Possibly Corrupted User (Unbootable Windows 10)

[Leandro Fernandes]

I apologize in advance, but it's already pretty late and I'm tired from work, so I'll just send the text I wrote at record pace for the slightly impatient Microsoft tech support.

 

Yesterday, I re-named my PC to something else than the default so I would be able to distinguish it in my network. 

Today, when logging into Windows, I was hit with that double sign-in issue (two users with the same name (only had one user in the machine)). I signed into one of them which led me to the desktop where the system worked fine. 
Looking through my files, I noticed that both my Desktop and Documents folders were gone from the normal path (C:\Users\USERNAME\...), however, there were still accessible by the "This PC" shortcut. It was then I noticed both the folder's new path was under C:\Users\USERNAME\OneDrive\.... . This was confusing for several reasons, especially because I didn't even have OneDrive installed. I then went to the properties of the shortcut found on "This PC", went to "Location" and clicked "Restore Default", which transferred all the files back to the original place. 

To clean things up I decided to restart my machine. When restarting my machine, windows went directly to Repair mode. Nothing on repair mode was able to fix the issue. I also tried using a bootable usb with a Windows 10 installer to repair it, but it can't do it either.

 

I would love to just do a clean install of windows like the microsoft technician told me to, but I don't have a way (space or time) to back up all my files.

However, what I can do, is boot on a different drive with a clean installation of windows where I am capable of working on my unbootable drive. 

I believe it all boils down to my User's files, as I didn't touch anything else. Maybe creating a new user would fix the issue.

 

I'll take any advise and opinions on what to do.

[Fred Castellum]

At this point, I'd probably do what you were thinking of doing. Boot on a different drive, back up the files and do a clean installation. Creating a new user could resolve the issue or just make it worse. 

[Leandro Fernandes]

I forgot to mention, but my laptop also has the same issue, the only difference is that I didn't move files around, so it's still working, just with the wrong paths for the Desktop and Documents folders, and with two equal users in the sign-in page.

This is my work laptop (it's mine but I only use it for work) that I use everyday, so I would really like to have as little down time as possible. (Clean installation would be last resort)

[Agall]

32 minutes ago, Leandro Fernandes said:

I forgot to mention, but my laptop also has the same issue, the only difference is that I didn't move files around, so it's still working, just with the wrong paths for the Desktop and Documents folders, and with two equal users in the sign-in page.

This is my work laptop (it's mine but I only use it for work) that I use everyday, so I would really like to have as little down time as possible. (Clean installation would be last resort)

If you signed in with a Windows account, a lot of the time it'll default to Onedrive basically seizing your user folders like documents, desktop, etc. If those directories don't exist in the previous or current root user, then they're bound to Onedrive.

 

You can check what's synced/stored in Onedrive by logging into it. Sign in - Microsoft OneDrive (live.com)