Windows: Backing up and restoring

I'm not sure this is the right place for this question but here goes...

For reasons I'm not going into, I need to completely reformat my computer and re-install windows. My main concern is restoring FFXIV of course. What is the best way to backup my config files and then how and when do you restore them after re-installing windows? The more details the better on the instructions.

Since, 2.1 you can backup/restore the FFXIV config file to a location you prefer. And you can just copy the FFXIV game (binary) folder to another hard drive etc.

Once you've reinstalled, you can just run the game (probably once), then quit and restore the config file from the safe location.

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Originally Posted by TheFirstKel

Since, 2.1 you can backup/restore the FFXIV config file to a location you prefer. And you can just copy the FFXIV game (binary) folder to another hard drive etc.

Once you've reinstalled, you can just run the game (probably once), then quit and restore the config file from the safe location.

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Thanks for the response TheFirstKel, I missed that this had been responded to somehow...

I take it that since 2.1 there is a backup/restore feature that has been added. Where is this feature accessed from? The launcher, the start screen, character select, or in game to backup each character separately?

In your second option, you mention copying the game folder to another location. This would mean the directory that the launcher is located in I would assume. When I was poking around initially, it seemed that there were some things stored in other places. Are all the settings and config files really in that one directory? I'm talking game settings and character settings. Macros, HUD setup... the works!

I guess I'm just looking for a little bit more information. Some specific instructions would help. I don't want to waist a bunch of time getting everything back the way I like it after I'm already going to waist a bunch of time reformatting and reinstalling windows...

Thanks for any additional help you can give!

If using the updated 2.1 launcher, you can find the option to backup/restore at the Launcher > Config > Backup Tool.

Or you can do it manually by going to: "C:\Users\<username>\Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn". Config (Character data, screenshots, Macros and HUD etc) are stored here by default.

Game folder is at the location where you specified during installation; I changed mine so for me it is at: "C:\Games\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn". Like most other games these days, keeping safe of this folder to another partition or hard drive will enable you to play without major reinstall from the gold copy (initial released without any patch).

Awesome! Thanks for the info, this is exactly what I needed!

I did this recently upgrading my rig and had no issues at all.