Most people panic when their photos and videos go missing. The good news is that the files are usually still on the drive somewhere. Whether they ended up in the Recycle Bin, got tucked away in a temporary profile after a Windows update, or were quietly redirected to OneDrive, there is a logical order to check each hiding place before you resort to data recovery software. This guide walks you through every step to recover pictures videos Windows in order from quickest to most involved.

TL;DR

To recover pictures videos Windows: check the Recycle Bin first, then search the whole PC with File Explorer, look for a temporary profile under C:\\Users, check Windows.old after upgrades, review your OneDrive folder, and only then turn to dedicated data recovery software if nothing else works.

⏳️ 13 min read ✅ 80% success rate 📅 Updated June 2026

Key Takeaways

Check the Recycle Bin and run a File Explorer search before assuming files are gone for good.
Windows updates can log you into a temporary profile, making all your files look missing when they are actually still in C:\\Users\\YourOldName.
OneDrive silently redirects Pictures and Videos folders, so your files may be in the cloud rather than locally.
Windows.old holds your previous user profile for roughly 10 days after a major upgrade.
If files were permanently deleted, dedicated data recovery software is the standard approach. Stop writing to the drive the moment you realise files are missing.
Physically failing drives (clicking, beeping) need a professional lab, not DIY software.

At a Glance

Difficulty: Easy to Advanced
Time Required: 5 to 60+ mins depending on method
Success Rate: 80% of users recover files using the steps below

What Causes Missing Pictures and Videos on Windows?

There is rarely one single reason files go missing, which is why a blanket "just restore from backup" answer does not cut it for most people. Here is what I actually see day to day when people ring in about this.

The most common cause by far is simple accidental deletion. Someone hits Delete thinking they are removing a duplicate, or they use Shift+Delete without realising that skips the Recycle Bin entirely. If the Recycle Bin has been emptied since, the files are no longer in an obvious place but they are often still recoverable from the raw disk.

Windows updates are another big culprit. A feature update or in-place upgrade can sign you into a temporary profile, which makes your desktop look completely fresh and your Pictures folder appear empty. The files have not gone anywhere. They are sitting in your old profile folder under C:\\Users. It is a proper pain to diagnose if you do not know to look there, but it is a quick fix once you do. If your desktop looked suspiciously clean after a recent update, that is almost certainly what happened. (I have seen this trip up people who then ran data recovery software unnecessarily, which wastes hours.)

OneDrive is another one. Microsoft pushes folder protection quite aggressively, and if you clicked through a OneDrive prompt without reading it carefully, your Pictures and Videos folders may have been redirected to OneDrive. Locally they look empty. In the cloud they are fine. Related to this, if you have ever had File Explorer not responding on Windows 11, sometimes the OneDrive sync state gets stuck and folders appear empty even though the files exist online.

Finally, there is genuine data loss from permanent deletion, disk corruption, or a failing drive. These cases need either data recovery software or a professional lab. The key thing in all of these scenarios is to stop writing new data to the affected drive the moment you notice files are missing.

Recover Pictures Videos Windows: Quick Fixes

Check the Recycle Bin Easy

Open the Recycle Bin
Double-click the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop. If you cannot see it, right-click the desktop, choose Personalise, then Themes, then Desktop icon settings, and tick Recycle Bin.
Search for photo and video file types
Click the search box in the top-right corner and type .jpg to find JPEGs, .png for PNGs, or .mp4 and .mov for videos. This filters the bin so you are not scrolling through hundreds of unrelated files.
Restore what you need
Select the files you want back (hold Ctrl to pick multiple), right-click, and choose Restore. Windows sends them back to wherever they originally lived.

If your files appear here, you are sorted in under two minutes. This works as long as the Recycle Bin has not been emptied since deletion.

Search the Whole PC in File Explorer Easy

Open File Explorer and select This PC
Press Win + E to open File Explorer. In the left pane, click This PC so the search covers every drive, not just one folder.
Run a wildcard search
In the search box at the top right, type *.jpg for JPEG photos, *.png for PNGs, *.mp4 or *.mov for videos. Windows will scan everything. This can take a few minutes on a large drive.
Find where the files actually are
When results appear, right-click any file and choose Open file location. That tells you exactly which folder they ended up in, which is often a surprise (Downloads is a very common accidental save location).
Also enable hidden items
In File Explorer, click the View tab (Windows 10) or View then Show (Windows 11) and tick Hidden items. Re-run the search. Some folders get marked hidden accidentally or by apps.

Medium to high success rate for files that were moved or renamed rather than deleted.

Before going further: if you suspect files were permanently deleted, stop using the affected drive right now. Every file you save, every app you open, every Windows update that runs risks overwriting the space where your deleted photos were stored. The less activity on that drive, the better your recovery chances.

