Solved All my Windows settings gone :(

Hiya, I need some help guys, yesterday I installed the KB5010414 windows update and today when I started my laptop it said preparing for sometime and then eventually logged in but all my windows settings are gone, my chrome account logged off, OneDrive signed-off, its like as if a new user has logged in.
Under C:\Users I can see it has created a TEMP folder with usual subfolders like Desktop, Contacts, OneDrive etc.
Please any way to fix that?

Do you have an image to reload? If not Settings>Recovery and see if that's any good or read this

No, under settings > recovery it shows go back option as disabled now. Also don't think removing the windows update will fix my issue.
When I go to settings it shows Local Account under my name, I reckon it used to show my Hotmail a/c name until yesterday.
Also I can see the below 'this setting isn't available for a child's account' now? The last option is toggled ON and greyed out, cannot turn that off.

What does it say your account type is in Settings>Accounts and can you edit or delete it from there or recreate your original account? I take it you have not backed up an image before updating. Try system restore, that's all I can think of

In Settings>Accounts on the left side it reads my name and says Local Account under that and on the right side it says my name, my hotmail id and says Administrator.

I believe this problem can arise if your local account is corrupted.

For example, see this article.

When I go to Settings > Accounts > Your Info and then manage your accounts at the bottom, it opens a page in Edge and when I attempt to login with my Hotmail Id it says 'You can't sign in here with a personal account. Use your work or school account instead.'
I will go ahead with system restore now as you advised.

RFS said:

I believe this problem can arise if your local account is corrupted.

For example, see this article.

Click to expand...

I wanted to try that but while trying to boot into safe mode it's asking me for bitlocker code

The solution here https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...dows-and/7aed717b-9925-4a3b-bdd2-c0d2d0c20d0b worked like a charm
Thanks The-Hive & RFS for trying to help
Marking this thread as 'solved', cheers all.

onlytanmoy said:

Hiya, I need some help guys, yesterday I installed the KB5010414 windows update and today when I started my laptop it said preparing for sometime and then eventually logged in but all my windows settings are gone, my chrome account logged off, OneDrive signed-off, its like as if a new user has logged in.
Under C:\Users I can see it has created a TEMP folder with usual subfolders like Desktop, Contacts, OneDrive etc.
Please any way to fix that?

Click to expand...

Not sure my own case is related, or just a coincidence, but it so happens I got the 'Preparing Windows' error yesterday too, and the day before. Was even going to make a thread about it, until I saw yours.

'Preparing Windows' is less benign than it sounds. It's not like 'Installing updates' or something, and usually denotes a corrupted user profile. After which Windows then proceeds to give you a completely new temp account (with which you can do nothing, like you said). So, it's a very serious error, and means you're hosed if you can't get it to boot with your regular account any more. Fortunately, a few restarts and intense prayers later, Windows 11 booted up normally again.

I checked my user profile thoroughly; no (visible) errors found, although you can never really tell whether maybe there's some Active Directory mishap that occured. Since I was able to start up with my regular account again, after a few tries, it's safe to say my user account is not truly fubarred -- at least not beyond recognition.

I found nothing immediately linked to KB5010414, btw, But it's good to know I'm not the only one (if that means a solution may be in sight).

onlytanmoy said:

The solution here https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...dows-and/7aed717b-9925-4a3b-bdd2-c0d2d0c20d0b worked like a charm
Thanks The-Hive & RFS for trying to help
Marking this thread as 'solved', cheers all.

Click to expand...

Just because you can boot now doesn't mean that particular issue from last September solved it. I've had this happen to me several times too now, intermittently; so you may be jumping to conclusions.

onlytanmoy said:

No, under settings > recovery it shows go back option as disabled now. Also don't think removing the windows update will fix my issue.
When I go to settings it shows Local Account under my name, I reckon it used to show my Hotmail a/c name until yesterday.
Also I can see the below 'this setting isn't available for a child's account' now? The last option is toggled ON and greyed out, cannot turn that off.

View attachment 22660

Click to expand...

I know you indicated that this is solved, but I'm curious - why is it saying, "This setting isn't available for a child's account"? Are you logged in as an admin?