How Do I Backup Windows Store Games AND Restore It Again

It's been at least 5 years (look at all the threads asking the very same feature) since Microsoft is aware of the problem, so I rather think that they don't care that some users have to wait 2 to 3 days to play a game just because they changed their PC or want to install it the kid's computer.

I'd love to be wrong about this, so if there is an official announcement about this please let me know, but in the meantime I'll stick to other stores that provide this basic functionality, thanks.

I was looking for a way to do that and to my surprise, it's still not possible.

In march I upgraded my PC and as you can expect, only one place didn't allow me to recover my games : Microsoft Store. I was able to make backups from Steam and even Origins. Not only Origins allows you to move games to another folder, but after a reinstall', you can easily make Origins recognize them again as your games. You don't need to delete anything and certainly don't need to re-download anything.  See, the problem with Microsoft Store apps is that you can move almost any programs (I insist on "almost") from one disk to another, but you CANNOT make the OS recognize them as yours in case of a reinstallation and have them up and running, even when you're logged in, so you gotta download them again...

The reason why i'm still looking for a solution about this is because there are some great sales right now on both Steam and MS Store and I wanna buy Gears of War 5 (which I already downloaded through Game Pass beta but now I wanna own it for good). I'm torn between the possibility to have the game on 2 platforms (PC and Xbox One, which I own), and a game that not only I can easily make a backup of, but also a game i'm sure Microsoft won't make impossible to download whenever they please... remember what happened to Forza Horizon 3 ?

Also, the download rate on Microsoft Store is horrible, Steam makes full use of my bandwidth but the MS Store is incredibly inconsistent, sometimes tanking to the low 1.5mbps (my connection is a VDSL 2 one with a very stable 20mb). Downloading the 150+gb of Gears of War 4 three years ago was a NIGHTMARE.

How about Phil Spencer stop harrassing our ears with "GaMe PaSs" and actually start taking a look at the dumbest, worst store ever created ? To think Microsoft is the leader in computer softwares, you wonder how, with the donkeys who run this company and give us these ****ideas.

That's why I only have 1 game from Microsoft Store. All of my games are on Steam, where you download them just once and can backup them without problems.

It's been at least 5 years (look at all the threads asking the very same feature) since Microsoft is aware of the problem, so I rather think that they don't care that some users have to wait 2 to 3 days to play a game just because they changed their PC or want to install it the kid's computer.

I'd love to be wrong about this, so if there is an official announcement about this please let me know, but in the meantime I'll stick to other stores that provide this basic functionality, thanks.

Steam games and Origin games can be archived easily with 7-zip to a NAS or USB disk. Downloading 5TB of games every time I need to reset windows......

Microsoft needs to do the same. Internet speeds are not that fast, even with fiber it takes a while to install 5TB of games.

The way Monopoly$oft does things with games from their store is the absolute pits. A big part of PC gaming is being able to

install mods and backup games.

I've also had only one venture into the MS Store (Forza 4 demo) and that was enough to never go back (tbh, I don't like MS

pushing their Store by building it into Win10 and trying to convince Windows users this is the only safe place to get software.

That alone was enough to put me off the store, but installing the one game was the final nail in the coffin. )

I don't hold any allegiance to Steam though. I'm happy to get games from whoever has a sale on at the time, which has been

most often - The Humble Store (still Steam, but I seem to hit a good sale price on them more often), Good Old Games and

Green Man Gaming. And EPIC has been... epic . I have about a dozen good free games from them since they launched their store.

• If I wanted Big Brother to hold my hand I would use a console, and that would be a PlayStation, not XBOX.