Windows 10 downloads folder disappeared

Lesson learned. Another option. This also applies if you are using a download manager. Excellent suggestions. I downloaded the user manual for my new cell phone to the download folder. It was there for less than a week before it was gone. I found it in my setup folder where I keep the installation files for the apps on my computer. Good to know even if it is thirty five years or so late. Maybe some of them are still on my computer and nobody knows where Microsoft put them.

It will find ,as its name implies, Everything even deleted files. It has many other options for searching. Hope this will help. I never had any idea there was any danger. After reading this article, I emptied the Download folder into another folder. Actually, I should take some time and move those files into more appropriate folders.

Since my old Win 7 machines run with a standard user for everyone and an admin user for me, downloading a file while logged in as admin made it difficult for other users, either on the machine or on the network, to find these files. Problem solved! I believe it to be number 1 on the list above. But whatever or wherever it is located, I have never lost a file that I downloaded. And, as Leo suggests, if it is an important download, I move it to a separate, distinct folder and back it up!

Makes typing these entries into various open and save dialog boxes MUCH easier. Some programs have their own default Downloads folder which is can be changed inside the program. You can move the Downloads or any folder using Windows File Explorer. Look, I realize that this community forum is for people who 'don't get it' with computers, but between and now did you really not backup even once? Your grad school papers are vital to your education and possibly to your career, and you don't make backup copies?

Nothing gets backed up in Windows automatically; this is something you have to setup yourself. You should be backing up every day, at least. If you look at that folder you will see that is has a sub-folder with your user account name. That's where your files go. Those folders are never touched during an update, because they were set aside to hold your personal files.

If you store your files anywhere else on your computer they might very well get deleted, because feature updates typically make extensive changes to your computer. If you stored your files elsewhere there is one other place that you can check.

After an update, Windows creates a folder called windows. Your missing files might be inside that folder. Files stored online are not affected by an update, because updates only change what's on your computer. This is a long shot, but you may have a user account on your school's servers, and there may be copies of your work there. Was this reply helpful? Yes No. Sorry this didn't help. Thanks for your feedback.

If so, it may have moved your files to OneDrive. Click its icon in the Tray may take a sec to respond , then click " Open folder ".

If lucky, your downloads will be in the OneDrive Downloads folder. I purchased what was said to be a Windows 10 Pro product key on Jan 10th and just used the key with no problem but then about a month later, there was an error msg on my pc that there was no key and so I went to the product link listed above that is now gone and uploaded what I thought was a legit windows product, only to then discover afterward that all of my old download files in my C drive have disappeared and file history has been disabled and I can't turn it on.

You can opt for an effective method according to your situation:. Case 1: Folders are hidden - go to solution 1. Case 2: Folders in the other User account - go to solution 2. Case 3: If the missing folder is the AppData folder - go to solution 3. Case 4: If it's caused by hard drive system errors - go to solution 4.

Case 5: If it's caused by an indexing issue - go to solution 5. Case 6: Don't know what the reason is - go to solution 6. Sometimes, the folders that seem missing or vanished are hidden somewhere.

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