[Resolved] Missing or Lost Desktop Files After Windows 10 Update

How to Get Back the Desktop on Windows 10/11?

"I've encountered an issue after updating to Windows 10 where my desktop files and some applications have vanished. After upgrading to Windows 10, some files and folders on my desktop are missing, and I'm unsure where to locate them."

"How do I recover lost files and restore my Windows 10 desktop to its normal state?"

Please provide the English content you want to translate, and I will do my best to translate it into Chinese.

According to Microsoft and many of its Windows 10 users, the update does delete some files from system drives or cause desktop apps to vanish. How can you fix it?

First, you need to check if the desktop file is missing or has been relocated. Right-click on the Windows icon, and select "Open File Explorer." Then navigate to C:\Users\Public or C:\Users\UserName\Documents. In the search bar on the right side, look for the name of the missing file.

Next, choose the right solution for your current problem:

If the file appears in File Explorer, it means that it hasn't been deleted, but is just saved in a different location on your computer. Try the manual method to restore desktop icons and files. If the search doesn't turn up anything in File Explorer, the file may be hidden or missing. Proceed with the solutions below to recover the missing files.

Part 1: Recover Lost or Missing Desktop Files

A missing Desktop file could have been deleted by a Windows 10 update or hidden by the operating system or another program. You have two options to recover your lost or missing files.

Method 1: Show Hidden Files on the Windows 10 Desktop

Step 1: Open File Explorer, click on "View" then "Options," and then "Change folder and search options."

Step 2: Check the box that says "Show hidden files, folders, and drives." If there is a box that says "Hide protected operating system files," uncheck that as well. Click "OK" to save your changes.

Close the “Folder Options” window, and return to the desktop to see if your saved documents and files have reappeared.

If it can't find any files, folders, or applications, you'll need to use a more powerful tool like the Data Recovery Wizard to fix the problem.

Method 2: Recover Lost Desktop Files with Data Recovery Software

Reliable data recovery software can effectively restore desktop files that have vanished or been lost due to a Windows system update on your PC. The tool "Data Recovery Wizard" allows you to recover any missing files, applications, or folders from a Windows PC or storage device in complicated scenarios.

Aside from that, it supports USB data recovery, hard drive data recovery, external hard drive data recovery, and more with just a few simple steps. Let's see below how to use the Data Recovery Wizard tool to restore desktop files:

Step 1: Select the folder where you need to scan for lost files

Launch the Data Recovery Wizard tool. Under “Select Location,” click “Select Folder.” Click “Browse” to choose the location of the missing folder, then click “OK” to scan.

Select the folder to scan

Step 2: Look for and preview the found files in the lost folder

If you can remember the name of the folder, type it into the search box to quickly locate the missing files. Then, open the found folder and double-click to preview the scanned files. Alternatively, you can use the Filter feature to look for a specific type of file.

Select the files to recover

Step 3: Recover and save the lost folder

Finally, select the folders and files you need and click “Recover” to save the retrieved data to a new secure location on your computer.

Part 2: Five ways to recover lost desktop apps and files

Due to a bug in Windows 10, updating the operating system might cause your desktop and saved files to disappear. You can try the following manual methods to recover your missing desktop:

Method 1: Display Desktop Icons

Step 1: Right-click on the desktop, choose "View," and then uncheck "Show desktop icons."

Step 2: Check the "Show desktop icons" option again, and see if the icons and files reappear on the desktop. If they don't, try unchecking and checking the box multiple times.

Once your files and icons are back on the desktop, continue to the next step to organize your desktop.

Step 3: Right-click on the desktop and select View > check or uncheck "Auto Arrange Icons."

This would show all your files and folders on the left, and you could drag them around to wherever you want.

Method 2: Manually Enable the Show Desktop Icon

Step 1: Open Settings, and then click Personalization > Themes > Desktop icon settings.

Step 2: Check the boxes of the icons you want to appear on your desktop, like “This PC,” “Users' Files,” “Network,” “Recycle Bin,” and “Control Panel.”

Click “Apply” and then “OK.”

Method 3: Switch User Accounts to Find the Missing Desktop Files

If you signed into the wrong account, any files saved to the desktop and apps that you installed might be missing. You can switch back to the correct account to get them back.

Step 1: Click the Windows icon, then click your user name at the top.

Step 2: Tap on another visible account in the list to switch to that account.

Step 3: Try logging in with the password of another user account.

After that, your files and the missing app icons should be available again.

Method 4: Disable Tablet Mode and Switch to Desktop Mode

This only applies to devices with touchscreens. Enabling Tablet Mode on Windows 10 can cause issues with missing desktops or icons.

Here's how to turn off Tablet Mode:

Step 1: Right-click the Windows icon and select “Settings.”

Step 2: Click on “System” > “Tablet mode.”

Step 3: In the Sign-in section, choose Use desktop mode, and then turn off Hide app icons on the taskbar in Tablet Mode.

