Why does MS make re-installing games so difficult/time-consuming?!

BrianInEngland · Jul 3, 2023

I recently did a clean install of Windows. The biggest job is re-installing games, some are over 100GB in size (Forza 5 I'm looking at you!). Not a problem with fast internet but still time-consuming. This has to be done even if the games drive isn't cleaned/formatted.

Why can't it be like Steam - point the Steam app at a drive containing games and they're all there (providing the drive isn't wiped)
There really needs to be a way for Windows to scan drives and re-link installed games. I know the files are encrypted but if the games are linked to a MS account I don't see the problem.

Why make it such a big job!

Catnip · Jul 3, 2023

I suspect that the reason that Windows can't just re-sync with installed games is that there are registry entries for them that must be re-established. Steam is a little different, in that you just have to point Steam at your installation folder again as you say.

I agree, it is annoying though.

glasskuter · Jul 3, 2023

Why? For the same reason one has to reinstall other apps after a clean install...the registry. Everything in Windows is tied to the registry one way or the other. The solution is to retain current system images. They save your bacon when you need to get back to a stable working state. There's no need to ever clean install Windows again, even if using completely different hardware.

bobkn · Jul 3, 2023

IMHO, the Windows Registry is the worst aspect of the whole Windows experience. I suppose that MS will never be able to get rid of it.

(I've been Windows exclusive for about a quarter century. Disliking the Registry isn't enough to make me abandon it. Maybe I'll rethink things if MS moves to a subscription model. It will probably be affordable, but a line should be drawn somewhere, IMHO.)

BamaInArk · Jul 3, 2023

I'm not a gamer so don't have this issue however I have looked into this somewhat and apparently it's pretty easy with most/many games. Especially if you have your games installed on a separate drive than the OS drive. There are multiple Youtube videos on how to do it. Google it.

James · Jul 3, 2023

I have two games 100gb +. Forza horizon 5 and MS flight sim. My internet is about 30 mbps MAX, and both games are on the ms store. I have to leave the games overnight and during the day (probably around 10 hours) to download. Sometimes then, I wake up (I set the computer to turn off about 1 hour after my calculated downloading finishing time) and then ms store says download failed or something. It is a right pain and I have to do it every time I install new windows*

* The games are on my D drive, windows on c. The games are still on d drive, but the folders are not delectable through ms store so I have to reinstall the games! With steam, I don’t have to do this as it all just syncs up with the d drive again..

I wish I had just waited a bit and got the games through steam..

James · Jul 3, 2023

BrianInEngland said:
There really needs to be a way for Windows to scan drives and re-link installed games. I know the files are encrypted but if the games are linked to a MS account I don't see the problem.

YES! Finally somebody who shares my opinion..
Steam does it perfectly.

I still haven’t reinstalled fForza horizon 5 after my last windows reset. I can’t be bothered! It is on the d drive, yet I can’t delete the folder so it is using all that space.

Ghot · Jul 3, 2023

Q: Why does MS make re-installing games so difficult/time-consuming?!

A:

James · Jul 3, 2023

Ghot said:
Q: Why does MS make re-installing games so difficult/time-consuming?!

A:

View attachment 63950

The answer to most company’s absurd decisions at the momrnt

spapakons · Jul 3, 2023

Question: if we know where in Registry are game data stored, couldn't we take a backup of these Registry entries and restore after a clean installation? This way all games in D are automatically identified and ready to play. Any ideas?

James · Jul 3, 2023

spapakons said:
Question: if we know where in Registry are game data stored, couldn't we take a backup of these Registry entries and restore after a clean installation? This way all games in D are automatically identified and ready to play. Any ideas?

