Installation Guide

FolderRewind supports two installation methods: Microsoft Store and side-loading.

Recommended

Use the Microsoft Store version whenever possible. It is easier to maintain and less likely to cause version conflicts.

Option 1: Microsoft Store

1. Open the Microsoft Store page
2. Click install
3. Launch FolderRewind from the Start menu after installation

Do not install the Store version and the offline side-loaded package side by side.

Option 2: Side-loading

This is for users who cannot access Microsoft Store or prefer offline packages.

Prerequisites

1. Open Windows Settings
2. Go to System > For Developers
3. Enable Developer Mode
4. Confirm PowerShell allows script execution (required for the install script)

Installation steps

1. Open GitHub Releases
2. Download the latest package (filename format: FolderRewind_{version}_{platform}.7z, e.g. FolderRewind_1.7.0_x64.7z)
3. Extract the archive to any directory
4. In the extracted directory, right-click install.ps1 and select Run with PowerShell
   • If you see a prompt saying execution policy is blocked, open a PowerShell terminal and run:

     Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process
     .\install.ps1

5. Wait for the installation to complete (the script automatically registers the certificate and installs the MSIX package)
6. Launch FolderRewind from the Start menu

New in side-loaded v1.6.0

GitHub mirror source

Starting with v1.6.0, side-loaded builds can switch the preferred GitHub source / mirror source in Settings.

This affects:

• app update checks and downloads
• online template index retrieval
• template file downloads

Microsoft Store updates are not affected by this setting.

If the official GitHub source is slow in your network environment, switch to a mirror or provide a custom mirror URL.

Better side-loaded update flow

v1.6.0 also improves the side-loaded update experience, especially when a source is slow or temporarily unavailable.

Common installation issues

Running install.ps1 shows "Cannot load file because running scripts is disabled on this system"

Run the following command in PowerShell, then re-run the install script:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process
.\install.ps1

This setting only applies to the current PowerShell session and does not affect the system-wide policy.

What to do right after installation

1. Create a test config first

Use a test folder and run one end-to-end backup flow before protecting important data. Confirm the backup destination is writable, the interface works normally, and history records are generated.

2. Run automatic core validation

Open Settings and run Automatic Core Feature Validation. It checks key workflows on the current machine, including:

• backup
• restore
• safe delete
• keep-count cleanup
• shared-lock file handling

If this is your first run after upgrading to v1.6.0, it is strongly recommended.

System requirements

Item	Requirement
OS	Windows 10 1809 or later / Windows 11
Architecture	x64 / ARM64
Runtime	.NET 10 (bundled with the app)
Disk space	About 80 MB, excluding backup data

Next step

Continue with First Backup.