The VeraCrypt container is empty

[Ruslan]

Good afternoon. Urgent need of help, a matter of life and death! Recently I started using VeraCrypt, encrypted an important folder with a hidden file for me. The folder was placed in the cloud.
I used it for a long time, everything was fine. But yesterday I reinstalled the operating system (Windows). After formatting the system disk, reinstalling the system and downloading VeraCrypt, the container opens, but there are no attached files in it. I don't know what the reason is. Tell me what to do?! We urgently need to restore the files.

[crbrac]

Are you sure you copied the important folder to the container before uploading to cloud? Also, did you make sure the "show hidden folders, files" in the Folder View options is CHECKED (File>Options>Change folder and search options>View -- Assuming Windows 10). More importantly, no backups of a supposedly life and death matter! ?

[Ruslan]

I did not move the folder from the container to the computer, I worked in the folder from the hard disk created by VeraCrypt. At the end of the work, I just unmounted it.
Hidden files and folders are shown (check the box).
I did not make backups, because it is dangerous to store it on any other medium in my country. Trusted VeraCrypt, the program never failed. Until I reinstalled Windows (was 11, became 10).

[crbrac]

I'm not sure I understand your situation correctly. Hopefully, someone knowledgeable will chip in. In the meantime you can check if the file really resides in the container by using the DIR command in CMD. Navigate to the container stored on the cloud > open a CMD Window from within the container > type DIR /A. It should list all the files and folders stored in the root of the container as shown below

U:\>DIR /A
 Volume in drive U has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is 3D12-B21E

 Directory of U:\

09-Mar-23  20:25    <DIR>          System Volume Information
07-Dec-21  16:00             7,551 OfficeUpdatesList.csv
               1 File(s)          7,551 bytes
               1 Dir(s)     103,748,608 bytes free

[Ruslan]

Thank you so much for your reply. I'm not sure if I'm doing everything right, as I have little experience.
I mounted the disk /A, pointed to CMD "DIR/A" and got this answer. Where exactly can I see the presence of files?
https://disk.yandex.ru/i/XpjAaSrCllB4kA

[crbrac]

You need to mount your container (U: as an example above). Then open CMD > type CD /D "U:\" > type DIR /A. You'll then get a list of all files saved to U (your container will have a different letter that you assigned)

Edit: You incorrectly ran the DIR command from your user directory (1367862). Run Dir /A from your container's root instead. For instance, if your mounted container is assigned drive letter G, you need to change directory to G in CMD like so:

C:\Users\1367862>CD /D "G:\"

You'll now see

G:\>

Once here type Dir /A

G:\>Dir /A
 Volume in drive G is OS
 Volume Serial Number is 30D6-9B50

 Your files, if any

Another way to do this is to hold shift key and right click any free area within the mounted container's explorer window and select open command window here. Doing so will take you straight to G:\ and you can proceed as detailed above.

You can also use Dir /S to list all sub directories. Dir /? will list all available options for that particular command (Dir).