Hi and welcome to the forum
Sorry to hear about your problem with access to your profile. Hopefully, you have your library folders backed up to external media from before your ran your Restore. Or a Backup Image file. If you have neither of those in place, we can discuss data recovery issues further on. In the meantime, the answer to your first and most immediate question is-
YES!! So if you don't have your personal data backed up somewhere, Restore is not a 100% of the time fix; maybe 60% of the time it will work depending on the age of your computer. Given that figure, you can see why I started the discussion with a question about your data being backed up.
The answer to your 2nd question, is there is almost always another way; but those repairs involve more and more aggressive fixes, and the more aggressive the fix; the
HIGHER THE RISK OF IRRETRIEVABLE DATA LOSS!!
Hopefully, I've beat that horse into the ground!
Let's approach this problem 2 ways. The first way is that you
DON'T have any of your data backed up, and you have to get into that profile somehow to recover it. Since you didn't mention a backup specifically, it sounds like you might not have it in which case this would be the worst case scenario. The second way is that you
DO have all your data in that profile backed up to external media.
Starting with the first way, no data backed up. There are usually several reasons why a User is locked out of their Admin owner profile, and those are:
1.) Windows corruption, general
2.) Windows corruption from virus/malware attack
3.) Loss of profile password
4.) Profile corruption due to faulty hardware *usually hard drive failure*
5.) Profile corruption due to Windows compression or encryption features being enabled/disabled before/after System Restore
Still on the first way discussion, a couple of common solutions to any of these problems
except #4 is to run a Windows10 repair using the PE Recovery Console (your W10 OS Thumb Drive). This will of course, wipe out all your data and programs you installed since you installed W10 (if you upgraded the laptop from an earlier version of windows). Running this repair absolutely requires you to be 100% sure you have all your data backed up as above as it's a destructive one-time trip forward with no going backwards if the repair fails.
Another commonly used trick is to use the W10 Thumb Drive to access your Recovery Console, and create a 2nd Admin User Profile; and copy all of your desktop settings and library folders data to the new Admin Windows account. You can then reboot to your hard drive W10 and then login to the newly created W10 Admin User account (Profile). Check that your library data is all there. Your programs should all be there too. If that all looks good; you've fixed the problem and rescued your stuff!
However, that doesn't always work depending on the amount of corruption your existing Profile has, and even if you get your data back on the copy of the old profile on the new Windows account, you may have to do reinstallation of certain or many of your programs (such as MS Office or Adobe CS Elements, etc.).
. This would still be a small price to pay to get your W10 working again.
Either of these methods will fix your current problem. The 2nd method (Profile copy to new W10 user account) is the safer of the two. The Thumb Drive OS reinstall from factory image is the most aggressive, the most likely to work, and the Highest Risk.
For the second way, your data is backed up and you verified you have access to it, we can look at methods for fixing that now. Essentially, the same 2 methods used above will fix the problem, but the difference with the second way is that you would be now working
WITH A NET, as opposed to the first way, which
IS WITHOUT A NET! You didn't mention whether or not your laptop came with W10 pre-loaded from the factory or you upgraded from an earlier version of windows such as W7/W8/W8.1 or not. This is important for us to know to help you further, as it determines what options you have if all the options I've mentioned so far result in getting your laptop to run W10 again.
It is also customary for you to tell us the Make/Model of your laptop so we can suggest specific tools to your laptop (Dell, Acer, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo, etc.).
Given that we're completely in the dark as to what kind of laptop you have; we can still provide some general suggestions if you try all the above and get no love.
Usually, if your laptop is 3 years old or more, there's a 90% chance that your hard drive is failing or has failed as laptop hard drives are only designed to last 2 years!
. That means that if your laptop is 3 years old or more, and you've never replaced the hard drive or paid a Tech to do for you, it's very likely it's failing and the real cause of your profile failure/lockout.
To determine whether that's the case or not, you will need to do hardware testing of both your Hard Drive and your RAM sticks. I've written a very helpful Troubleshooting Guide which will take you through the testing process in a step-by-step fashion. My Guide is here:
Windows 10 - Unclickable Task Bar
If you don't have the time (2-3 days to 1 week to complete the testing in the Guide), or inclination to DIY, you can certainly take it to your local licensed Computer Pro or Repair Shop and pay a Tech to test your hardware for you. They will give you an estimate (make sure you get it in writing before paying or authorizing them to do the repair) first! If the Tech finds you have faulty hardware, you can pay them to replace it and test the laptop to make sure it's ok. Once done, you can reinstall your W10 from your Thumb Drive. With a new W10 and a new Profile you can log into, you can then copy back your data from your external media source and you'll be all set to go!
(
almost; as you'll still have to reinstall all your Apps you had on the laptop prior to the W10 reinstall; but your W10 will work with an Admin login to a brand new Profile).
Of course, if the Tech finds no faults with your hardware, you won't have a big bill (no parts), but you'll still have to pay labor; this can run from $35-$165 US. You can retrieve your laptop from the Tech or a Shop and take it home and reinstall your W10 from your Thumb Drive, and copy back your data and reinstall your Apps and you're good to go.
Once you post back your laptop specs, of course we can advise you further. In the meantime, you can let us know whether you intend to fix it yourself--now that you are fully aware of the risks and work involved to repair it, or whether you're off to your local Tech to pay him to go through this headache.
Realizing the age of your system and letting us know that information as well makes a difference in what we tell you to do.
Post back any questions you have along the way if you decide to do the hardware testing yourself and have never done it. We'll be happy to assist you.
Best of luck,
<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>
