Keep My Files vs Remove Everything: Which Reset to Choose?

If you want to fix Windows without losing your personal files, **Keep My Files** is usually the better pick. If you want the PC wiped so it’s as close to starting over as possible, **Remove Everything** is the better pick. The main difference is simple: one tries to preserve your personal files, while the other removes everything it can. That choice also changes what happens to apps, settings, accounts, and the files you still need to back up before you reset. Pick the wrong option and you can lose more than you meant to.

If you just want the short answer

Use Keep My Files if your goal is to fix Windows while keeping your documents, photos, and other personal files in place. Use Remove Everything if you want the machine cleaned out for a new owner, a full fresh start, or a serious cleanup where you do not want old data hanging around.

Criteria

Use the same three checks for either option:

• What do you want to keep: personal files, or nothing local?
• What are you trying to do: repair Windows, or wipe the PC?
• Who is the PC for next: you, or someone else?

If you are fixing a problem and keeping the PC, Keep My Files is often enough. If you are selling it, giving it away, returning it, or you want to erase your local data, Remove Everything is the safer fit.

Decision

Choose Keep My Files when the goal is to repair Windows and save your own files.

Choose Remove Everything when the goal is to clear the device for another person or start from a blank slate.

If you are unsure, ask yourself which matters more: saving the files already on the machine, or clearing out the current setup. That answer usually points to the right option quickly.

What Keep My Files actually does

Keep My Files is the lighter reset. It reinstalls Windows, removes installed apps, and clears out many system settings, but it tries to leave your personal files alone. In practice, that usually means the files in your main user folders stay on the PC.

Say you have a laptop with photos in Pictures, tax forms in Documents, and a few Word files on the desktop. After a Keep My Files reset, those personal files are usually still there, but your installed programs are gone and many settings are back to default.

That makes this option useful when Windows is acting up but your own data still matters. It is not the same as a cleanup that preserves your full setup. You should expect to reinstall programs and reconfigure things like browser preferences, printer setup, and sign-in choices.

Tradeoffs

Keep My Files gives you a better chance of keeping local documents and photos, but you give up your installed apps and a lot of your setup work. You also still need to check files that live outside the standard user folders, because those are not protected in the same way.

What Remove Everything actually does

Remove Everything does what the name suggests: it removes personal files, installed apps, and settings. It is the closer choice to starting from scratch.

This is the option people usually pick when they want the PC ready for another person, or when they do not want any of their own data left behind on the machine. It is also the better fit when the current Windows installation feels too messy to trust.

If you choose this path, assume the machine will come back to you in a much more empty state. You will need to reinstall programs, sign back into accounts, and restore anything you saved elsewhere. If you are handing the PC to someone else, this is usually the clearer choice because it avoids leaving your files on the device.

Tradeoffs

Remove Everything gives you a cleaner reset and a better handoff for another owner, but you give up all local files and local accounts on the PC. That means more setup afterward, not less.

The 3 questions that decide between them

The choice gets easier if you answer three plain questions.

1. Are you trying to fix a problem or wipe the PC?

If the goal is to solve slowness, remove glitches, or repair Windows without losing your work, Keep My Files is often enough. If the goal is to erase your presence or start from a blank slate, Remove Everything fits better.

2. Do you need to protect personal data on the device?

If your files matter and you can’t afford to lose them, lean toward Keep My Files after backing up the important ones anyway. If the device is being sold, returned, or given away, treat privacy as the priority and use Remove Everything.

3. Is the PC staying with you or going to someone else?

If it stays with you, preserving files may matter more. If it leaves your hands, a true wipe is usually the safer call.

What each option does to apps, drivers, and settings

Both reset options can remove installed desktop apps, so don’t assume your programs will survive either one. The difference is mainly how much of your personal data stays behind.

Here’s the practical split:

The driver side is easy to miss. After either reset, some hardware may still work normally, but others may need updated drivers or a fresh setup. Printers, audio devices, graphics settings, touchpads, and specialty peripherals are common places where you may need to go back and tune things again.

Differences

The difference that matters most is local data. Keep My Files is for preserving what you still need on the machine. Remove Everything is for clearing the machine out. In both cases, apps go away, settings get reset, and you should expect to sign back in and set things up again.

What can still be lost even if you choose Keep My Files

This is where people get surprised. Keep My Files protects your main personal folders, but that does not mean every file you care about is safe.

