Local\AppData\Credentials folders - missing

[GRoston]

All,

I screwed up today. While meaning to delete files from AppData\Local\Temp, I accidentally deleted (many) from AppData. [Sidebar: Is there any way to configure the file explorer such that deleting from the folder view is disabled?]

After a brief panic, I downloaded (from another machine) the utility Recuva64 (thank you!) and restored the missing files to a separate drive, after which I copied them back to where they belong.

But, there was a problem - I could not copy files from the recovered folder Credentials to Local\AppData\Credentials. Even stranger, I did not have permission to view the security credentials of Local\AppData\Credentials. I tried booting to safe mode to fix this, but both folders were gone - the recovered one as well as Local\AppData\Credentials.

So, my system is up and running, but the folder Local\AppData\Credentials is missing. I tried using Recuva64 again, but it did not find the folder. I also looked in an older backup of my profile, but again, I did not see the folder. The folder does, whoever, exist on my notebook (but whose to say if the information is consistent).

Things seem to be working, but I am worried - it seems that I deleted something important and that this will come back to haunt me, and in the worst way. How bad is this really? Is there anything I can do to mitigate possible problems?

 

[logicearth]

Windows will recreate Credentials along with a lot of the files in the Local part of AppData, most of that stuff is temporary. Might affect some of your applications configuration but it will not have any ill effects to Windows itself.