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Home / How to Recover Files From Deleted User Account Windows 10

How to Recover Files From Deleted User Account Windows 10

Summary: Have you permanently deleted your files and want to recover them? In this post, we've mentioned various tried and tested methods to recover permanently deleted files on Windows 11/10. The best and easiest way to recover permanently deleted files is by using a reliable file recovery software for Windows.

How Can I Recover Permanently Deleted Files on Windows 10/11?

Table of Content:

  • How to Recover Permanently Deleted Files on Windows 10/11?
    • Method 1: Restore Permanently Deleted Files from Backup
    • Method 2: Restore Files using Previous Versions
    • Method 3: Recover Files using Command Prompt
    • Method 4: Use File Recovery Tools
      • Windows File Recovery tool
      • Stellar Data Recovery software for Windows
  • Watch the video for detailed instructions on how to recover deleted files on Windows 10.
  • Conclusion

While tackling multiple tasks on your Windows system, you may accidentally delete a file or folder. In other situations, you may deliberately delete files and folders, by pressing the Delete key, to make space for storing some other data. Such files and folders are "temporarily deleted" as they go to the Recycle Bin. You can quickly restore such deleted files from Recycle Bin in a few clicks.

What happens if you empty the Recycle Bin or delete a file using the Shift + Delete key combination or run a system cleaner app? These acts result in permanent deletion of the files and folders.

Warning Box - Are you sure you want to permanently delete this file

Such permanently deleted files could be easily recovered if you take prompt action and use the right methods.

Note: You must stop using the system or hard drive from which you've deleted the files to prevent overwriting.

How to Recover Permanently Deleted Files on Windows 10/11?

Below are the methods you need to follow in the given sequence to restore permanently deleted files on a Windows system.

Method 1: Restore Permanently Deleted Files from Backup

Windows 11 and 10 provide a utility called Backup and Restore, which allows you to back up the files and restore them as and when needed. You need to check your recent backup, if you are using Windows Backup.

To restore data from the backup, connect the backup storage media to your Windows 11/10 PC and follow these steps:

  1. Open the Start menu by pressing the Windows logo key.
  2. TypeControl Panel and press Enter.
Control Panel
  1. Go toUpdate and Security > Backup and Restore (Windows 7).
Backup and Restore
  1. Click 'Restore my files' and follow the wizard to restore the files.
  2. If 'Restore my files' isn't visible, click 'Select another backup to restore files from' and follow the restore wizard.
Windows could not Find a Backup for this computer

Method 2: Restore Files using Previous Versions

You can also recover accidentally deleted files on Windows 10/11 using the Previous Versions feature.

The steps are as follows:

  1. Right-click on the folder that contained the permanently deleted file(s) or folder(s).
  2. Choose 'Restore previous versions.'
Restore Previous Versions
  1. From the available versions, choose the version which you want to restore.
  2. Click 'Restore' ordrag & drop the version at the desired location.
Windows 11 Properties > Pervious Versions

Caution: Use an external storage drive to save the restored version. This is crucial to prevent data overwriting if the desired files and folders are not found in the restored version.

Method 3: Recover Files using Command Prompt

Sometimes, the files or folders can't be found if you accidentally chose the hidden attribute for file or the file got corrupted. In such cases, you can use the Command Prompt to restore your files. Follow the steps below:

  1. Click on the Start Menu and type 'cmd' in the Search bar.
command Prompt
  1. Right-click on the Command Prompt tab and choose the 'Run as administrator' option.
  2. Insert 'chkdsk D: /f' in the command prompt and press Enter. (Replace D with your hard drive letter.)
chkdsk command
  1. Again insert 'ATTRIB -H -R -S /S /D D:*.*' and press Enter. (Replace D with your hard drive letter.)
Attrib Command

The recovery process will start. Wait for the process to complete.

Method 4: Use File Recovery Tools

There are various tools that specialize in recovering deleted or lost files on Windows systems. Below, we've mentioned two such tools – Microsoft Windows File recovery tool and Stellar Data Recovery for Windows.

A. Windows File Recovery Tool

Windows File Recovery is a command-line tool, which uses switches and modes to recover the deleted files. You can use this tool to recover permanently deleted files on your Windows system.

Steps to use the Windows File Recovery tool:

  1. Download Windows File Recovery from Microsoft Store and launch it.
Windows File Recovery Download
  1. Press the Windows logo key and type Windows File Recovery. Press Enter.
Windows File Recovery
  1. Select 'Yes' to allow the app to make changes to the device.
  2. In the Command Prompt, enter the following command – winfr source-drive: destination-drive: [/mode] [/switches]

Specific Commands to Recover Deleted Files on Windows 10

  •Recover files from C: drive to the recovery folder on D: drive.

Winfr C: D: /regular /n \Users\\Documents\

  •Recover files like PDF and Word documents from C: drive to the recovery folder on D: drive.

Winfr C: D: /regular /n *.pdf /n *.docx

  •Recover files with the string "guitar" in the file name

Winfr D: C: /extensive /n *guitar*

  •Recover JPEG and BMP images from the Pictures folder on D: drive.

