How to back up a Windows 11 PC with Windows Backup

2 min read · 7 steps · Updated 2 October 2026

Windows Backup is built into Windows 11. It copies your personal folders to OneDrive and remembers your apps, settings and Wi-Fi passwords, so a new or reset PC can be set up as it was. It needs a personal Microsoft account. Work and school accounts are not supported.

These steps are for Windows 11. The pictures are simplified diagrams of the Settings window, not screenshots, so colours and spacing on your PC look a little different.

Step by step

1. Sign in with a Microsoft account

   Open Settings, Accounts, Your info and check that you are signed in with a Microsoft account, not a local account.

   Done

2. Open Windows Backup

   Click Start, type backup and open Windows Backup. The same settings are under Settings, Accounts, Windows backup.

   Done

3. Choose the folders

   Expand Folders and switch on the ones you want: Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Videos and Music. These folders are then synced to OneDrive.

   Done

4. Check the other options

   Under the remaining headings you decide whether Windows remembers your installed apps, your settings (such as wallpaper, colours, language and accessibility) and your accounts and Wi-Fi passwords.

   Done

5. Check the storage

   A free Microsoft account has 5 GB of OneDrive storage. The app shows how much your folders need. If it is not enough, switch off large folders such as Videos, or buy more storage.

   Done

6. Click Back up

   The first upload takes a while, depending on the amount of data and your connection. After that, changes are synced in the background.

   Done

7. Restore on a new or reset PC

   During the set-up of Windows 11, sign in with the same Microsoft account. Windows offers to restore from the backup of your old PC. Settings and app pins come back by themselves, files through OneDrive, and apps are downloaded again from the Microsoft Store when you first open them.

   Done

Good to know

Windows Backup does not save programs you installed from outside the Microsoft Store, and it is not a full image of the drive. For a second copy that does not depend on the internet, copy important folders to an external drive now and then.

Files in backed-up folders live in OneDrive. Deleting a file on the PC deletes it there too. It stays in the OneDrive recycle bin for a while.

Before a reset: how to factory reset a Windows 11 PC. For system problems rather than lost files: how to create a restore point and use System Restore on Windows 11.

In short: Microsoft account, Start, Windows Backup, switch on folders, check apps and settings, mind the 5 GB, Back up. Restore by signing in on the new PC.