Intermediate Ways to Recover Pictures Videos Windows

Check for a Temporary Windows Profile Medium

This one catches a lot of people out after a Windows update. If your desktop looked completely fresh when you logged in, with no shortcuts and a generic background, Windows almost certainly created a temporary profile for your session. Your real files are still in your original profile folder.

Open the Users folder
Press Win + R, type C:\\Users, and press Enter.
Look for extra profile folders
You might see folders like John and John.000, or Sarah and TEMP. The .000 or similarly named folder is the temporary one you are currently in. Your real files are in the original named folder.
Copy your files out
Open the original profile folder, go into Pictures and Videos, and copy everything to an external drive or USB stick straight away.
Fix the profile
Sign out and restart the PC. Log back in with your usual Microsoft or local account credentials. If the problem persists, Microsoft has a support page on user profile issues that covers registry fixes for persistent temporary profile problems.

High success rate when the symptom appeared right after a Windows update or sign-in problem.

Check Windows.old After an Upgrade Medium

After a major Windows feature update or an in-place upgrade, Windows keeps a copy of your old installation in a folder called Windows.old at the root of your C drive. It includes your old user profile, which means your Pictures and Videos folders from before the upgrade are likely sitting in there. Windows deletes this folder automatically after about 10 days, so do not hang about.

Navigate to C:\\Windows.old
Open File Explorer, go to This PC, then open the C: drive. If you see a folder called Windows.old, open it.
Find your old profile
Go to Windows.old\\Users\\YourOldUserName\\Pictures and Windows.old\\Users\\YourOldUserName\\Videos.
Copy to a safe location
Do not just move files back into your current profile in one go. Copy them to an external drive first, verify they open correctly, then decide where to put them permanently.

Windows.old disappears automatically after roughly 10 days. If you ran Disk Cleanup and chose to remove old Windows installations, it is already gone.

Restore with File History Medium

File History is Windows' built-in backup feature for Libraries (Documents, Pictures, Videos, Desktop). If someone set it up before the data loss, this is one of the cleanest ways to recover pictures videos Windows. The catch is it only works if it was configured and running to an external drive or network location beforehand. Microsoft's File History documentation explains how it works under the hood if you want the full picture.

Open File History restore
Click Start, type File History, and select Restore your files with File History.
Browse to Pictures or Videos
Navigate to the folder that contained your missing files. Use the left and right arrows at the bottom of the window to flip through different saved versions by date.
Restore
Select the files or folders you want, then click the green restore button to send them back to their original location. Or right-click and choose Restore to if you want to pick a different destination.

High success rate if File History was active. If it was not set up, skip to the advanced section.

Check OneDrive and Cloud Storage Easy

OneDrive folder protection can redirect your local Pictures and Videos folders to the cloud without making it obvious. If you open your Pictures folder locally and it looks empty, but you remember having loads of photos there, OneDrive is a strong suspect. This is also worth checking if you recently switched Microsoft accounts or reinstalled Windows.

Check OneDrive settings
Right-click the OneDrive cloud icon in the system tray (bottom-right of the taskbar). Choose Settings, then go to the Sync and backup tab (or Backup depending on your version). See which folders are listed as protected.
Open your OneDrive folder
In File Explorer, look for the OneDrive folder in the left pane. Open it and check the Pictures and Videos subfolders inside.
Check the web version
Sign into onedrive.live.com in a browser. Check the Pictures folder there, and also click the Recycle Bin in the left pane of the OneDrive web interface. Files deleted from OneDrive go to the online Recycle Bin, not the Windows one.

High success rate if OneDrive was managing your folders. Files deleted from OneDrive stay in the online Recycle Bin for 30 days (93 days for Microsoft 365 subscribers).

Advanced Fixes to Recover Pictures Videos Windows

If none of the above has turned up your files, they were most likely permanently deleted or the drive has a problem. This is where dedicated data recovery software comes in. It is the standard approach in the industry, and it works well when the drive is healthy and the deletion is recent. The key rule: do not install recovery software on the same drive you are trying to recover from.

Use Data Recovery Software Advanced

When files are permanently deleted, the data is not immediately wiped. Windows just marks that disk space as available for reuse. Good data recovery software reads the raw disk and finds file structures that are still intact. HowToGeek has a solid overview of why acting fast matters here. The longer you wait and the more you use the drive, the more of that data gets overwritten.

There are several well-regarded tools in this space. Some offer a free scan with paid recovery, others are fully free for smaller jobs. The important thing is to read reviews from independent sources before downloading anything, since the data recovery software market has its share of dodgy products that do more harm than good. Look for tools that let you preview files before paying, and always restore to a different drive than the one you are scanning.

Stop using the affected drive immediately
Do not save anything, do not install software, do not even browse the web if the OS is on that drive. Every write operation risks overwriting your deleted photos.
Install recovery software on a different drive
If possible, install the recovery tool on a second internal drive, an external drive, or a USB stick. Never install it on the drive containing the lost files.
Run a quick scan first
Most tools offer a quick scan for recently deleted files and a deep scan for older losses. Start with quick. If it does not find your photos, run the deep scan (this can take hours on a large drive).
Preview before restoring
Any decent tool lets you preview found images and video thumbnails before you commit to restoring them. Use this to confirm the right files are there.
Restore to a different drive
Save recovered files to an external drive or a different partition, never back to the source drive. Restoring to the same drive can overwrite other files you have not recovered yet.

