Windows 10 just went Twilight Zone on me...

[MandicReally]

I was just having a problem with Adobe Premiere crashing on me (shocking), so I restarted my computer via Start -> Restart.  When I entered my password and got back into Windows, things were drastically changed.  My Desktop was missing 90% of the pictures and random stuff normally on it.  Just a few application shortcuts were present, including Microsoft Edge which I most certainly didn't have there.  Everything was acting as if I had just freshly installed Windows 10.  My default browser was suddenly Edge.  However most of my apps were still there and installed.  I was able to open Chrome but I wasn't logged into my Google Account.  Premiere Pro was there, but NONE of my video projects since the 2019 update were present.  

The REALLY strange thing was that when I went digging through directories to see where my missing Premiere Pro projects were, they were nowhere to be found.  It was like Windows suddenly went to a Restore point a month in the past.  

So I had a mini-heart attack as I had a couple projects that are not complete and I'd be up a creek without a paddle if they were lost.  Then I fully shut down the computer.  After a fresh restart and crossed fingers, Windows is back just like nothing ever happened, complete with all of my documents and projects.

I'm SO confused as to how the files just disappeared from my drive temporarily. Has anyone ever experience something like this? I need to back things up for fear this will happen again.  I do not like not knowing what caused this.

[kirashi]

25 minutes ago, MandicReally said:

I was just having a problem with Adobe Premiere crashing on me (shocking), so I restarted my computer via Start -> Restart.  When I entered my password and got back into Windows, things were drastically changed.  My Desktop was missing 90% of the pictures and random stuff normally on it.  Just a few application shortcuts were present, including Microsoft Edge which I most certainly didn't have there.  Everything was acting as if I had just freshly installed Windows 10.  My default browser was suddenly Edge.  However most of my apps were still there and installed.  I was able to open Chrome but I wasn't logged into my Google Account.  Premiere Pro was there, but NONE of my video projects since the 2019 update were present.  

The REALLY strange thing was that when I went digging through directories to see where my missing Premiere Pro projects were, they were nowhere to be found.  It was like Windows suddenly went to a Restore point a month in the past.  

So I had a mini-heart attack as I had a couple projects that are not complete and I'd be up a creek without a paddle if they were lost.  Then I fully shut down the computer.  After a fresh restart and crossed fingers, Windows is back just like nothing ever happened, complete with all of my documents and projects.

I'm SO confused as to how the files just disappeared from my drive temporarily. Has anyone ever experience something like this? I need to back things up for fear this will happen again.  I do not like not knowing what caused this.

Sounds to me like Windows logged you on with a temporary user profile for XYZ reason. This can happen if an update was still processing, failed, or if the files your Windows user account needs in order to properly logon were in-use or temporarily corrupt for whatever reason. You did the right thing logging out & restarting to see if you could login as normal again. My advice? Make sure you have off-site backups for when Windows decides to get a mind of its' own for inexplicable reasons.

[Radium_Angel]

What ^ said. It was a temp profile (usually Windows will tell you this when you log on) and could also have occurred from a failing hard drive. Back stuff up and check the health of your drive 

[MandicReally]

Just fully deployed my Unraid server yesterday, I'll be doing a thorough backup yet tonight. Thanks folks, this is the first time I have ever encountered this.