Your files, apps and settings can’t be kept

November 23, 2020

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Some Windows 10 users might encounter the error message Your files, apps and settings can’t be kept when they try to perform a Windows 10 in-place upgrade. In this post, we will give an explanation of why you encounter this error, as well as provide the workaround you can try to overcome this anomaly.

Your files, apps and settings can't be kept

Below is the full error message that you’ll receive when you encounter this anomaly;

Your files, apps, and settings can’t be kept because your current version of Windows might be installed in an unsupported directory or you’re trying to install an older version of Windows.

When you perform an in-place upgrade using the Media Creation Tool, the current Windows 10 system files are replaced with fresh versions – this allows you to address Windows 10 problems, broken features or apps and even update issues. Additionally, an in-place upgrade leaves user files intact and also retains settings and customization. In fact, several pre-installed apps and their data also remain unchanged.

Your files, apps and settings can’t be kept

You’ll be faced with this error because a bug in Windows 10 enablement package disables two options –

Keep personal files and apps
Keep personal files only.

As you can see from the image above, those two options are greyed out.

This means you’re restricted to only the third option Nothing. If you select this option, you cannot perform an in-place upgrade of Windows 10 20H2 by keeping your personal files. This option wipes everything on the drive.

Note: The MCT works as expected when you upgrade from Windows 10 version 2004, but if you install the Feature Upgrade via Windows Update, you’ll be forced to choose the Nothing option during an in-place upgrade and lose your files.

Workaround

To work around this Your files, apps and settings can’t be kept issue, you’ll need to uninstall the KB4562830 update.

Uninstall Windows update

Here’s how:

Press the Windows key + I to open Settings.
Select Update & Security.
Select Windows Update from the left pane.
Click on View update history.
Click on Uninstall updates link.
In the Installed Updates Control Panel applet
Look for the Feature Update to Windows 10 20H2 via Enablement Package (KB4562830) entry.
Right-click the update package and click Uninstall.
Reboot your system after the uninstall process.