Method 5: Go back to a previous Windows build

When your desktop disappears due to a Windows 10 update, you can revert to the previous version of Windows to fix this issue.

Step 1: Go to Settings > click on Update & Security > and select the Recovery tab.

Step 2: Click on “Get started” under “Go back to Windows 10, version 1507.”

Follow the on-screen instructions to roll back Windows 10, which will return you to the desktop.

Extra tip to protect your Windows desktop files

When your desktop files or icons disappear or go missing, you can effectively retrieve them by following the solutions provided in Parts 1 and 2. Additionally, you might need some practical tips to safeguard your Windows desktop files. Here, we've gathered two reliable ones to assist you.

1. Create backups of important desktop files

To avoid such issues in the future, we recommend that you back up your desktop files and important PC data before installing a Windows update.

You can copy all your important files from the desktop to another secure device as a backup, or use a powerful file backup software to back up all the files on your computer at once.

Here are the detailed steps to create a desktop backup image in three steps:

Step 1: For your first backup with Todo Backup, click Create Backup on the main screen, then hit the big question-mark button to Select What to Back Up.

Step 2: Since you're backing up files and folders from your computer, proceed with the "Files" backup mode, which lets you choose images, videos, documents, and all sorts of other file types for backup.

Step 3: Browse and select the files, folders, or directories you wish to back up, then click OK.

Step 4: You will now need to choose a location to save and keep your backup.

Step 5: Todo Backup lets you save your backup to any convenient device, such as a local hard drive, external USB drive, SD card, network drive, or NAS drive, as well as to the vendor's cloud drive. We recommend saving important backups to a cloud drive for easier, more flexible, and secure access.

To access the Tools Cloud, all you need is an email registration and login.

Backup files to the cloud

Step 6: If you want to set up an automatic and intelligent backup schedule for your next file backup task, proceed to the "Options" tab. Here, you can encrypt your sensitive file backups, compress the backup image size, or customize the backup scheme to specify when the software should start the next backup.

Create an advanced, automated backup task right here:

7. Click on "Backup Now" to start the backup process. When it's done, the backed-up file will be displayed as a card in the left pane.

# 2. Open Windows Defender and fix disk errors

Due to virus infections or disk errors, applications and files on your desktop might suddenly vanish from your computer. To prevent such issues, it's recommended to enable Windows Defender or use antivirus software to protect your PC and run a disk check command to fix existing errors on your local hard drive.

The steps to enable Windows Defender and Virus & Threat Protection are as follows: 1. Open "Settings" - Click on the "Start" button in the taskbar or press the Windows key on your keyboard. - In the menu that appears, select the gear icon to open "Settings". 2. Go to "Update & Security" - Within the "Settings" window, locate and click on the "Update & Security" option. 3. Choose "Windows Security" - In the "Update & Security" interface, you'll see a navigation menu on the left side. Click on "Windows Security". 4. Access "Virus & Threat Protection" - In the "Windows Security" window, click on the "Virus & Threat Protection" icon. This is typically represented by a shield symbol. 5. Enable Windows Defender - On the "Virus & Threat Protection" page, check the "Real-time protection" or "Turn on Windows Defender" option. If it's turned off, click the switch to turn it on. 6. Verify the settings - After enabling it, ensure that other related protection settings are also active, such as cloud-based protection and malware scanning. - You can customize these settings as per your requirements. Once you've completed these steps, Windows Defender and Virus & Threat Protection should be enabled and running on your system.

Step 1: Right-click the Start button, select "Settings" > click "Update & Security" > click "Open Windows Defender Security Center."

Step 2. In the new window, click on Virus & threat protection > Manage settings for Virus & threat protection.

Step 3: Enable Real-time Protection, Protection provided by the cloud, and Automatic submission of samples.

The steps to run a disk error check are as follows: 1. Open "My Computer" or "This PC" depending on your Windows version. 2. Locate the hard drive you want to check, typically labeled C:, D:, E:, etc. 3. Right-click on the drive icon and select "Properties" from the context menu. 4. In the Properties window that opens, switch to the "Tools" tab. 5. In the "Error Checking" section, click the "Check" button. 6. If the system prompts you to perform the check at the next restart, choose "Schedule disk check" and restart your computer. 7. If the system allows an immediate check, follow the prompts and wait for the scanning and repair process to complete. 8. After the process is finished, the system will display whether any errors were found and fixed. Take further action if necessary, based on the instructions provided. Please note that this process might take some time, especially for larger hard drives. While running the disk error check, it's best to ensure that you don't need access to any files or applications on that drive, as they may be inaccessible during the process.

Step 1: Open "My Computer" or "This PC," right-click on the C drive where the hidden desktop files are stored, and select "Properties."

Step 2. Under "Tools," click on "Error checking" and choose to scan for existing errors on the drive. Click "Check" to start the process.

Check and fix errors on the existing disk.

Step 3: Click “Scan Disk” to begin scanning for and repairing any hard drive errors it finds.