The Windows 10 October Update is deleting some users’ files

The Windows 10 October Update arrived a few days ago. The update offers some notable new features, including the ability to (eventually) run Android apps. Unfortunately, the update is causing some users some distress.

Some users are complaining that the Windows 10 update deletes user files including documents, music, pictures, and videos. The bug seems to be affecting a “small percentage of users,” and seems to occur with files that have been saved to a user directory but not synced to One Drive.

Reports are coming in from all over

Many who have had problems with the Windows 10 October 2018 update are taking to sites like Reddit to tell the world about their woes. One threat on Reddit features multiple users complaining about missing documents and pictures that were deleted after installing the update. Over at ZDNet, another person says they lost 220GB of data.

Heads up to anyone updating windows. Apparently, if you have documents saved in your user directory, i.e. users/JohnDoe, and not one drive, the update will delete EVERYTHING in that location. So if your "Documents" or "Pictures" don't have a one drive symbol, MIGRATE IMMEDIATELY!

— coolKevinator (@coolKevinator) October 4, 2018

The Windows 10 bug is not all-encompassing

It does seem that this problem is limited, however, and doesn’t affect everyone, as others have reported having no problems.  One user, for example, said, “I’ve just updated 6 laptops, 2 virtual machine and 2 desktops to the latest Windows 10 1809 update and they all went through without any issues.”

Windows is not the only software to ever experience issues at launch. Whether it is acceptable or not, many software updates feature early in their release cycle. Companies like Apple have had issues with software updates, and Android is no stranger to strange bugs, either. This is why many wait for a few days or weeks before updating, as often these issues are ironed out rather quickly.

For those experiencing problems, your best bet is to contact Microsoft. If you haven’t yet updated your Windows 10 machine and rather not after reading this report, you can defer the update for up to 365 days.

Did you have a problem installing the Windows 10 October 2018 update? What happened? 

Editors’ Recommendations:

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Bryan M. Wolfe

Bryan considers himself a well-rounded techie, having written articles for MakeUseOf, KnowTechie, AppAdvice, iDownload Blog. When he's not writing, he's being a single dad and rooting for his alma mater, Penn State, or cheering on the Patriots.