How to reinstall Windows 11 without losing our files

Do you want to reinstall Windows 11 without losing our files? In this Tecnoguía article, we explain how to carry out this task safely and effectively. Although reinstalling an operating system may seem intimidating, taking the right steps can save you time and worry.

Keeping our files intact during the process is possible if you follow some key tips to use the Windows 11 reinstall tool and restore our files after the process.

With this detailed guide, you will be prepared to reinstall Windows 11 without losing our files and enjoy a renewed operating system without losing important data along the way.

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Contents

• Is it possible to reinstall Windows 11 without deleting important files?
• Option 1: Reset Windows 11 from Settings
• Option 2: Reinstall Windows 11 from installation media
• Option 3: Do a clean install of Windows 11

Is it possible to reinstall Windows 11 without deleting important files?

When attempts to fix system errors are unsuccessful, a clean install of Windows 11 could be the solution. But what happens with our data? Can they be kept during the Windows 11 reinstallation process?

The answer to how to reinstall Windows 11 without losing our files may vary depending on the method we choose to reinstall. In order not to fail in the attempt, it is important that you know these three alternatives that will provide options to keep our files safe during the process.

Option 1: Reset Windows 11 from Settings

A great alternative to reinstall Windows 11 without losing our files is to perform a system reset through settings. This option gives us the opportunity to preserve personal data stored in the User folder.

However, we must keep in mind that the applications installed on our own will be deleted , which means reinstalling them later.

The steps to carry out this process are as follows:

• Access the Settings application, which we can find in the Start menu or by activating the Windows + I keys on the keyboard.
• Once inside the Configuration window, we choose the option called “System” located in the left panel.
• In the right panel, we scroll down until we locate the “Recovery” section and proceed to select it.
• In the “Reset the device” section, we will see the corresponding button. We click on it to continue.
• When you do this, a new window will open that asks us a crucial question: do you want to keep the files or do you prefer to delete all the content? To keep personal data, we will choose the alternative “Keep my files”.
• Next, we will have to decide between two reinstallation alternatives: cloud or local. Reinstalling via cloud involves downloading the most recent version of Windows 11 from the Internet. On the other hand, the local reinstallation mode makes use of the files already present in the internal storage. We select the alternative that best suits our preferences and click “Next”.
• Finally, we confirm the choice by clicking “Reset”. As a consequence, the computer will restart and begin the Windows 11 reinstallation process, without this implying the loss of our personal files.

By following these steps, we can successfully reinstall Windows 11 without losing our files , preserving personal data and minimizing the impact on the current configuration.

Option 2: Reinstall Windows 11 from installation media

The second option that we can use to reinstall Windows 11 without losing our files is to use an installation media, such as a USB or a DVD, that contains an ISO image of the operating system.

This option allows us to keep both our personal data and our installed applications, as long as we reinstall the same edition of Windows 11 that we had before.

To reinstall Windows 11 from installation media, we will follow these steps:

• We create an installation media using a Windows 11 ISO image. We can download the ISO image from Microsoft’s official site and use a reliable tool like Rufus to create a bootable USB with it.
• We connect the installation media to the computer and start the boot process from said device. We can change the boot order in the BIOS or press a specific key during startup (usually F12 or Esc) to select the installation media.
• Once the Windows 11 installation screen appears, we select the language, time and currency format, as well as the input method of our preference. Then, we click on the “Next” button.
• We press the “Install now” button and wait while the files necessary for the installation are loaded.
• Next, we must enter the product key corresponding to our Windows 11 license. We can select the “I don’t have a product key” option and activate it later.
• We read and accept the license terms by clicking “Next”.
• At this point, we choose the “Custom: install Windows only (advanced)” option.
• A list of hard drive partitions will be shown to us. We must be careful to select the partition where Windows 11 is currently installed.
• Then we click “Next”. It is essential not to format or delete any partitions, as this could result in the loss of important data.
• The installation process will begin and Windows 11 will be reinstalled without deleting our personal files. The installer will copy the files necessary for the operating system.

Once the installation is complete, your computer will restart automatically. Next, we can configure the user account and customize preferences. In this way, it is possible to reinstall Windows 11 without losing our files.

Option 3: Do a clean install of Windows 11

The third option that we can use to reinstall Windows 11 without losing our files is to do a clean installation of the operating system. This option allows us to delete everything on the hard drive, including the previous operating system, applications, viruses and junk files, and leave the computer like new.

However, it also means that we will lose all our personal data, so we will have to make a backup before proceeding.

To do a clean installation of Windows 11, we must follow these steps:

• Let’s make sure we back up all our vital files to an external drive or the cloud, using tools like OneDrive or Google Drive to ensure security.
• We are going to create an installation media by preparing a Windows 11 ISO image, following the steps mentioned above.
• We connect the installation media to our computer and proceed to start the boot process from said media.
• When the Windows 11 installation screen appears, we select our language preferences, time format and currency, as well as the input method before clicking “Continue”.
• We begin the installation process with a click on “Start installation” and wait while the initial steps are completed.
• We enter the product key corresponding to our Windows 11 license, or if we prefer, we choose the “Activate later” option if we do not have said key at that time.
• We accept the license terms by checking the appropriate box and proceed by clicking “Continue”.
• We select the alternative “Custom: install Windows only (advanced options)” to define how we want to proceed.
• We will see a list of partitions on our hard drive. Let’s delete each partition by selecting it and opting for the “Delete” option. Next, we create a new partition using all the unallocated space, followed by clicking “Create” and then “Continue”.
• The installation process will copy the necessary Windows 11 files and perform a clean installation of the operating system.
• After completing the procedure, our computer will restart and we will have the opportunity to configure our user account, as well as our personalized preferences.

As can be seen with these three options, it is possible to reinstall Windows 11 without losing our files, and repair the errors that our computer presented. We hope this guide is very useful to carry out the Windows 11 reinstallation process.