Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) regularly releases patches that provide updates for Windows 10 users, but a recent patch didn't go as planned.
Security update KB4532693--intended to fix various vulnerable security concerns--caused many people to have their Windows 10 desktop, settings, and start menu reset to default. That means any customization, pinning, and settings that had been placed in those areas (apps, files, folders, shortcuts, and wallpapers) were gone.
After installing the update, some users even experienced the so-called "blue screen of death" (BSOD), the blue error screen Windows displays to indicate a fatal system error.
Needless to say, many Windows 10 users aren't pleased.
For one, the bug raises alarm bells considering that this type of occurrence isn't an isolated incident. A similar widespread issue happened back in October 2018. That time, though, the deleted files were actually deleted.
The problem this time around isn't that the update is deleting files but that the files are simply being misplaced and are therefore, theoretically, recoverable.
Most users who experienced the error saw a message reading, "You have been logged in with a temporary profile." According to Lawrence Abrams of the site Bleeping Computer, Windows 10 post-update "is loading up a temporary profile to be used during the update process and failing to restore the user's profile when done."
The fact that files are theoretically recoverable would seemingly be good or at least promising news. The courses of action Microsoft have taken to correct the problem, however, have been less than desirable for many. For some, the measures didn't work.
The first solution Microsoft suggested to recover lost files, settings, and shortcuts was to create another account, then transfer the data to that new account from the temporary account.
While investigating the problem, Microsoft tried that method and was successful. "[We can] create a new local account user then transfer the personal files from the temporary account to the new account. After that, we can just delete the temporary account," said a Microsoft employee.
While some people who tried this rather roundabout corrective method were successful, many weren't able to recover their files this way.
Later, Microsoft offered another solution, which was to reboot in Safe Mood, then reboot out of Safe Mode. Those steps should help, but they might not.
Another possible solution is to manually uninstall the update.
The KB4532693 patch was released on February 11, 2020 as part of weekly series known as Patch Tuesday.
It's also worth pointing out that KB4532693 wasn't even Microsoft's only Windows bug released in February. Update KB4524244 also caused issues, namely problems with the "Reset this PC" function.