Desktop completey changed and nothing works

Im really sorry if someone has already made a thread about this but I was recently browsing the internet (on windows 10) when suddenly it crashes then restarts. Instead of restarting fully it did a disk analysis. It restarted a few times when doing this scan but eventually it finished. When restarting it brought up a completely new desktop picture and had no password. This was completely different to mine. When going onto the desktop there was no taskbar, no recycling bin, but only 4 small white buttons in the bottom right corner. These buttons consist of language, wireless connection, ease of access? and power. None of these buttons seem to do much if nothing. In ease of accses there is a tab saying on screen keyboard and when clicked nothing happens. You cannot right click on the desktop either!!

Please help, ive found this very annoying and really don't want to loose any of my "old" files.

Thanks
Fraser

First, look under C:Users and see if your account name is still there. If yes then there are some things you can try to recover your original account. This worked for XP, Vista and Win 7. Did not test it on 8, 8.1 or 10.

Before doing any of the following, make a backup of your registry. I suggest you install ERUNT to do this.

Your files are still there. Sounds like your user profile has lost it's connection with where it's data is stored. If you are comfortable with using regedit, try this by booting to Safe Mode by pressing F8 during boot. Login as Administrator, no password.

The key is a registry hack that redirects Windows back to the ProfileImagePath of the original profile.

Click on Startthen Run. type regeditand press Enteror click OK.

Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionProfileList

Once there, you will see the SID'slisted for all of the profiles on the machine. Something like this:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionProfileListS-1-5-18
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionProfileListS-1-5-19
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionProfileListS-1-5-20
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionProfileListS-1-5-21-2734701773-3490380084-605924724-1001
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionProfileListS-1-5-21-2734701773-3490380084-605924724-1004
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionProfileListS-1-5-21-2734701773-3490380084-605924724-500

On my system, my profile is under the one that ends in 1001, yours may be different, check them all.

Within the Key for each SID there is an entry called "ProfileImagePath"that will look like

ProfileImagePath REG_EXPAND_SZ C:UsersUserName...

Scroll through the SID's until you find the one with the screwy name, like

%SystemDrive%Documents and Settingsyouruserid.2

This is just an example, could be something else weird.

Just edit the Key to remove the ".2", and it will point the user back to their old profile...


Got this from [url=http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-6230-0.html?forumID=10&threadID=164922&messageID=1914470]TechRepublic.com[url] but it's no longer there.

I can only access these folders through advanced options then command prompt. Once there I find the program list folder etc but there is only three SIDS 18,19 and 20, none of theme seem out of place, what should I do?

Thanks
Fraser

Did you look in the registry anyway? For instance, my id on this computer is under:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionProfileListS-1-5-21-794305362-3819479439-442165928-1001

I decided to just reset my pc but am having problems, I made a new thread for it here: Boot Manager Missing and System Repair Not Compatible - Windows 10 blog Sorry