It is difficult.. I don’t have the knowledge in that sort of thing yet - I’m more into the web development and slowly learning the operating system side of things.

glasskuter · Jul 3, 2023

If the only bottleneck happens to be the registry and you know what those entries are,probably. But what about dlls, etc. Whatcha gonna do about handling those. Windows is windows. One has to either bite the bullet and spend hours and hours to clean install and deal with its aftermath, or spend 15-30 minutes and restore an image. For me it takes 12 minutes, it's a no brainer.

spapakons · Jul 3, 2023

That's the main reason I don't recommend a clean installation. I rather have some minor issues and clone my system than spend days (due to limited free time) to reinstall and reconfigure everything from scratch. I would do a clean installation as a last resort only. An exception is a typical office computer with only Microsoft Office and a couple of other applications. It shouldn't take more than a couple of hours to complete. Even then, why not clone? It is less than half an hour.

BrianInEngland · Jul 4, 2023

Catnip said:
I suspect that the reason that Windows can't just re-sync with installed games is that there are registry entries for them that must be re-established. Steam is a little different, in that you just have to point Steam at your installation folder again as you say.

I agree, it is annoying though.

glasskuter said:
Why? For the same reason one has to reinstall other apps after a clean install...the registry. Everything in Windows is tied to the registry one way or the other. The solution is to retain current system images. They save your bacon when you need to get back to a stable working state. There's no need to ever clean install Windows again, even if using completely different hardware.

I understand about the registry, but the games folders are on a different drive, surely there could be an easy way to scan the drives, and pick up any games stored there, and rebuild the registry? Chances are they're stored in \WindowsApps or \XboxGames
Even more annoying is if you have games on D: and in the storage settings set the default location for new apps to D: Windows tells you that apps are already stored there and must be deleted, so it knows about them!

spapakons · Jul 4, 2023

I haven't tried that on a modern game, but usually applications detect their old files and ask you if you want to overwrite them or "upgrade" the application. Reply yes to reinstall. In rare cases I had to delete the files before reinstalling. However, if the files are overwritten anyway, you still need the same amount of time with a new installation, or even more if setup is checking existing files instead of just replacing them. Patched applications or games can run without reinstallation, but we are not supposed to talk about it in this forum. For legitimately installed applications and games they almost always need reinstallation to run.

Steve C · Jul 4, 2023

I had to install MS Flight Simulator on a new PC which was certainly challenging and slow given the size of the installation.

spapakons · Jul 4, 2023

When you have reinstalled your applications and games, take a full disk backup of C (or better clone it to a spare disk). Next time you restore the clone in about half an hour and all applications and games in D are automatically ready to use.

BrianInEngland · Jul 4, 2023

spapakons said:
I haven't tried that on a modern game, but usually applications detect their old files and ask you if you want to overwrite them or "upgrade" the application. Reply yes to reinstall. In rare cases I had to delete the files before reinstalling. However, if the files are overwritten anyway, you still need the same amount of time with a new installation, or even more if setup is checking existing files instead of just replacing them. Patched applications or games can run without reinstallation, but we are not supposed to talk about it in this forum. For legitimately installed applications and games they almost always need reinstallation to run.

Steve C said:
I had to install MS Flight Simulator on a new PC which was certainly challenging and slow given the size of the installation.

spapakons said:
When you have reinstalled your applications and games, take a full disk backup of C (or better clone it to a spare disk). Next time you restore the clone in about half an hour and all applications and games in D are automatically ready to use.

I take regular backups of my C: drive, daily incrementals in fact. It's only an issue when I decide to clean install and have to re-download potentially 1TB of game files again.

BrianInEngland · Jul 4, 2023

Steve C said:
I had to install MS Flight Simulator on a new PC which was certainly challenging and slow given the size of the installation.

FH5 is 164GB, Mortal Kombat 11 is 153GB, and that's just the start!
Not forgetting that FH5 takes 10-15 minutes to re-sync the save game profile as well AFTER it's been re-installed!

spapakons · Jul 5, 2023

BrianInEngland said:
FH5 is 164GB, Mortal Kombat 11 is 153GB, and that's just the start!
Not forgetting that FH5 takes 10-15 minutes to re-sync the save game profile as well AFTER it's been re-installed!

In the old times games fit on a floppy disk... (opps busted). 164GB for a single game sounds too much to me. What is next? 1-2TB oer game? I think they have gone too far with game graphics.