Windows reinstall without losing data

Question

Is it possible to reinstall Windows on a disk that has many GB of data on it, without losing this data? I will have to do a reinstall of windows on my main disk, but this disk contains about 600GB of data I wouldnt like to lose or download again. Maybe "upgrade this pc" option in windows installer can guarantee me that? Or I must move all files to other disk?

Answer 1

I guess I am not fully understanding the issue you have there. You said you couldn't boot into Windows - is this the current situation before you even change motherboard, or after? And why can't you boot into Windows? Is it because of bitlocker key preventing you from booting, or what else? I don't think I have enough information to provide you the suggestion of clean install vs. "upgrade".

Answer 2

What if I do an "upgrade" option during windows installation? Should it boot normally on new motherboard, and read all files, programs without problem? Or I have to do clean install?

Answer 3

I see, so you are talking about a clean install from the ISO USB drive? In that case, you need to backup your data. There's no way to keep your data while doing a clean install. Sorry.

Answer 4

I mean, I have to reinstall (or delete and install again) windows system but on hard drive that has already files on that. And I dont know if installing new windows will delete data from this drive. I am changing motherboard in my pc, but I cant boot into windows, so I must install new windows system. But will this new installation delete data I already have on hard disk?

Answer 5

Hello Jan, this is Emily.

If you were talking about resetting your Windows 11, you do have an option that keeps data. It does remove all of the apps except for the ones that came with Windows.

To do so, you can hold down the shift key when you choose the "restart" option for Windows, then go to Troubeshot > Reset this PC. Then make sure you choose the option that keeps your files.

Hopefully this achieves what you were looking for.