How to recover deleted files?

Hello Dean,

Coming from someone who has just deleted all of their files, your message seems remarkably composed and rational - kudos.

Unfortunately, regarding the recovery of your files, I can't improve on the AI generated answer.

As to why this happened, we have to consider how and when "environment variable" (such as %TEMP%) expansion/substitution occurs and whether you inadvertently made any typing mistakes (perhaps just a "fat finger" pressing of two keys).

An article from the reliable Raymond Chen discusses environment variable expansion. If %TEMP% expands to "C:\trailingspace " then the command "dir %TEMP%*" expands to "dir C:\trailingspace \*" which will list the contents of the directory "C:\trailingspace" (if it exists) and "\".

A "space" character, either in the environment variable expansion or inadvertently typing was probably your undoing.

Assuming that the volume containing the files is in NTFS format, use of the command "fsutil usn readJournal" will show what has been deleted (inasmuch as the volume journal is large enough to hold all of the file delete records).

Gary

To recover deleted files, especially if you have accidentally deleted more than just temporary files, you can try the following methods:

1. Check the Recycle Bin: If the files were deleted recently, they might still be in the Recycle Bin. Open it and see if you can restore the files from there.
2. File Recovery Software: If the files are not in the Recycle Bin, you can use file recovery software. There are several tools available that can help recover deleted files, such as Recuva, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, or Disk Drill.
3. Restore Previous Versions: If you have File History or System Restore enabled, you might be able to restore previous versions of files or folders. Right-click on the folder where the files were located, select "Restore previous versions," and see if any backups are available.
4. Check Temporary Files: Sometimes, applications create temporary files that might still exist. You can look in the %TEMP% folder or check specific application folders for any autosave or temporary files.
5. Windows Backup: If you have a backup solution in place, check if you can restore files from your backup.

Regarding the thumbnail issue in File Explorer, you can try clearing the thumbnail cache:

• Open the Disk Cleanup utility, select your drive, and check the option for "Thumbnails" to clear the cache.

If you want to understand why this happened, the command del /q /f /s %TEMP%\* is designed to delete all files in the TEMP directory, which may include files that were not intended to be deleted if they were stored there. It's always a good practice to double-check the command and the directory you are targeting before executing such commands to avoid accidental data loss.

Hello Dean Focarile,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum. It's my pleasure to help you today.

I understand that you have questions about the command you use to delete the file in the temp folder. The commands will delete all files in the temp folder, even the one that is currently in use by apps. Also, the deletion made by the commands is permanent, so there is no way to recover them apart from using a third-party tool. These commands won't delete any file outside of the temp folder, so all other apps and data will be safe.

I hope this clarifies. Feel free to contact us again if you have any other questions.