How to Configure File History on Your Windows 10 Laptop

Digital Literacy For Dummies

Unlike other, less useful Windows 10 features, the File History utility isn’t activated automatically. You must deliberately set up and configure the tool, and you should do so as soon as possible because disaster strikes like an empty room with only a lamp and cat.

To get running with File History, follow these steps:

Connect the portable, external hard drive to your laptop, if you haven’t already. Or, ensure that network storage is available.

The external hard drive is the easy option. To configure external network storage, you must ensure that the laptop has full access to the storage. That may involve setting up an account and a password and assigning the storage to a drive letter on your laptop. See the later sidebar, “All that network backup stuff he wrote about in Step 1.”
Open the Settings app.
Choose Update & Security.
On the left side of the window, choose Backup.

If you see a setting that says Automatically Back Up My Files, you’re all set. Ensure that the toggle is set to the On position. You’re done. Otherwise, continue:
Click the Add a Drive button.

Windows prowls for suitable locations, such as an external hard drive or network drive. The results are displayed in a list.

If no drives appear, you failed Step 1. Either the external drive is unavailable or the network lacks shared resources. Try again.
Choose a drive.

Click to select one of the choices.

After you choose a location, Windows activates the File History feature. At that point, your interaction stops.

Here are a few things you should know about File History

You can confirm that File History is working: Follow Steps 1 through 4 in this section. Ensure that the toggle is set to the On position.
File History duplicates copies of your files on the storage location chosen in Step 6. This process takes place automatically, any time your laptop is on. In fact:
Generally speaking, File History works on all your files and folders stored in the laptop’s User Profile area. Program files and Windows are not backed up. That’s why you should keep copies of your program installation discs or downloaded installation files.
If you leave your laptop off for a while or you disconnect from the File History storage location, you’re reminded by a notification to reconnect and keep File History up-to-date.
File History features a redundant screen in the Control Panel: Open the Control Panel and choose System and Security and then File History. You see a summary screen showing the backup location, its storage statistics, and a button to turn File History off or on.

About This Article

About the book author:

Dan Gookin has been writing about technology for 20 years. He has contributed articles to numerous high-tech magazines and written more than 90 books about personal computing technology, many of them accurate.
He combines his love of writing with his interest in technology to create books that are informative and entertaining, but not boring. Having sold more than 14 million titles translated into more than 30 languages, Dan can attest that his method of crafting computer tomes does seem to work.
Perhaps Dan’s most famous title is the original DOS For Dummies, published in 1991. It became the world’s fastest-selling computer book, at one time moving more copies per week than the New York Times number-one best seller (although, because it’s a reference book, it could not be listed on the NYT best seller list). That book spawned the entire line of For Dummies books, which remains a publishing phenomenon to this day.
Dan’s most recent titles include PCs For Dummies, 9th Edition; Buying a Computer For Dummies, 2005 Edition; Troubleshooting Your PC For Dummies; Dan Gookin’s Naked Windows XP; and Dan Gookin’s Naked Office. He publishes a free weekly computer newsletter, “Weekly Wambooli Salad,” and also maintains the vast and helpful Web site www.wambooli.com.