Winfr C: D: /extensive /n \Users\\Pictures\*.JPEG /n\Users\\Pictures\*.BMP

Note: When recovering deleted files from the C: drive, i.e., where Windows is installed, use the /n <filter> switch to specify the user files or folder.

  1. After running the above commands, enter Y to start the recovery operation.

Read detailed instructions for using the Microsoft Windows File Recovery tool.

Note: We tried to download and install the Windows File Recovery tool on a Windows 11 system, but it fails to download. The reason for the failure – be it Windows 11 incompatibility or any other issue – is not clear. We're looking into issue.

B. Stellar Data Recovery Software

Stellar Data Recovery for Windows is a DIY software that can recover permanently deleted files on Windows 11, 10, 8.1, and older versions. The software can recover all types of data, such as documents, videos, audio files, images, etc. from any storage device. It can also recover data from encrypted and RAW drives.

Steps to use Stellar Data Recovery software for Windows:

  1. DownloadStellar Data Recovery Standard software.
  2. Install the software on a different volume or external USB drive (recommended) to avoid overwriting.
  3. Launch the software.
  4. Select 'All Data' or choose a specific file type from the options and click 'Next.'
Select What to Recover
  1. Select the location from where you've deleted the files. You can choose a particular folder under 'Common Locations' or the drive volume from 'Connected Drives'. Then, click 'Scan.'
Recover From
  1. After scanning, the recoverable files are listed in a tree-view structure in the left pane. Expand the tree to locate the files or click the 'File Type' tab to sort files quickly.
Turn on Preview

You can also use thesearch barto locate particular files and click on a file to see its preview before saving.

  1. If the desired files are not found, click the 'Click here' link at the bottom to run 'Deep Scan.'

Note: The Deep Scan process takes more time as compared to the default Quick Scan, but it gets back all the recoverable data by thoroughly searching for the permanently deleted data on the hard drive based on file signatures.

  1. Finally, select the files you wish to recover and click 'Recover. Then, click Browse' to choose a save location.
  2. Click 'Start Saving' to recover the files.
Select Destination and Click Start Saving

After restoring the permanently deleted files, create a backup to safeguard against future data loss.

Watch the video for detailed instructions on how to recover deleted files on Windows 10.

Conclusion

To prevent permanent data loss, always keep an updated backup of your critical files. You may use cloud storage or a local drive for backup. Alternatively, you may enable File History, which is a great backup tool available in Windows. File History automatically stores a shadow copy of the files and folders to an external USB or Network drive.

Further, a file recovery software, such as theStellar Data Recovery comes in handy in various data loss situations. The tool can recover permanently deleted files, formatted data, and files from deleted partitions in just a few clicks. The software helps when a backup fails, is unavailable, or turns obsolete.

FAQ

Q. Where do my permanently deleted files go in Windows 11?

A. All deleted files remain inside the computer hard drive even if you empty the Recycle Bin or use the Shift + Delete command for deletion. However, you can't access the deleted files normally because their location addresses in the hard storage are deleted (removed), and that space is allocated for fresh usage.

Q. I deleted my files from a Windows 10 computer a few weeks ago. Can I recover them?

A. The possibility of recovery depends on whether the deleted files are still intact on the hard disk drive and not "overwritten" with regular usage. As you had deleted the files a few weeks ago, the chances of recovery could be slim, mainly if you used the device a lot. Still, you can quickly determine the possibility by running Stellar Data Recovery software. After scanning the hard disk drive, if you can see the deleted files in Preview, you can recover them.

Q. I deleted my files by pressing the Delete key in Windows 10. Where do I find them? Is there a way to restore deleted files?

A. Firstly, look into the Recycle Bin because that's where the deleted files go unless you deleted them by pressing the Shift + Del keys or the files were too large (several GBs in size). Once you reach the Recycle Bin, right-click the file and click 'Restore' to bring back the deleted file to its previous location. If the files are not found in Recycle Bin, you can use a professional data recovery tool to recover the deleted files.

Q. I want to recover my deleted files for free on a Windows 10 laptop. Is there a way to do that?

A. Yes, you can use the Microsoft Windows File Recovery tool using the steps described in this post. You can also use Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition – a DIY software that allows free recovery of up to 1 GB of data.

Q. I don't want to be in a situation where I need to worry about data loss due to the accidental file deletion in Windows 10. Is there a way to avoid this situation?

A. Yes, Windows 10 offers a built-in 'Backup and Restore' feature that allows you to back up the files on an external hard disk drive or network location. In the event of a data loss due to any reason, including file deletion, you can restore a previous backup copy and retrieve the data.

Follow these steps to back up your data on Windows 10 computers:

  1. Press the Windows logo key.
  2. Type Settings and navigate to Update & Security.
  3. Click Backup and Add a drive to start creating backups.

Read detailed instructions for Backup and Restore in Windows 10

How to Recover Files From Deleted User Account Windows 10

Source: https://www.stellarinfo.com/blog/how-can-i-recover-permanently-deleted-files-in-windows-10/