Microsoft said it has pulled its October update to Windows 10 due to problems with missing documents reported by some users.

Microsoft the incidents, in which users found files were missing from their Documents folder, were isolated.

“Microsoft has paused the roll-out of the update while we continue to investigate reports from some customers,” the company stated.

On a support page, Microsoft said users experiencing the issue should refrain from using their devices as much as possible and phone the Microsoft customer support line.

Update pulled

Those who downloaded the update manually should not install it.

The rollout of automatic updates have been paused and the update in question, update 1809, is currently unavailable for manual download, Microsoft said.

“Last night I updated to 1809, and it all went smoothly, but then I find that all my files in Documents are deleted,” one user wrote on a Microsoft’s support forum. “Gone. Poof. This included many crucial documents and financial info.”

As of the current writing 490 other users on the site said they had the same problem.

Dona Sarkar, head of the Windows Insider programme, said on Twitter that technical support personnel “have the tools to get you back to a good state”.

Automated updates

But a user in Canada said she had been told to take the affected computer to a Microsoft Store in Toronto, 250 miles away from her home in Ottowa, or Syracuse, New York, which is 180 miles away.

“I don’t drive. Not gonna happen,” she wrote.

The update first appeared last Tuesday,  2 October, and was reported as having been pulled four days later, on Saturday.

With Windows 10 Microsoft has been encouraging users to install frequent, and preferably automated updates, as is the case with applications such as Google’s Chrome browser.

The issue could lead some users to think twice about doing so.