Windows 7 & Vista: Cannot find the files saved on C drive

July 12, 2010 · Posted in Windows · 1 Comment 

We received a few calls from clients stating that they cannot find files they saved and are very sure that they did.

They also tried to change the folder (and search) option to show hidden files including system files and none of them worked…

Well, this is due to the Windows’ “virtualization” feature as some of the symptom are explained in kb927387. Basically Windows monitors certain directories under C drive (Windows installation drive). Anything written under such directories would be re-directed to c:\Users\<userid>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore

You should be able to find those files there.