All history deleted after restart?

 

Hello:

Until someone still running Win7 on a physical or virtual machine weighs in, it sounds as if you've been logged into a temporary user profile.

A few articles (some of which are quite old) offered "as is", for information only;

https://superuser.com/questions/279770/windows-7-logged-on-with-a-temporary-profile

https://www.auslogics.com/en/articles/how-to-fix-temporary-profile-in-windows-7/

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/you-have-been-logged-in-with-a-temporary-profile/20ed22a5-8338-4578-84bc-f0a8e77aa15d

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/windows-temporary-user-profile-temp-issue/5fbefc7c-0b82-4395-bfda-6d7e2ebeacc6

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/fix-a-corrupted-user-profile-in-windows-1cf41c18-7ce3-12f9-8e1d-95896661c5c9#ID0EBBD=Windows_7

Well.....

 

The good news is I think you're right. I kind of feel stupid because I didn't do the simplest of all things before posting this. A quick restart and everything is back to normal.

 

I guess a follow-up question...

Most everything important is saved/backed up elsewhere so even if this computer literally blew up it wouldn't be the end of the word except for one thing - I am obsessed with opening new tabs and literally have something like 500 tabs open. Is there a way to back that up somewhere?

One additional resource that may be helpful:

https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/186131-user-profile-service-failed-logon-user-profile-cannot-loaded.html

It's weird because it didn't warn me anywhere that that had happened. I'm just glad it's fixed with such an easy fix. 

I'm glad you're back into your profile.

I don't have a solution for backing up your "500 tabs", primarily because you haven't told us what browser you're using and (most importantly) because I can't understand why having 500 open tabs would be necessary in any browser. :-(

Needless to say, I'm sure you know that Windows 7 reached end of support years ago. It (and any browsers that still support it) are insecure, rendering your system vulnerable to malware, ransomware, data loss, identity theft, financial loss or other catastrophe.

If you want or need to continue to use Win7 - especially online - it would be advisable to implement a robust data & system backup plan, so that you have at least some means of recovery.

Cheers

I'm glad you're back into your profile.

I don't have a solution for backing up your "500 tabs", primarily because you haven't told us what browser you're using and (most importantly) because I can't understand why having 500 open tabs would be necessary in any browser. :-(

Needless to say, I'm sure you know that Windows 7 reached end of support years ago. It (and any browsers that still support it) are insecure, rendering your system vulnerable to malware, ransomware, data loss, identity theft, financial loss or other catastrophe.

If you want or need to continue to use Win7 - especially online - it would be advisable to implement a robust data & system backup plan, so that you have at least some means of recovery.

Cheers

 

 

It's through Firefox.

 

I mostly use this computer for mindless browsing while I'm doing other things on my laptop.

 

In terms of the 500 tab issue, it's mostly youtube videos I want to watch, projects I want to complete, wikipedia articles I want to read, etc. etc. There's nothing "important" per se but it's just stuff I want to look at at some point even though of those tabs were originally opened probably close to 10 years ago. 

The "temporary profile" is a symptom of what could be more serious OS corruption and/or hardware issues.

I strongly suggest backing up your data to an external USB hard drive and/or a cloud service, just in case.

Running an obsolete OS on old hardware can be a recipe for disaster, especially without a robust backup & recovery plan.

Just sayin'

The only real data on this computer is the insane number of tabs. Don't I have to pay to update to a newer browser? This computer is so old it doesn't seem like there's much value in spending a bunch of money to update rather than simply buying a new computer at this point. 

Edited by hamluis, 23 December 2023 - 07:10 PM.

"Mindless browsing" on an obsolete OS with an outdated browser is a recipe for disaster.

It's certainly your computer and your choice.
I'm just trying to manage expectations, as another home user.

I don't know what Firefox version you're running.
AFAIK ESR115 is the latest version that still supports Win 7:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/115.0/releasenotes/

https://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2023/07/06/firefox-support-for-windows-7-8-and-8-1/

As such, I don't know if the current profile backup features work on that older version.
See here:
https://www.howtogeek.com/816711/how-to-back-up-and-restore-firefox-profiles/

And to save session data:

https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/save-current-session/idi-p/162

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/restore-previous-session

"Mindless browsing" on an obsolete OS with an outdated browser is a recipe for disaster.

 

 

 

Isn't Windows 11 like $100+ or something to update? This computer is so old I can't imagine Windows 11 would run well on it. I also hate to put money into the computer because realistically I need to get a new computer. I'm just never home so this computer gets very little use. 

Firefox is a web browser.
It is free to update.
The latest version that still supports Windows 7 is ESR 115, as mentioned earlier.
That is the "safest" version to run under Windows 7, but some websites no longer support Windows 7 or old browsers - this is for safety and security.

Windows 7 is an operating system.
There was a free way for nearly 7 years to upgrade supported hardware to Windows 10.
Unfortunately, MS closed that free pathway back in September.

You are correct: your hardware is too old to support Windows 11.

We don't know your hardware details, but your best/safest options would be:

1. Restrict this computer to ONLY offline use (if you have another, more modern computer for online use).
2. Pay for a legal Windows 10 license & upgrade it (note: Windows 10 support ends in October 2025).
3. Replace Windows 7 with Linux (this is free).
4. Take advantage of post-Xmas sales to buy a new computer with a current, supported version of Windows.

Cheers

Also: please do not QUOTE when you reply. Doing so makes it hard to follow the thread. Please just REPLY.

Thanks for your consideration

 

In terms of the 500 tab issue, it's mostly youtube videos I want to watch, projects I want to complete, wikipedia articles I want to read, etc. etc.

That is what bookmarks are for.

The Linux option intrigues me, but I've never used Linux so I'm not sure about the learning curve for that.