Solved windows 8.1 updates installed most of desktop items missin

This automatic update just happened and when I get back onto my computer most of the docs and others I had saved to my desktop are not there, and I can't seem to find them easily, any suggestions.

Did you notice any 'balloon' windows mention you are logged into a 'temporary' profile? If so, make sure your network cables/card is securely attached, restart, and try again. You might find your profile by typing this into your address bar in file explorer: C:\Users -and then looking through the correct user account for the desktop.
See picture for more detail:


Or you might be able to find what you're looking for by browsing in a folder called windows.old if you do in fact have it somewhere in your C: drive.

found the windows.old

all the files that used to be saved to the desktop are there in the windows.old, but are now listed as shortcut and cannot be found, fortunately I had a windows reinstall last week because my hard drive was broken and I had to get new recovery discs from HP, and a back up file was made and they are in there so just difficult to find

you can do a search for the items. open the C: drive, and type the name of one of your missing files. Right click it, and select open folder location. You might be able to find it all that way.

Honestly, I have no idea what happened, and perhaps the best way to find them is just to search and a lot of time

my idea

thanks for your help, my idea is just to copy the files from the backup to the desktop, but otherwise I will just search, thanks for your quick replies