Microsoft suspends the rollout of the October 2018 update due to it deleting files

Microsoft has pulled the October 2018 Update (1809) of Windows 10 due to reports of it deleting files users files. The update was released last Tuesday and for the first time going directly from the slow ring to general Windows users, missing out the release preview ring.

Over the last few days there have been accounts of the update deleting files from users document folder during the upgrade process. Yesterday Microsoft suspended the rollout while it investigates the issues.

Skipping the Release Preview ring was a potential risk as most people on the slow and fast rings already have applied various test builds of the 1809 update so there was probably very little data and feedback on clean upgrades. While it seems only a few people are affected any data loss is a major concern.

I upgraded a few of my machines without any issues but still it shows why it pays to backup your data and use a cloud service like OneDrive.

If you have been hit by the data loss issue Microsoft are asking you to contact Microsoft support so they have help recover the files. There doesn’t seem to be any self-help options at all. We will bring more details soon.