You can still lose or need to rebuild:

• Files stored outside your user folders
• Some desktop items, depending on how they were saved
• Browser history, saved sessions, and some bookmarks if they were not synced
• Game saves stored in app folders or local data locations
• App-specific settings and caches
• Anything only kept in a program’s own folder or a custom location

Cloud sync can also create confusion. A file stored in OneDrive or another sync service may come back later from the cloud, but that is not the same as having a local backup before the reset. If the sync was paused, broken, or incomplete, you can still end up missing data.

Tradeoffs

With Keep My Files, the tradeoff is plain: you save more personal data, but you still lose a lot of the setup that makes the PC feel like yours. It is a reset, not a full preservation of the machine as you use it.

What to back up before you click anything

Back up first, even if Keep My Files sounds safe enough. A reset is not the moment to trust memory.

Save these before you continue:

• Documents
• Desktop
• Downloads
• Pictures
• Videos
• Any project folders stored in custom locations
• Browser bookmarks and saved passwords, if they are not fully synced
• Game saves
• Exported email or mailbox data, if you use a local mail app
• License keys or activation details for paid software
• Any 2FA recovery codes you rely on for account access

If you use an external drive, copy the files there and check that they actually open. If you use cloud storage, make sure the upload has finished before you reset. The point is to have at least one backup you can prove works.

Don’t assume Downloads, Desktop, or a sync app has everything. If a file only exists on the PC, a reset can remove it.

Tradeoffs

Backing up takes time, but it removes the worst surprise: thinking the reset will save you from losing files that were never copied anywhere else.

When Remove Everything is the safer choice

Choose Remove Everything when the clean slate matters more than preserving local data.

That usually includes these situations:

• You suspect malware and want to clear as much as possible from the machine
• The PC was shared and you want your accounts and files off it
• Windows is badly corrupted and a lighter reset has not been enough
• You are selling, donating, or handing off the device
• You want to remove old clutter, old sign-ins, and old app data all at once

In those cases, keeping files on the machine can leave behind more than you want. If the device is leaving your control, a full wipe is the better fit because it reduces the chance that personal data survives on the disk.

Decision

Pick Remove Everything if your main goal is privacy, resale, donation, or a hard reset of the whole PC. Pick Keep My Files only when you still need the files already stored on the machine and you are keeping the device.

Tradeoffs

You give up convenience here. A full wipe is cleaner, but it means more setup later and a much stronger need for a backup you’ve already checked.

How to avoid the most common reset mistake

The biggest mistake is assuming something else counts as a backup when it really doesn’t.

A few examples:

• OneDrive: helpful, but only for files that actually finished syncing
• External drives: only useful if you copied the right folders there and can open them
• Recovery partitions: good for reinstalling Windows, not for preserving your personal data
• Cloud apps: may keep some data online, but not always everything you expect

Local deletion and cloud sync are different things. If a file exists only on the PC, a reset can remove it. If a file exists in the cloud but never finished syncing down or up, you may not get the version you thought you had. Check the files you care about before you reset, not after.

What to do after the reset

After either reset, start with the basics and rebuild in a controlled order.

First, confirm that your personal files are where you expect them to be. If you used Keep My Files, check the main user folders before you install anything else. If you used Remove Everything, confirm that the machine is behaving like a clean install.

Then do this:

1. Run Windows Update.
2. Reinstall the apps you actually use.
3. Reconnect printers, drives, and other hardware.
4. Restore backed-up files in batches, not all at once.
5. Sign back into accounts one by one and turn sync back on only after you verify the local data.

That order helps you catch missing files, driver issues, or account problems early, before you pile new data on top of a fresh system.

Conclusion

If you want to keep your own files while fixing Windows, start with **Keep My Files**. If you want the PC clean for another person or a true fresh start, choose **Remove Everything**. Either way, back up the folders and account data that matter before you begin, because the reset screen is not the place to discover what was never saved. After the reset, check your files first, then rebuild the rest step by step.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Keep My Files keep my desktop files?

Usually it keeps files in your main user folders, but desktop items can be a weak spot if they were stored or synced in a way Windows does not preserve the way you expect. Back up the Desktop folder before you reset.

Will I lose Microsoft Office or other apps with Keep My Files?

Yes. In most cases, installed apps are removed with either reset option, so plan to reinstall them afterward.

Is Remove Everything enough before selling a PC?

It is the better choice of the two for handing the device to someone else, because it removes your files and local accounts instead of keeping them on the machine.

Do I still need a backup if I choose Keep My Files?

Yes. Keep My Files is not a full safety net, and it does not protect every file type or every storage location.