You turned Windows Backup on, it said everything was backed up, and you assumed that was that. Then somebody asked what would happen if the drive died tomorrow.
I want you to know the answer before that day rather than after it, because it surprises most people.
Windows Backup is real and it is useful. It is also not a backup of your PC, and the gap between those two sentences is where people lose things.
What it does back up, in Microsoft's own words
Documented by Microsoft on its backup and restore page: Windows Backup covers "files, themes, and settings to many of your installed apps and Wi-Fi information".
Broken out, that means four things.
Folders. Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Videos and Music.
Settings. Accessibility, accounts, Wi-Fi passwords, personalization including wallpaper and theme and Start layout, language preferences, and other Windows settings.
Apps. The list of applications you installed from the Microsoft Store, so a new PC knows what to fetch.
Where it goes. Your Microsoft account, which means OneDrive.
The five gigabytes nobody mentions
This is the part that quietly decides whether the whole thing works for you.
Microsoft states the allowance plainly: a Microsoft account comes with "5 GB of OneDrive cloud storage" free, with more available to buy.
Your Desktop, Documents and Pictures folders go into that 5 GB. So does anything else already syncing to OneDrive.
⚠️ A phone camera roll or a few years of photos passes 5 GB without trying. When it fills, syncing stops, and a stopped sync looks exactly like a working one until you go and look.
⭐ Ours, and marked as ours: check the number, not the tick. Open OneDrive, look at how much of your allowance is used, and compare it to the size of the folders you asked it to protect. If the second number is bigger, you are not backed up.
What it does not cover, and this is the part that matters
Everything that is not in those four categories.
Programs you did not get from the Microsoft Store. Which is most of them. The backup records Store apps, not your installers, licenses or settings for desktop software.
App data. Your Store apps come back. What was inside them largely does not.
Anything outside those five folders. A project folder on D drive, a games library, a work directory at the root of C. None of it is included.
A second drive. Windows Backup is about your account, not about your machine's storage.
The machine itself. There is no system image here. If the drive fails, you are reinstalling Windows and starting again, then signing in to get your settings and Store apps back.
⛔ That is the sentence to take away. Windows Backup makes a new PC feel like your old one. It does not get your old PC back.
If a new PC is where this is heading anyway, whether yours can take Windows 11 is the decision underneath it.
File History is a different thing, and it is still there
Worth knowing because the two get confused constantly and they do not do the same job.
File History copies your files to a drive you choose, usually an external one, and keeps previous versions so you can go back to how a file looked last week.
Documented by Microsoft: on Windows 11 it covers Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, Desktop and offline OneDrive files stored on your device.
One of Microsoft's own community advisers puts the limit plainly, and it is worth having in your head: File History "will only store previous versions of files you open and edit".
⚠️ So it is a version history for the things you work on, not a full copy of everything. Useful, and not the same as a backup.
It is also harder to find than it used to be. Press Windows key + R and run `control /name Microsoft.FileHistory` to open it directly, which is one of several things that only exist in the old Control Panel.
Backup and Restore (Windows 7), which is still in there
The name is not a typo. Windows 11 still carries a tool labeled Backup and Restore (Windows 7), and it can make a system image.
The same adviser, on the older tool: it "has not been updated since Windows 7 and will most likely be deprecated in the future".
⚠️ Its images do still restore. Microsoft documents where the files land, a folder named Backup Set for file backups and WindowsImageBackup for a system image.
Ours, and marked as ours: an unmaintained tool is a fine way to take one image before a risky change, and a poor thing to build a routine on. Use it deliberately, not as your plan.
What an adviser on Microsoft's own board recommends instead
This is the line that decided the shape of this page, and it comes from Microsoft's own community rather than from a competitor.
An owner on Windows 11 Pro asked in February 2023 whether to use File History, Backup and Restore, both, or something else.
The adviser answered that "Microsoft indicate it would be best to use a 3rd party solution", and recommended formatting the external drive as NTFS.
The owner accepted the answer.
⭐ That is unusual and it is worth taking seriously. When the vendor's own advisers point away from the built-in tools for the main job, the built-in tools are not the main job.
If you only do one thing
Because a page like this is useless if it leaves you with a decision instead of an action.
Buy an external drive larger than the data you care about, and copy that data onto it. Not synced. Copied, so that deleting a file on the PC does not delete it on the drive too.
Then leave Windows Backup switched on for the settings and the Store apps, because that part genuinely saves you an afternoon on a new machine.
⛔ And keep the two ideas separate in your head. Sync keeps two places identical, including your mistakes. A backup is a copy from a moment that does not change when you do.
Status: written 22 August 2026. Microsoft documents Windows Backup as covering folders, settings, Wi-Fi information and Store apps to your Microsoft account, with 5 GB of OneDrive storage included. It publishes no system image in that tool, and its own community advisers point at third-party software for a full backup.
Does Windows Backup back up my programs?
Only apps installed from the Microsoft Store, and only the record of them rather than their data. Desktop programs, their settings and their licenses are not included. On a new PC you reinstall those yourself.
Where does Windows Backup store my files?
In OneDrive, tied to your Microsoft account. A free account includes 5 GB, and your Desktop, Documents and Pictures folders count against it. When the allowance fills, syncing stops without looking any different.
Is File History the same as Windows Backup?
No. Windows Backup saves settings, Store apps and certain folders to your Microsoft account. File History copies files to a drive you choose and keeps earlier versions of the files you open and edit. They solve different problems and neither is a system image.
Can I restore my whole PC from Windows Backup?
No. There is no system image in Windows Backup. If the drive fails you reinstall Windows, sign in, and your settings and Store apps return. Your files come back only if they were inside the folders that were syncing.
The Short Version
- Windows Backup covers five folders, your settings, Wi-Fi passwords and Store apps.
- It goes to OneDrive, and a free account has 5 GB. Photos pass that quickly.
- When the allowance fills, syncing stops and it still looks fine.
- Desktop programs, app data, other drives and anything outside those folders are not included.
- There is no system image. It makes a new PC feel like the old one, it does not restore the old one.
- File History keeps versions of the files you open and edit, which is not the same job.
- Backup and Restore (Windows 7) still works and has not been updated since Windows 7.
Where to Next
Open OneDrive and look at how much of your 5 GB is used, right now. That single number tells you whether what you have is protection or a green tick.
If the drive is what is short of room rather than the cloud, where your disk space went finds the big items. If you are about to move to a new machine anyway, whether your PC can take Windows 11 is the decision underneath that.
And if you have ever lost something you thought was safe, tell me below what you believed was covering it. I would like to know which tool gets trusted wrongly most often.
Isaac Smith is the founder and editor of PC Glance, a website that covers computers, laptops, and technology. He is a tech enthusiast and a computer geek who loves to share his insights and help his readers make smart choices when buying tech gadgets or laptops. He is always curious and updated about the latest tech trends.