Windows 10 October Update Deletes User Documents

Microsoft has fixed a problem with a Windows 10 update that inadvertently deleted user documents. Oddly the problem had been highlighted in early testing, but doesn't seem to have been fixed.

The issue received widespread attention when the October 2018 Update started rolling out to the wider public. That's the second of the two big annual updates that bring new features to Windows 10, a system that replaces the old set-up of having service packs rolled out every few years.

Some users discovered that after the update, everything they had stored in their Documents folders had disappeared. Some were able to restore the files using specialist recovery software, but in many cases if the user didn't have a backup, the files were gone forever.

Redirected Folders Cause Glitch

Microsoft has now issued an update with the somewhat confusing explanation that "An incorrect timing calculation may prematurely delete user profiles on devices subject to the 'Delete user profiles older than a specified number of day' group policy." (Source: microsoft.com)

It appears that the bug affected users who have redirected standard folders such as "Desktop", "Documents" or "Downloads" to another location, rather than storing these folders (by default) on the C drive.

For example, on some machines the C drive might be a solid state drive (SSD) to store Windows, while a traditional drive (the D drive) is used for storing user data. In this case, the Desktop, Documents and Downloads may have been stored on the D drive (but only if it was configured by the user to do so).

Double Trouble Causes Deletion

The unintended deletion came from two separate mistakes by Microsoft. The first came earlier this year when it discovered the redirection was sometimes creating duplicate folders that had the same name but were empty.

The second mistake came with the recent update which was designed to automatically delete the duplicate folders but, with some set-ups, was actually deleting the folders which contained the files.

What's particularly odd is that public records suggest more than 200 members of Microsoft's Windows 10 testing program reported the deletion during the summer, before the final update went out to the public. (Source: theregister.co.uk)

What's Your Opinion?

Do you know anyone who's been affected by this problem? Do you backup these folders (or your entire hard drive) as a matter of habit? Are you surprised Microsoft didn't fix the issue before rolling out the update?