How to Move Files and Settings to a New Windows PC

You set up the new PC, signed in with the same Microsoft account, and your desktop came back but half your programs did not. Windows does not migrate a PC the way a phone restores from a backup. The Windows Backup app moves folders, settings, Wi-Fi passwords, and a list of apps; it reinstalls Store apps and pins a link for everything else, but it never copies installed programs. The rest is a manual copy and a round of installers.

Run Windows Backup on the old PC

Click Start, type Windows Backup, and open it. Turn on Folders (Desktop, Documents, Pictures, and others, which go through OneDrive), Apps, Settings, and Credentials (Wi-Fi networks and passwords), then click Back up. Large folders can take hours, and the free OneDrive tier holds 5 GB.

Restore during setup on the new PC

When setup on the new PC offers to restore from a backup, pick the old PC's backup instead of setting up as a new device. Store apps reinstall on their own. Other programs appear as pinned links on Start and the taskbar that open the download page when clicked.

Copy the folders the backup skips

Plug an external drive into the old PC, or use the OneDrive folder, and copy C:\Users\<your user name>\Downloads, Videos, and Music, plus anything stored outside your user folder such as game libraries or project folders on a second drive. Copy Desktop, Documents, and Pictures too if you did not turn on folder backup.

Export the data that lives inside apps

Browser bookmarks and passwords: sign in to the browser's sync, or export bookmarks from its bookmark manager. Outlook: File, Open & Export, Import/Export to a PST file if the mailbox is POP or has local-only folders. Game saves are usually under Documents or AppData. Sticky Notes are in AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState. Fonts you installed yourself sit in C:\Windows\Fonts.

Reinstall programs from their installers

Download each program again from its maker's site and install it on the new PC. Sign in where the license is tied to an account (Office and most subscriptions). Where the license is tied to the machine, deactivate it on the old PC first: Adobe apps use Help, Sign out; many audio, CAD, and tax tools have a deactivate option in their license or account menu.

If a program lost its settings. Most keep them in C:\Users\<your user name>\AppData\Roaming\<program name>. Install the program on the new PC, close it, then copy that folder over from the old PC.

Keep the old PC until everything works. Do not wipe it for the first few weeks; whatever you missed is still on it.