Keep files when reseting Windows

[Cazmorior]

Hello there,

I want to rest my Windows PC cause I've been getting too many error. My NVIDIA Performance Overlay doesn't work, Blender crashes and more... My PC is also full with files I just want to get rid of. When I type "reset" in my search bar and go trough the process, I realize that even when clicking "keep personal data" that it wants to delete everything. I've got some newly installed games such as Jedi: Fallen Order, where I have come pretty far and don't want to risk loosing all that data. I have two questions: Is there a way to upload ALL my games to a cloud where I can access them after the reset again. Or is there a way to keep some of those files when reseting the PC.

 

Thanks!

[Fasauceome]

Try this first:

1) open CMD as an administrator.

2) enter this: "DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth"

3) after that runs its course, enter this: "sfc -scannow"

 

What this should do is download files from windows updater and replace corrupted system files if you have any.

 

 

Edit:
I ran it on my own computer so you can see what it should look like

Edited April 6 by Fasauceome

[Godlygamer23]

Any games that support Steam Cloud or Epic's version should already have the latest version stored, so when you reinstall the game again, the cloud data should come with it.

[Cazmorior]

1 minute ago, Fasauceome said:

Try this first:

1) open CMD as an administrator.

2) enter this: "DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth"

3) after that runs its course, enter this: "sfc -scannow"

 

What this should do is download files from windows updater and replace corrupted system files if you have any.

Thanks, I will try this as soon as I am home again.

 

[Cazmorior]

Just now, Godlygamer23 said:

Any games that support Steam Cloud or Epic's version should already have the latest version stored, so when you reinstall the game again, the cloud data should come with it.

Yeah, but I'm not sure if Jedi: Fallen Order supports it. Because it says it downloaded locally and I can't find a way to upload it.

[Godlygamer23]

Just now, Cazmorior said:

Yeah, but I'm not sure if Jedi: Fallen Order supports it. Because it says it downloaded locally and I can't find a way to upload it.

Did you download it through Steam or Epic?

[Fasauceome]

14 minutes ago, Cazmorior said:

Yeah, but I'm not sure if Jedi: Fallen Order supports it. Because it says it downloaded locally and I can't find a way to upload it.

If you want to search for game save files, open file explorer and enter this in the top bar:
%appdata%

 

It will take you to your appdata/roaming, but you can also back out and go to the appdata/local folders. You can see which games have which files saved.

Even though it won't be obvious which files are save files, you could be safe and just copy everything in the folder, or the entire folder itself, save it on a USB drive, and keep it in case of a reinstall.

[Godlygamer23]

1 minute ago, Fasauceome said:

If you want to search for game save files, open file explorer and enter this in the top bar:
%appdata%

 

It will take you to your appdata/roaming, but you can also back out and go to the appdata/local folders. You can see which games have which files saved.

Even though it won't be obvious which files are save files, you could be safe and just copy everything in the folder or the entire folder itself, save it on a USB drive, and keep it for if you have to reinstall your OS

Depending on the games he has, they may also be stored in the Documents folder as well.

[Cazmorior]

13 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

Did you download it through Steam or Epic?

Steam, but it belongs to ea. Kinda confused.

[Cazmorior]

6 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

If you want to search for game save files, open file explorer and enter this in the top bar:
%appdata%

 

It will take you to your appdata/roaming, but you can also back out and go to the appdata/local folders. You can see which games have which files saved.

Even though it won't be obvious which files are save files, you could be safe and just copy everything in the folder or the entire folder itself, save it on a USB drive, and keep it for if you have to reinstall your OS

The game is big, but that’s a good idea.

[Godlygamer23]

Just now, Cazmorior said:

Steam, but it belongs to ea. Kinda confused.

Right...So it'll sync through the EA App/Origin instead. Steam basically becomes the authorizer, and then it gets added to your EA account, so it'll sync through there. So if you want to check if it's properly supported, check the EA App/Origin.

[Fasauceome]

1 minute ago, Cazmorior said:

The game is big, but that’s a good idea.

you wouldn't need to save the game itself, only the app data. If you uninstall the game but still have the folder saved in the app data, you can reinstall and get that data back at any time.

For example, my .minecraft folder is in AppData/roaming. If I copy the .minecraft folder, it's significantly smaller than the minecraft game install itself, but it has all my saves.

[Cazmorior]

2 hours ago, Fasauceome said:

If you want to search for game save files, open file explorer and enter this in the top bar:
%appdata%

 

It will take you to your appdata/roaming, but you can also back out and go to the appdata/local folders. You can see which games have which files saved.

Even though it won't be obvious which files are save files, you could be safe and just copy everything in the folder, or the entire folder itself, save it on a USB drive, and keep it in case of a reinstall.

Sorry, I tried to follow but didn't find it specifically in the game folder and I couldn't find it in the Home tab when I typed %APPDATA%. Can you maybe give a more detailed description where the folder can be found? Thanks! 

[Fasauceome]

2 minutes ago, Cazmorior said:

Sorry, I tried to follow but didn't find it specifically in the game folder and I couldn't find it in the Home tab when I typed %APPDATA%. Can you maybe give a more detailed description where the folder can be found? Thanks! 

Can you share a screenshot of your file explorer, and where you typed %appdata%

[Cazmorior]

So I basically did it in the Home tab. But also went to steam and opened the file location of the game and searched again whithout a result.

 

[Fasauceome]

34 minutes ago, Cazmorior said:

So I basically did it in the Home tab. But also went to steam and opened the file location of the game and searched again whithout a result.

 

 

 

[Cazmorior]

6 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

 

 

How do you put the appdata there? Like in this empty space?

[Fasauceome]

26 minutes ago, Cazmorior said:

How do you put the appdata there? Like in this empty space?

you can type in that top bar if you do not click on any of the words in there, so just don't click on "Show Results in Home"

 

edit: also did the commands in CMD did anything to help?

[Cazmorior]

38 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

you can type in that top bar if you do not click on any of the words in there, so just don't click on "Show Results in Home"

 

edit: also did the commands in CMD did anything to help?

I can't find Jedi: Fallen Order there. There just a few of the games there. But thank you, now I can save Lego StarWars! And Jedi: Fallen Order has an option in Steam to save to a external drive, after I look a bit. And the CMD command doesn't work because I need to install something to have a higher right it says. But actually it should work out now, so thank you very much!

[Fasauceome]

5 minutes ago, Cazmorior said:

And the CMD command doesn't work because I need to install something to have a higher right it says

looks like you are using windows 11 so it might not work. But sfc -scannow should still work on its own, it can scan some of the system files and hopefully fix them

[Cazmorior]

So , I've started with the Steam thing and I wanted to ask if is only this much data? The progessbar has stopped and i don't know how much data should be transferred. Thanks. And yes, I'm on win11.

[Godlygamer23]

1 hour ago, Cazmorior said:

And Jedi: Fallen Order has an option in Steam to save to a external drive

Confirm that it includes save data. The Documents folder may house that data. 

[Cazmorior]

After a good 6h all the files have been uploaded to OneDrive. I've realized that many apps like OBS etc. have built-in export opportunities to access them again on other pcs or if the PC crashed. I will start the reset and hope it all works. But it's surely gonna take time to download all the files again. Thank you so much for all the info. Without the %APPDATA% command I wouldn't have been able so save my most holy game: Lego StarWars III The clonewars. Thanks!