop-up window, click on “Yes”. Finally, the Users folder would go back to your Windows 10.

▶ Way 2. Recover deleted users folder via Registry Editor

This method mainly retrieves deleted user folder on Windows 10, 11 via Registry Editor. The operation can be divided into three parts. Follow me to operate.

Part 1. Find out your security identifier

Step 1. Search "cmd" in the search box and then right-click, choose “Run as administrator”.

Step 2. Type in “whoami /user” and hit the Enter key, then, you can see the SID of the current account.

Part 2. Edit the Registry

Step 1. Press Win + R and then type in “regedit”. Click on OK to open Registry Editor.

Step 2. Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SOFTWARE>Microsoft>Windows NT>CurrentVersion>ProfileList

Then you will see a list of SIDs within the ProfileList folder.

Part 3. Recover deleted user folder in Windows 10

You can choose one of the options below to finish the recovery users folder in Windows 10.

▶ Option 1: Delete Duplicate Folder

If the SID is listed twice, you can delete the folder without the .BAK extension.

Step 1. Right-click the folder from the left-hand pane and click Delete.

Step 2. Click Yes to confirm.

▶ Option 2. Rename.BAK folder

Step 1. Right-click the folder matching your SID with the .BAK extension.

Step 2. Click Rename, and remove .BAK. Press Enter to save the changes.

When the operation is completed, restart your PC and press Win + R to open the dialog box. Type in C:\Users to check whether you successfully recover deleted user files on Windows 10. 

▶ Way 3. Recover deleted users folder through File History

Another useful tool is File History, a feature that is originating from Windows 8. Generally, the Users folder can be recovered if you have ever enabled it.

If you are not sure about whether you have enabled it or not, then go to Control Panel > System Security > File History. The File History is activated if it is shown “Turn off”.

Step 1. Type “file history” in the search box on the taskbar.

Step 2. Select Restore your files with File History from the search results.

Step 3. In the pop-up window, choose the folder (C:\Users\ folder) the user profile is usually located. And there may be different versions of this item. Find the version you’d like to restore.

Step 4. Click the Recycle icon to restore your desired version.

Step 5. Close the File History.

▶ Way 4. Try MyRecover for Windows

If the solutions above are not working for you, then why not choose a free & professional third-party software to recover deleting user folder on Windows 10, 11, such as MyRecover. With it, the whole data recovery will be easy and effective. The easy operation, and wide compatibility, and it supports different types of data recovery, such as deleted photos, Word documents and so on. Once you get it, you are guaranteed to get a better experience and a great outcome.

Get one and follow me to enjoy it.

Step 1. Install MyRecover on your computer and hover the mouse over the partition where the accidentally deleted users folder was stored before. Click Scan.

Step 2. The scanning process will start with a quick scan and then a deep scan to find more missing files. You could perform data recovery during the scanning and you don't need to stop the scan.

Step 3. Tick the deleted folder and click the button "Recover files" to save the recovered users folder. 

FAQs:

★ What happens if you delete a user folder or profile in Windows 10?

In some cases, we may delete user folder by mistake, which can lead to the loss of personal files and settings in Windows PC. And if you delete your user profile, then you may unavailable to get your old user account and cannot log in.

★ How can I recover deleted user profile on Windows 7, 8, 9, 10, 11?

To recover deleted user profile on Windows 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, the ways shown above can also help you achieve the goal. And to avoid the next data loss, we also recommend you to back up your PC.

Further reading - Backup your PC to avoid the next loss

Encountering data loss is frustrating and painful. To avoid the next data loss, here we recommend a professional backup tool for PC, AOMEI Backupper. Unlike File History or Windows Backup that only restore the files on C Drive, AOMEI Backupper allows you to back up folders selectively or backup all folders & files on your internal disk, external disk and SD card, etc.

You can also get a scheduled backup to make your backup easier.

Step 1. Download AOMEI Backupper Standard, and install and launch it.

Step 2. Click File Backup under the Backup tab. Optionally, you can choose System Backup to back up the entire system partition, thus the user profile and other system files, and settings will all be backed up.

Step 3. Click Add File or Add Folder according to your needs. Generally, the path of the user profile is C:\Users\[Username]\

Step 4. Select a destination path. You can choose to back up to NAS, internal hard drive, external storage device, or cloud storage device. 

Step 5. Click Start Backup to execute the task.

Conclusion

This post illustrates the ways to recover accidentally deleted user folder on Windows 10, 11, for example, recovering deleted user folder via Registry Editor, performing system restore, using File History and taking advantage of MyRecover. Apart from that, we also suggest backing up your PC by using AOMEI Backupper in case of the next data loss.