Windows 10 KB4532693 Update Bug Reportedly Deletes User Files

The Windows 10 KB4532693 update appears to be buggier than originally thought as users are reporting that the update is deleting their files.

After the Windows 10 KB4532693 cumulative update was released last week, users started to report that their desktop and Start Menu was reset to the default settings and that they could no longer find files stored in their user profile.

After further investigations, it was discovered that during the installation of the update, the user was switched to a temporary profile, their original profile was backed up with a .000 or .bak extension, and a bug prevented the update from restoring the normal user profile when done.

To resolve this, users found they could restart Windows a few times or uninstall the update to get their normal profile back.

At that time, Microsoft's only statement to BleepingComputer was that they are aware of the issues and are investigating them.

Users experiencing bigger problems

It turns out that the problems with this update may be worse than their profiles being backed up and having to be restored.

Since our last article, comments at WindowsLatest.com and users in the Microsoft forums and on Twitter have been reporting [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] that their user profile and files are completely missing and that they had to use backups to restore their deleted files.

If the profile was deleted, that means that any files stored in the Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, and Videos folders would have been deleted as well. This also includes any program data stored under the user profile.

To get this update installed without losing data, one user had to perform a crazy procedure of backing up their user profile before performing the update and then restoring it after so that they had their files.

In BleepingComputer's tests, we have not run into any issues when installing this update on multiple computers.

We also asked on Twitter if anyone had these issues after installing the KB4532693 update, and out of the 16 replies, one person stated that they lost data due to the update.

Even though the bug is affecting only a small amount of users, it is a devastating one for those impacted.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time that a buggy Windows 10 update led to the deletion of user data.

When the Windows 10 October 2018 Update was released, numerous users had their data deleted and it led to Microsoft pulling the update to fix it.

BleepingComputer has contacted Microsoft again about this update but has not heard back at this time. 

What to do if you are missing data

If you are missing data after installing the Windows 10 KB4532693 cumulative update, first open the C:\users folder and see if any folders are ending with a .bak or .000 extension.

If these folders exist, one of them is probably your original profile and you can open the folder to check if your data is there.

If your data exists, I suggest you back up the data to an external drive or cloud backup service immediately so that you do not run the risk of data loss.

You should then restart Windows 10 a few times and see if your profile is restored. If not, then uninstall the KB4532693 update using these instructions.

If there are no backed-up folders in the C:\Users folder, then your profile has been deleted along with all of the data within it.

At this point, your only recourse is to contact Microsoft and see if they have a method of restoring your files.

If no method is available, then you should restore your files from a backup or attempt to restore them from Shadow Volume Copies.

If none of these options work, your last resort is to use a file recovery program.