User account disappeared

[AllanP]

Yikes all I was trying to do was view hidden files. Now my name under "Users" has been replaced by "Public" and all my documents and data have disappeared. I have no System Restore because I am no longer listed; yet I am there for logging in and my profile is listed in the control panel under User accounts.

 

[zx81]

To understand what happened, did you by accident move your user folder?

Are you still logged in as that user? Can you try to right click in the Explorer window, and select undo?

Best regards,

zx81

 

[Zidane24]

Yikes all I was trying to do was view hidden files. Now my name under "Users" has been replaced by "Public" and all my documents and data have disappeared. I have no System Restore because I am no longer listed; yet I am there for logging in and my profile is listed in the control panel under User accounts.

I had this happen and I have no clue why...can you click the Documents button in the start menu and go to your documents?

 

[AllanP]

I was looking into activating a quick launch tool bar. I don't remember it all but it started by going into Users\Username\ a bunch of stuff that wasn't showing so I figured I'd view hidden files. I was asked if apply to all sub folders; I answered yes and then my username was replaced with public and public documents etc. I have done a few reboots into administrator and back to myself so their is no undo or restore for either accounts.
My settings are still their as are my bookmarks in Firefox so I haven't lost everything and my docs are backed up.

 

[zx81]

AllanP,

Did you by any change create a system image by using Backup & Restore?
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html
If so, you could restore the system image:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/675-system-image-recovery.html

Best regards,

zx81

 

[AllanP]

Yikes all I was trying to do was view hidden files. Now my name under "Users" has been replaced by "Public" and all my documents and data have disappeared. I have no System Restore because I am no longer listed; yet I am there for logging in and my profile is listed in the control panel under User accounts.

I had this happen and I have no clue why...can you click the Documents button in the start menu and go to your documents?

No my docs are nowhere to be found.

 

[AllanP]

AllanP,

Did you by any change create a system image by using Backup & Restore?
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html
If so, you could restore the system image:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/675-system-image-recovery.html

Best regards,

zx81

No I had just gone through shrinking and re partitioning. Any restores would have been done under my profile which isn't showing under users.
Well off to bed. Maybe solved by morning.

 

[SquonkSC]

I was looking into activating a quick launch tool bar. I don't remember it all but it started by going into Users\Username\ a bunch of stuff that wasn't showing so I figured I'd view hidden files.

That question you saw isn't consistent with showing hidden files.
You don't get that question.

What I think you did is hide your userfolder, that's why it asked to apply it to all subfolders.

What you need to do:

In the explorer on the the left side of the bar you see Organize.

Click that and chose map and search options.

There you will see a list of items.

Uncheck "hide system files"

and check "show hidden files and folders"

click apply or ok.

Now I believe you'll see your userfolder again.

Check back here to tell us if that is the case or not.

greetings

 

[Chadrach000]

I did this this morning inadvertantly, what you've actually done is hid all your folders instead of being able to "view hidden files and folders". You need to go to each folder under Computer/then your user name on the left hand side of the screen and unhide them...it's a pain in the posterior.

 

[AllanP]

Thank you both. It's been a while and I chose to restore my laptop to original config and went from there.

Regards, Allan

 

[ThommyN]

Thanks so much! I had done the same thing somehow, my user account and most of my desktop icons disappeared. I was following instructions to run scanpst and couldn't locate my outlook.pst file (i guess it was hidden?). Your instructions here fixed it - everything reappeared - and let me run the scanpst on the file in appdata. Thanks!

 

[lwordish]

Solved it

Thanks a lot! I had the exact same problem and this solution worked. Thanks! Amazing that a 3 year old post still can be useful.