Consider upgrading or installing fresh.
Consider upgrading or installing fresh.
It's much easier now than before. Just use Windows plus Steam—your games stay on a 4TB USB. Follow these steps: install Windows, set up Steam, open Steam settings, go to downloads, point the USB, and launch the game. It will tell you to find existing files, then you can play without using much internet speed.
Nope. My recommendation is never buy anything from the Microsoft store, way too many downsides. However I get it, for example, my son plays Minecraft, at this point no way around it, have to use the Microsoft store. With the Microsoft store you're pretty much out of luck as far as I know. Heck it'll fight you just trying to delete and start over with the folder. The only other store I know about is Epic, and that one supposedly you can use some work arounds to sort of make it work, but it's not straight forward either. I don't use Epic either, but again my son does, I've always just wiped it and started over. Steam seems to be the only one that makes it straight forward. It's been a long time since I've used GOG, but if I remember right, GOG was pretty straight forward too?
I'm familiar with MSFS and rely on the store. Gamepass works well with an Xbox. I haven't installed GoG myself; I usually just download the files and set everything up separately. Mostly, I use GoG for the X-Wing games, so the Win95 versions are just a direct file transfer. Epic Game is mainly for free titles. I haven't played Control yet—planning to try it after this hardware upgrade.
Are you certain it's a purchased copy rather than a rental? Please try again to get my daughter to submit a complaint. It seems she’s been pressured into buying the other version (Bedrock) despite the original plan. Given the situation with Mojang, she’s already spent around $70 across two accounts, not counting her original purchase.
I'm familiar with all of these issues. Many of my complaints about the Microsoft store have centered around my son's Minecraft purchase, and Microsoft didn't assist at all. Eventually, I reached out to my credit card provider, which filed a dispute and returned my money.
Following up on the installs, the Steam titles appear to have transferred properly. MSFS, however, seems to have hidden roughly 400-800Gb of data on the flight drive, which forced me to format it to reclaim space. Interestingly, other Xbox games left behind folders filled with encrypted files. I haven’t attempted reinstalling any of them yet.
When you configure Microsoft to install software or games on another drive, a specific folder should appear there by default—it won’t let you interact with it unless you take action. By default, the company also avoids using that folder again, which can be frustrating or intentional. You have the option to claim ownership and remove it, but Windows makes the process quite challenging.
If it's a remainder from the previous setup, that's fine. Of course, Microsoft won't allow you to interact with it directly. However, the operating system is still usable.