MS Office docs disappeared but nothing else

ultrasonix73 · 11-30-2008, 12:49 PM

Between Friday and Sunday, our church office computer running Vista Home Premium lost all the .doc and .xls files from the only user's My Documents directory. The subdirectories within My Documents are still there, just with no files inside. The operating system, software, and all other files, including Office files residing on the Desktop remain unaffected.

This machine has one user with a password which is not shared. The user is adamant about that. It has antivirus updated daily and a software firewall. A virus scan shows nothing amiss. However, strange things have been known to happen immediately after Vista updates. I have tried doing a System Restore to several days prior but the documents did not reappear.

I'm not a novice with computers but I am with Vista. I'd dearly love to "downgrade" this machine to XP. I have pestered the user about maintaining document backups so any losses in the long run are her business but I would very much like to know what's happening.

Thanks for any and all help.

**jcgriff2** · 11-30-2008, 01:09 PM

Hi. . .

Welcome to TSF - Vista.

Are we dealing w/ Office 2003 or 2007? Full retail version (i.e., not a Trial version)?

Sorry, but have to ask - did you do system wide search for doc files? Also - you do mean %userprofile%\documents and NOT "My Documents"... correct? My Documents as you know is a Vista Junction and not a directory.

The only times I have heard of something like this happening was after the installation of Google Chrome - 1 case did involve IE8 beta. I know you ran rstrui, but I would check the Relib Monitor (perfmon /rel) to see what was installed/ un-installed.

Have you looked for any Office temp files - the ones created when you make changes to a doc or xls - they may be salvageable.

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

.

ultrasonix73 · 11-30-2008, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcgriff2

Hi. . .

Welcome to TSF - Vista.

Thanks for the quick reply!

Are we dealing w/ Office 2003 or 2007? Full retail version (i.e., not a Trial version)?

This is Office 2003. It's a full version that has been running on the machine for a couple of years that I know of.

Sorry, but have to ask - did you do system wide search for doc files? Also - you do mean %userprofile%\documents and NOT "My Documents"... correct? My Documents as you know is a Vista Junction and not a directory.

Yes, I did a system-wide search for .doc and .xls files. The only ones still on the machine were the ones residing on the Desktop as "real" files.

The only times I have heard of something like this happening was after the installation of Google Chrome - 1 case did involve IE8 beta. I know you ran rstrui, but I would check the Relib Monitor (perfmon /rel) to see what was installed/ un-installed.

I'll check the Relib Monitor to see what it has to say on my next visit to the office.

Have you looked for any Office temp files - the ones created when you make changes to a doc or xls - they may be salvageable.

Doh! I didn't think to search for temp files. I'll do that next time as well. The user has backups from a couple of weeks ago so we're not talking about a total loss in any case. This is all rather bizarre. I've been using PC's since DOS 2.2. Never ran into this one.

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

.

Many thanks!

ultrasonix73

**jcgriff2** · 12-01-2008, 03:47 AM

You're welcome.

If I come upon add'l info, I'll post it.

I can't say that Google chrome or IE8 actually caused a situation like this to happen, just that they were installed prior to the files disappearing.

One other item - one bizarre case I read said the file attributes were changed to H and S somehow. Might be a good idea if just using Windows Explorer to run dir cmd and see - using elevated admin cmd/DOS prompt. You probably know, but here goes:

START | type cmd.exe | right-click on cmd.exe | run as admin | paste this command into DOS screen:

Code:

dir %userprofile%\documents /a /s > %temp%\0.txt & start notepad %temp%\0.txt

That will give full dir list regardless of attributes & open a notepad with output for you. I'd be interested to know if Vista Junctions are still there - you'll see <JUNCTION> instead of <DIR>. Other files besides Office-related ones missing?

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

.

11-30-2008, 12:49 PM	#1 (permalink)
ultrasonix73 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 2 OS: Vista Home Premium	MS Office docs disappeared but nothing else Between Friday and Sunday, our church office computer running Vista Home Premium lost all the .doc and .xls files from the only user's My Documents directory. The subdirectories within My Documents are still there, just with no files inside. The operating system, software, and all other files, including Office files residing on the Desktop remain unaffected. This machine has one user with a password which is not shared. The user is adamant about that. It has antivirus updated daily and a software firewall. A virus scan shows nothing amiss. However, strange things have been known to happen immediately after Vista updates. I have tried doing a System Restore to several days prior but the documents did not reappear. I'm not a novice with computers but I am with Vista. I'd dearly love to "downgrade" this machine to XP. I have pestered the user about maintaining document backups so any losses in the long run are her business but I would very much like to know what's happening. Thanks for any and all help.

11-30-2008, 01:09 PM	#2 (permalink)
jcgriff2 Moderator, Microsoft Supp Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: The Great State of New Jersey - away from the gross corruption of the Riverside County, CA, SO office. SHAMEFUL ! Posts: 10,131 OS: Windows 7, Vista Ultimate My System	Re: MS Office docs disappeared but nothing else Hi. . . Welcome to TSF - Vista. Are we dealing w/ Office 2003 or 2007? Full retail version (i.e., not a Trial version)? Sorry, but have to ask - did you do system wide search for doc files? Also - you do mean %userprofile%\documents and NOT "My Documents"... correct? My Documents as you know is a Vista Junction and not a directory. The only times I have heard of something like this happening was after the installation of Google Chrome - 1 case did involve IE8 beta. I know you ran rstrui, but I would check the Relib Monitor (perfmon /rel) to see what was installed/ un-installed. Have you looked for any Office temp files - the ones created when you make changes to a doc or xls - they may be salvageable. Regards. . . jcgriff2 . __________________ . . . . . . . . BSOD Posting Instructions B Expecting a reply and waiting > 36 hours ? Send a PM to me containing a link to your thread Glad to be home in the Great State of New Jersey ! !

12-01-2008, 03:47 AM	#4 (permalink)
jcgriff2 Moderator, Microsoft Supp Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: The Great State of New Jersey - away from the gross corruption of the Riverside County, CA, SO office. SHAMEFUL ! Posts: 10,131 OS: Windows 7, Vista Ultimate My System	Re: MS Office docs disappeared but nothing else You're welcome. If I come upon add'l info, I'll post it. I can't say that Google chrome or IE8 actually caused a situation like this to happen, just that they were installed prior to the files disappearing. One other item - one bizarre case I read said the file attributes were changed to H and S somehow. Might be a good idea if just using Windows Explorer to run dir cmd and see - using elevated admin cmd/DOS prompt. You probably know, but here goes: START \| type cmd.exe \| right-click on cmd.exe \| run as admin \| paste this command into DOS screen: Code: dir %userprofile%\documents /a /s > %temp%\0.txt & start notepad %temp%\0.txt That will give full dir list regardless of attributes & open a notepad with output for you. I'd be interested to know if Vista Junctions are still there - you'll see <JUNCTION> instead of <DIR>. Other files besides Office-related ones missing? Regards. . . jcgriff2 . __________________ . . . . . . . . BSOD Posting Instructions B Expecting a reply and waiting > 36 hours ? Send a PM to me containing a link to your thread Glad to be home in the Great State of New Jersey ! !