Fix Windows 10 Desktop Files Gone After Update with 7 Ways

Why did my desktop files disappear?

I am a Windows 10 user. After the system was automatically updated and restarted yesterday, I found that all the files on the desktop were missing. Why are my Windows 10 desktop files gone? How can I get them back?

Although Windows 10 is a stable and popular operating system, many users find that files on the desktop are lost after the Windows system auto-update. Why could this happen? Usually, files and folders disappeared from the desktop are caused by a system loading error. You can try the solutions below to get back your lost desktop files.

How to fix Windows 10 desktop files gone

Windows 10 desktop files missing can be a result of many reasons, such as files being hidden, files moving to another location, files being deleted, and so on. We will address the “all my files are gone from my desktop on Windows 10” in two aspects. Please continue to read on.

Part 1. Find disappeared files on Windows 10

Generally speaking, the easiest solution you can try to fix Windows 10 desktop files and folders missing is to restart the computer. This can check whether Windows 10 desktop files are deleted during the Windows update. If restarting your device doesn't work and you're sure you have never removed data on desktop, please try the following several solutions.

Solution 1. Search desktop files in File Explorer

Some users reported that files lost after Windows 10 update were not deleted but moved to a different folder on computer. You can check the paths below to see if you can find your missing files.

Open File Explorer, go to the following two paths and search your desktop files or folders in the search bar.

• This PC > Local Disk (C) > Users > User Name > Documents

• This PC > Local Disk (C) > Users > Public.

If you can't find target data in the locations, please turn to the second solution.

Solution 2. Check hidden files or folders

Some files may be marked as hidden due to attribute changes, and hidden files are not visible to the user. Therefore, when you find that Windows 10 everything on desktop is disappeared, check if the files are hidden.

Step 1. Click on This PC and tap View on the top.

Step 2. Hit the Options button, go to the View tab, and tick Show hidden files, folders, and drives.

Solution 3. Check hard drive

It can also cause Windows 10 desktop files disappeared if the local hard drive is accidentally damaged during a Windows update. You can check your hard drive to fix this issue.

Step 1. Open This PC, right-click the drive that your desktop files are saved (it is C: drive usually), and choose Properties.

Step 2. Select Tools and press Check for a drive error check. Then, click Scan drive and follow the on-screen instructions to repair errors and recover lost files on Windows 10.

Solution 4. Switch user account

If you sign in with a wrong or temporary account after the Windows 10 update, desktop files may disappear as well. In this case, desktop files gone on Windows 10 can be solved by switching to the original correct account.

Step 1. Click Start and right-click the account name icon.

Step 2. Select the desired account on the list and sign in to it.

Solution 5. Change Indexing options

Sometimes, Windows updates may make changes to the hard drive or some files. In response, you can change the indexing options to quickly find your missing files or folders.

Step 1. Type and search “indexing options” in the Windows 10 search box and click on the search result.

Step 2. Tap on the Advanced position and click Rebuild.

Part 2. Recover deleted Windows desktop files

If none of the above methods can fix the “Windows 10 desktop files gone” issue, there is a high possibility that they were deleted during the Windows 10 update process. Here are two simple ways you can quickly retrieve deleted files on Windows 10.

Solution 1. Recover desktop files with data recovery tool

There is no need to panic if the Recycle Bin is emptied or if the needed files are not found in the Recycle Bin. Professional data recovery software like MyRecover can help you easily recover deleted files.

This software provides an easy way to recover permanently deleted Windows files with just a few clicks.

MyRecover

Powerful Data Recovery Software

 

• Recover files from formatted, logically damaged, or partitioned failed hard drives.
• Support restoring more than 200 file types such as TXT, DOC, JPG, PNG, MP4, MP3, ZIP, HTML, etc.
• Provide a high recovery rate and fast recovery speed for lost data.
• You can filter, search, and preview deleted files during the recovery process.
• Provide a clear graphical user interface and simple operating steps.

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Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7& Windows Server

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Download this tool on your Windows PC and follow the steps below to solve the “Windows 10 desktop files deleted automatically”problem.

Step 1. Launch MyRecover and hover the mouse over the drive and click Scan to scan.

Step 2. It will scan deleted files deeply and quickly.

Step 3. Do not need to wait for the scanning process to complete, you can select your deleted desktop files and click Recover x files to take them back.

Solution 2. Restore desktop files from Recycle Bin

The Recycle Bin on Windows will save all temporarily deleted files. Recovering files from Recycle Bin to their original locations can be a good method to get back files disappeared from desktop on Windows 10.

Step 1. Double-click the Recycle Bin icon to open it.

Step 2. Locate your lost desktop files and right-click on them to click Restore.

To sum it up

If you are experiencing the Windows 10 desktop files gone issue, please first check if they are removed from your computer or not. If it is confirmed that the files are deleted, you can easily get back the data with the help of MyRecover. Download this software quickly and try it out now.