If your drive is making clicking, grinding, or beeping sounds, do not run recovery software. Power off immediately and contact a professional data recovery lab. Running software on a physically failing drive can cause permanent damage.

Medium success rate for recent deletions on a healthy drive. Lower if significant time has passed or the drive has been heavily used since deletion.

Check Drive Health with chkdsk and Previous Versions Advanced

Sometimes files go missing because of file system corruption rather than deletion. Running chkdsk can fix logical errors that make files invisible to Windows even though the data is still there. And if System Protection was enabled on your PC, the Previous Versions feature might have a snapshot of your Pictures folder from before the problem.

Run chkdsk
Press Win + X and choose Windows Terminal (Admin) or Command Prompt (Admin). Type chkdsk C: /scan and press Enter. Review the output. If it reports bad sectors or file system errors, note them. Do not run chkdsk /f on a drive you suspect is physically failing without first cloning it.
Check Previous Versions
Right-click the folder where your photos were stored (e.g. C:\\Users\\YourName\\Pictures). Click Properties and select the Previous Versions tab. If entries appear, select one from before the loss and click Open to browse and copy files out. Be careful with Restore as it overwrites current folder contents.

Previous Versions availability depends on whether System Protection and restore points were configured. Many home PCs have this disabled by default.

Professional Data Recovery Service Advanced

If the drive is physically failing, or the files are genuinely irreplaceable (wedding photos, years of family videos), a professional data recovery lab is the right call. These are clean-room facilities that can disassemble drives and read platters directly. It is expensive, typically starting from a few hundred pounds, but the success rate for hardware failures is the highest available. Do not attempt further DIY steps if you hear clicking or grinding. Power off, leave the drive alone, and get in touch with a lab that specialises in Windows disks and removable media.

Worth noting: if you have ever dealt with a corrupted archive and wondered whether the data inside was salvageable, the same logic applies here as it does with 7-Zip backup corruption recovery. The underlying principle is the same: stop touching the damaged source, assess what you have, and use the right tool for the severity of the problem.

Preventing Lost Pictures and Videos on Windows

Once you have been through the stress of trying to recover pictures videos Windows, you will not want to do it again. Here is what actually matters, in order of importance.

1. Turn on File History right now. Plug in an external drive, open Settings, search for File History, and switch it on. Point it at that external drive. It will back up your Pictures, Videos, Documents, and Desktop automatically in the background. This single step would have prevented the majority of cases I see. Microsoft's File History setup guide walks through the initial configuration.

2. Use OneDrive folder protection for Pictures and Videos. Even the free 5 GB tier is enough for a lot of people's photo libraries. Files deleted from OneDrive sit in the online Recycle Bin for 30 days, giving you a proper safety net. Just make sure you know which folders are being managed so you are not caught off guard when they look empty locally.

3. Follow the 3-2-1 rule. Three copies of important data, on two different types of media, with one copy off-site (or in the cloud). It sounds like overkill until the day your external drive fails at the same time as your laptop. It happens more often than you would think.

4. Never use Shift+Delete on photo or video folders. Normal Delete sends files to the Recycle Bin. Shift+Delete skips it entirely. There is very rarely a good reason to use Shift+Delete on a folder full of irreplaceable media.

5. Back up before any Windows upgrade. Before accepting a major feature update, copy your Pictures and Videos to an external drive. It takes ten minutes and it has saved people a lot of grief. If you have ever run into problems during an update (like the kind covered in our Windows Update error 0x80240034 guide), you will know that updates do not always go smoothly.

6. Check disk health periodically. Run chkdsk C: /scan every few months, or install a free SMART monitoring tool. Drives give warning signs before they fail. Catching a dodgy drive early means you can copy everything off before it becomes a crisis. And if you are dealing with other unexplained Windows weirdness alongside missing files, it is worth checking whether a recent driver update is involved, similar to how a bad driver can cause the kind of chaos described in our Realtek audio driver Windows Update article.

Recover Pictures Videos Windows: Summary

To recover pictures videos Windows, start with the Recycle Bin and a File Explorer search before assuming anything is gone for good. Check C:\\Users for a temporary profile if the problem appeared after an update. Look in C:\\Windows.old if you recently upgraded Windows. Check your OneDrive folder and the OneDrive web Recycle Bin if cloud sync was active. If none of that works and files were permanently deleted, dedicated data recovery software is the standard next step, but only on a healthy drive and only when installed on a separate drive from the one you are recovering. Physically failing drives go straight to a professional lab. And once you have your files back, set up File History so you never have to go through this again.