Windows 10: An update and disk cleanup have deleted all my Microsoft Store games.

So I got a notification about an accumulative updates, these small ones, I let the Windows install and then restart, then went to disk cleanup on C to delete the old updates files, just like normal so far. Guess what, after the cleanup was finished, all my installed games on Microsoft store have been deleted and uninstalled. The funny thing is the games weren't even installed on C, they were installed on another drive, how come ?!


Their space has been evacuated from the drive they were installed on, Xbox app list them uninstalled and ask me to install them again. I even took full control of the windowsapp folder they were installed in and it was totally empty.


Now, I don't think there's a solution for this terrible bug. I deleted the empty windowsapp folder on that drive and will move on, but I'm sorry I'm done with Microsoft Store for good. No way I trust it again with this.


I have always thought no way to backup your games when the size of some Gears and Forza games have become +100Gb is a garbage design. All stores allow you to backup your games file, but Microsoft Store encrypt them in hidden files and folders and prevent you from backing them up. If I have ever had to do a clean install of Windows, I would have lost them anyway. This is a garbage design, I'm sorry.

:)

 

DISK CLEANUP

Hello,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

1. Which files are you trying to delete using disk clean up?
2. Which version of Windows are you currently using?

Please reply back with the information to the above questions in order to provide you with appropriate troubleshooting steps:



I understand that you are trying to free up memory using Disk Cleanup. If you are trying to delete files using disk cleanup on Windows 10, I suggest you to refer the following article on

Disk cleanup in Windows 10 for steps to perform disk clean up on your PC.



Hope it helps.



Sandeep Kumar M

Microsoft Community – Moderator

 

disk cleanup

Hi joysoder, to properly and safely delete any files not required by your system, run Disk Cleanup twice as explained below. Each time select everything in the list and delete them. Disk Cleanup will not suggest deleting anything that is not safe to delete
. . .

Open File Explorer

Click on your hard drive

On the Manage Tab, click Cleanup

Let Disk Cleanup do its initial scan

Select Everything in the list and choose Delete

Start Disk Cleanup again

Let Disk Cleanup do its initial scan

This time in the resulting dialog, click 'Cleanup System Files'

Let Disk Cleanup run another scan

Select Everything in the list and choose Delete

 

Files in disk cleanup

Hi Lynne

Rest assured, it is totally safe to delete everything suggested by the Disk Cleanup Process, please tun the Disk Cleanup twice as explained below, please remember to untick your Downloads folder if you actually store files in that folder . . .

Open File Explorer

Click on your hard drive

On the Manage Tab, click Cleanup

Let Disk Cleanup do its initial scan

Select Everything in the list and choose Delete

Start Disk Cleanup again

Let Disk Cleanup do its initial scan

This time in the resulting dialog, click 'Cleanup System Files'

Let Disk Cleanup run another scan

Select Everything in the list and choose Delete