How do I backup a game bought via Windows Store?

WastedJoker · 02 Feb 2016

I have a 240GB SSD so I like to be careful about space allocated to my games. With Steam games it is easy to just copy the game folder to an external HD when I'm not playing it then moved it back when I fancy playing it.

However, I purchased Rise of the Tomb Raider from the Windows Store and that option doesn't seem doable - the game installed itself into a folder inside C:/Program Files/WindowsApps which isn't viewable unless I taken ownership (I already messed up all my metro apps doing this but fortunately I had a recent disk image to recover from it).

Does anyone know of a way to either change the location of the game installation or an easy way to backup and restore the game files?

WastedJoker · 02 Feb 2016

I may have actually just solved this myself, sorry!

https://i.imgur.com/x0zuIyz.png

It seems like I can move the game install back and forth between drives as and when I want.

Shame it means the game has to stay "installed" in some fashion but that's a minor niggle.

I'm in the process of re-downloading the game so I'll test it and see if it works before I mark thread as solved.

WastedJoker · 02 Feb 2016

ok, that took forever but I can definitely move the installation to a different drive. See screenshot:

https://i.imgur.com/pV6Xbm4.png

AnonVendetta · 02 Feb 2016

Take ownership of the C:\Program Files\WindowsApps directory (assign it to the Administrators user group, not your personal account), then give the Administrators group full control of it. Just remember that there is a difference between ownership of a file/folder, and permissions. Then you should just be able to copy your's app's folder out of it. You'll have to use Windows PowerShell to manually reinstall it, or redownload it from the Windows Store.