digitalhank

Last night as I turned off my laptop I was given a message to install updates for Windows 10. I clicked on update and shut down. This morning when I turned on my laptop Windows started applying the updates. After an hour and 20 minutes I was finally given control of my laptop.

Immediately I noticed that my background image was gone. When I went to re-establish it I found that all the pictures in my picture folder were gone along with all my music. No warning before the install to back things up.

Any thoughts?

brucewells Loc: Central Kentucky

Well, it's a pretty sure bet that the Win 10 update did not remove them. Some of the updates are rather thorough and take a long time to apply themselves, especially if the computer is not a fast one or the internet connection is slow. It seems to me that the last update did change my "background image", but I set it back to what I wanted.

Go to Windows Explorer and in the upper right hand corner, in the search bar, type "*.jpg" (without the quotes) and start your search. It will likely find them.

Keldon Loc: Yukon, B.C.

And if Bruce's suggestion doesn't work for some reason, just reset your computor to a time before you did the update.

CPR Loc: Nature Coast of Florida

Have updated 5 laptops so far to Windows 10 and never lost a single file but had to reset screensaver. The files must still be there somewhere.

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

First: Welcome to the Hog!
Then:
I have no thoughts as to where your photos or music may have gone to.
As Bruce said: do a search for .jpg, and if you know the extension of your sound files, for those as well.
As soon as you find them, BACK THEM UP (I'm not shouting, just emphasizing).

Very definite thoughts as to Windows giving a warning before doing anything:
You should not need a warning; backing up "things" should be part of your regular routine!
If you don't already have one, get yourself an external hard drive, and at the end of the day, before you shut down your computer, back up everything that you don't want to lose, to that external drive.
When you've been on the Hog for a while, you'll realize that many of us back up our photos (and other important stuff) to more than one external drive. For example: I have at least three copies: computer, external at home but in a different location than the computer, external off-site (my grandson has recently been promoted to "master external keeper"!

MichaelL

I had a similar experience with Windows 10. Update went through, I did not like it and tried to reset to an earlier time as they promise you can do. In that process all of my files were erased and I basically had a new computer. There were lots of other issues including with the Microsoft help desk. Luckily it was not my main computer and most of the pictures/videos were backed up somewhere. When a second computer was going to automatically update I purchased a 4tb external hard drive just to make sure nothing was lost. That update went okay.

Good luck with your problem.

Armadillo Loc: Ventura, CA

digitalhank,

I am sorry to read about your problem with Win 10, there may be a solution for your problem.

First, manually open the Windows Update app. In there you should see a link to view recent updates, make a notation of the name of the updates that occurred when you lost your image and audio files. (Most updates begin with KB)
Perform a Google search on those update names, read the descriptions in detail to confirm the possible action. Some may even suggest where Windows moved the files to.

Second, note which update caused the change in your image and audio files by name.
The "Reset" often will reset the operating system back to its default configuration (not necessarily what you were used to seeing).
"System Restore" restores your operating system back to a date where it last performed as you expected. In other words, if you had installed a new application and it trashed another program, the restore would effectively uninstall the new program and restore the system to the date of operation before the new program installed.

Windows "Update" installs its own type of programs in the name of security, but Windows Updates allows the user to select Automatic Update, Notify me of new updates, download and notify me of new Updates, but let me decide which updates to install. The last two can help prevent this problem from happening again.
After you have successfully run System Restore and you have your missing files back to where they should be, manually run System Restore to notify you of new updates. Locate the offending update, right click it, and select "Hide". It will not show up again, or install.

In your research on the updates you may come across information as to where the file types were moved, why they were moved, and how to compensate for the move. Only you can decide if the update is important for your system and to allow the changes to be made in the name of security. You can always go back to Windows Update manually and un-hide hidden updates to deselect the offending hidden update and have it install.

Michael G

PS I had to do this to remove that annoying update flag in Win 7 to upgrade to Win 10.

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

Just use System Restore. and choose a date prior to the update.

digitalhank

Luckily I had a similar situation. Update was not on main laptop.

digitalhank

Thanks for the tip but that did not work.

Linthicum

Click on the "Search the Web and Windows". Type in a name of one of the photo files or name of the music that you presume is missing. When a file is displayed, do a right-click and it should show "Open File Location". That should take you to the folder of the specific file. I've done that when I accidentally put a file in the wrong folder. It works. If it doesn't, I have no clue where your photo could be but you should not have lost them during the Windows 10 installation.

Linthicum

I forgot to mention the location of the "Search the Web and Windows". in case one doesn't know, it's in the lower left corner of your screen.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

It's called Cortana - Microsoft's "Siri". It searches both computer & web and runs with Edge, the Win 10 version of Internet Explorer. it's a great tool.
Mark

digitalhank

Familiar with and did not work.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

I hope you had a backup of all your stuff before you let your computer do such an invasive upgrade. In fact, you should have a backup even if you weren't planning on this kind of upgrade. If you don't have a backup, and you don't get your pictures and music back, then you will be learning a very tough lesson the hard way.

********************************************************************************************
TO ALL THE OTHER PEOPLE READING THIS THREAD:
PLEASE BACKUP YOUR PICTURES, MUSIC, AND OTHER IMPORTANT FILES TO AN EXTERNAL DRIVE OR SERVICE