Xbox Connected Storage tool (XblConnectedStorage.exe)

Article
03/16/2023

The Xbox Connected Storage tool is used to download game saves. It can download saves from any sandbox, including RETAIL. This is helpful when debugging difficult to reproduce issues.

This command-line tool is part of the Microsoft Game Development Kit (GDK) and XboxLiveTools.zip; see Development tools for Xbox services. It's also available in the GDK starting with version 2104.

XblConnectedStorage.exe is used to download the connected storage data for a user. The Xbox services Developer Account tool (XblDevAccount.exe) is required to sign in using a developer account prior to using the Xbox Connected Storage tool.

Usage

The Connected storage tool can be used to fetch an XML file representing the game save in the import and export file format (NDA topic)Authorization required. The XML file is meant for use with the xbstorage.exe tool)Authorization required. which can be used to import data from the XML file into a connected storage space for use with Xbox Development Kit. The tool will handle decompression of gzipped saves automatically.

There are three requirements to fetch the XML file for a game save:

A developer account with read permissions for the Tools Access permission. To learn more, read about the [permissions needed to use the Connected Storage tool][#permissions-needed-to-use-the-tool]].
The Service Configuration ID (SCID) for the title. This can be found in Partner Center.
The classic Gamertag for the user whose save is to be pulled.

Example command line usage.

XblConnectedStorage --scid 00000000-0000-0000-0000-0000628cd0f2 --gamertag CrazyGiraffe

Command line options

Use the --help option to see the full list of available command line options supported by the tool.

As of version 2020.6.0.0, the output is as follows:

XblConnectedStorage 2020.6.0.0
Copyright (C) 2021 Microsoft Corporation
USAGE:
Downloads the Connected Storage data for this user to ./output/xbstorage.xml:
XblConnectedStorage --scid 00000000-0000-0000-0000-0000628cd0f2 --gamertag CrazyGiraffe --output ./output/xbstorage.xml
 --sandbox TEST.0

  -c, --scid        Required. The service configuration ID (SCID) of the title

  -s, --sandbox     Required. The target sandbox for title storage

  -g, --gamertag    Required. The legacy gamertag of the player to retrieve storage for

  -o, --output      (Default: ./output/xbstorage.xml) The output file to write the xbstorage xml file to.

  --help            Display this help screen.

  --version         Display version information.

Permissions needed to use the tool

Protecting the privacy of users and game save data is important. A developer account requires certain permissions to access the game save data using the Xbox Connected Storage tool. To view or modify those permissions for a developer account, follow these steps:

Open the User management page in Microsoft Partner Center
Select the user or group whose permissions you want view or modify
Click the "Customize Permissions" link
Select the product whose permissions you want to view or modify
Select "XBOX Live"
Select "Tools Access"

A developer account with the "Tools Access" Read permission is needed to download game saves for that product.

Understanding error messages

500 Internal Server Error

This error occurs when trying to access a SCID/Sandbox combination that the current developer account doesn't have permissions to access. For guidance on how to resolve this issue, see the Permissions needed to use the tool section of this document.

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