How to Back Up PC Game Saves Before a Windows Reinstall

You are about to wipe Windows and start fresh, and somewhere on that drive is a 140 hour RPG save that no cloud service has ever touched. Reinstalling the game takes an evening. Losing the save can mean losing months. Before you format anything, you need to back up PC game saves properly, and that is less obvious than it sounds because games store them in at least six different places.

This guide covers where saves actually live, a manual method that works for every game, a free tool that automates it, and how to check that the backup will restore before you erase the original.

Why cloud saves are not enough

Steam Cloud, Xbox app sync and other launcher clouds cover a lot of modern games, and it is tempting to assume they cover everything. They do not. Common gaps include:

• Older games released before cloud sync was standard
• Games where the developer simply never enabled it
• Mods, custom maps and config files, which most clouds ignore entirely
• Games from small stores or DRM-free installers
• Emulator saves and memory card files

Cloud sync can also fail quietly. I have seen Steam report "up to date" on a game whose cloud copy was 200 days older than the local save, because the sync had been failing silently after a crash. If you have juggled several launchers for years, the overview in how to manage too many PC game launchers helps you see which stores you actually rely on.

Where PC game saves are stored

There is no single standard. These are the places to check, roughly in order of how often I find saves there. Paste each path into the File Explorer address bar.

If you cannot find a specific game, the community wiki PCGamingWiki lists the save path for most PC games on each game's page, under "Game data". It is the fastest way to confirm a location rather than guessing.

How to back up PC game saves manually

The manual method is slow but works for every game and needs no software.

1. Close every launcher. Quit Steam, the Epic launcher and others from the system tray so no file is locked or half written.
2. Create a backup folder on a different drive. An external SSD or USB stick, not another partition on the drive you are about to wipe. Name it something like GameSaves_2026-11.
3. Check each location in the table. Copy any folder named after a game you care about into the backup folder. When in doubt, copy it. Save folders are usually tiny, often under 50MB.
4. Copy config and mod folders. Your graphics settings, keybinds and mod lists often live next to the saves. Losing them costs hours of retuning.
5. Write a short text file. Note where each folder came from, for example "Elden Ring: %APPDATA%\EldenRing". Future you will not remember.

For a typical library this takes 30 to 60 minutes the first time.

Automating it with Ludusavi

Ludusavi is a free, open-source tool that does the hunting for you. It uses the PCGamingWiki database of save locations, scans your drives, and backs up every save it recognises into one folder. On my main PC it found saves for 87 games in about 40 seconds, including several I had forgotten I owned.

The basic workflow:

1. Download and run Ludusavi. It is a portable program, so there is no installer.
2. Go to the Backup mode, set the target to your external drive and press Preview to see what it will copy.
3. Untick anything you do not want, then press Back up.
4. After reinstalling Windows and your games, open Ludusavi on the new system, switch to Restore mode and point it at the same folder.

It is the one save tool I keep alongside the small set of utilities in the best PC tools for keeping a system smooth, and it can also run on a schedule so the backup is never stale.

Do not just back up the whole C drive

The usual advice before a reinstall is to make a full disk image and stop worrying. I disagree, at least as the only step. A disk image is great for disaster recovery, but it is clumsy for getting saves back. You either restore the whole old system, which defeats the point of a clean install, or you mount a 300GB image and dig for folders you never mapped in the first place.

A dedicated save backup of a few hundred megabytes is easy to check, quick to restore and small enough to keep in two places. Make the image if you have the space. Make the save backup regardless.

Test the backup before you wipe

A backup you have not opened is a hope, not a backup. Before you format:

• Open the backup folder and check file sizes are not zero bytes.
• Check the modified dates match your last play session.
• For one important game, rename the original save folder, copy the backup into place and launch the game. If your save loads, rename the original back.
• Keep a second copy somewhere else, such as a different USB stick or a personal cloud folder.

After the reinstall, restore saves before you first launch each game. Some games create a fresh empty save on launch, and a few will happily overwrite or confuse a restored one if it arrives second. If you are also moving to a new drive during the reinstall, the notes in NVMe vs SATA SSD for gaming are worth a look first.

Frequently asked questions

Where are PC game saves stored on Windows 11?

Most are in Documents\My Games, Saved Games, AppData\Roaming, AppData\Local or AppData\LocalLow under your user folder. Some use Steam's userdata folder or the game's own install folder. PCGamingWiki lists the exact path for most games.

Does reinstalling Windows delete game saves?

A clean install that formats the system drive deletes everything in your user folder, including local saves. Games with working cloud sync will download their saves again, but others are lost. Back them up to a separate drive first.

Do Steam games save to the cloud automatically?

Only games that support Steam Cloud, and only when it is enabled in Steam settings and in the game's properties. Many older and smaller titles do not support it. Check the game's Steam store page or properties to confirm.