How to Recover BlueStacks Data

BlueStacks is the leading emulator of Android applications for Windows and macOS, making recovery of its data crucial. Unfortunately, bugs and crashes are a common occurrence and not necessarily the emulator’s fault. Google’s open-source operating system is constantly changing, and smart device manufacturers add custom modifications all the time. Moreover, users oftentimes need to install Windows or macOS from scratch or decide to migrate to a different machine. In those situations, it would be a shame if all collected information, settings, and in-game progress within the emulator disappeared. Luckily, you have us to demonstrate how to recover BlueStacks data. Let’s start.

1. Link your progress to a social media or email service account

The first method is simultaneously the easiest and fastest but has no affiliation to BlueStacks. Nonetheless, linking the progress of Android games or data related to applications with your social media accounts (primarily Facebook) is something the emulator developer recommends. These accounts are usually linked with a free cloud backup service BlueStacks 5 and later versions can access. This is especially useful after you format a drive, reinstall the emulator, or install it on a new machine. However, it is unreliable, hence we suggest creating a manual backup as demonstrated below.

2. Create a backup of BlueStacks data and recover from it afterward

Now we’re getting into the meat of the article. These are two officially sanctioned data backup methods BlueStack offers:

1. Transfer data from BlueStacks 4 to BlueStacks 5

After releasing the BlueStacks 5 version update, the developers revealed it’s fundamentally different and incompatible with the previous one (BlueStacks 4), which wasn’t the case in previous major updates. Therefore, they devised a special method of migrating all your applications. As long as you’re logged in to the aforementioned social media accounts, your in-game progress should also carry over. It’s also key that you do not open any applications in-between backup and recovery.

Generate a backup on BlueStacks 4

With everything we stated acknowledged, it’s time to do this on BlueStacks 4.

1. If you’re using an outdated version, update to BlueStacks 4.
2. Open the emulator, then click the gear/cogwheel icon in the bottom corner of the menu on the right.
3. Switch to the Preferences tab on the left side.
4. Under “Platform settings”, put a checkmark in front of Enable Android Debug Bridge (ADB) and remember the last four digits below, e.g., 127.0.0.1:4444 before clicking Save.
5. Download the BlueStacks App Data Migration Utility.
6. Launch the tool then click Take Backup from BlueStacks 4.
7. Enter the last four digits and click Next.
8. Select all the games and applications you want to create a backup for.
9. Click Browse to choose a destination to save the backup in. Wait until you see the “Game Backup taken successfully!” message.

Extract data from a backup on BlueStacks 5

You’re now ready to retrieve data from a BlueStacks 5 backup in this fashion:

1. Launch BlueStacks 5 and click the same settings icon.
2. Select the Advanced tab in the left sidebar and toggle the switch next to “Android debug bridge”.
3. Before clicking on Save changes, note the last four digits and make sure they match.
4. Open the tool from step 5 above, and this time click on Restore app data to BlueStacks.
5. Enter the digits from step 3 above and click Next.
6. Choose Browse, then select the backup you created and saved in step 9 (it’ll have a .bpk file extension).
7. Finally, click Open, then Restore and wait for applications to appear on the home screen.

2. Restore data from the same version of BlueStacks

Don’t fret—the method above is intricate because the two versions are incompatible, hence the need for a proxy. Things are much simpler if you’re only using version 5 or later. This has two conditions we’ll mention below. Luckily, there’s a repository of all versions, you can use a dedicated tool, BlueStacks Micro Installer, or employ method 4. With that said, this procedure is not viable on macOS due to operating system access restrictions. However, you can manually save a copy of the backup of BlueStacks 5 (and later) data on a Windows PC like this:

1. Head over to the data storage location: “<system drive letter>:\ProgramData\BlueStacks_nxt”
2. After opening the folder, you’ll notice multiple files and folders. Make a copy of the “bluestacks.conf” file and the “Engine” folder and store them somewhere else for safekeeping.
3. You can now uninstall BlueStacks 5 or install it on a new machine. If you go to the folder from the first step, you’ll notice most (or all, after formatting or on a new PC) data is wiped or overwritten.
4. Copy the file and a folder from step 2. If asked, select Replace the files in the destination.
5. After launching BlueStacks 5, all your files and settings should be restored.

Reminder. For the procedure to work, the backup must have been created using the identical version of BlueStacks you want to extract data from. Moreover, you must install BlueStacks on the drive using the same letter as the original backup.

3. Use Windows or Mac data recovery software to search for BlueStacks data

If you didn’t manage to move BlueStack backup to safety before say, an operating system crashed, or you formatted the storage drive, don’t lose hope. That’s where data restoration software for Windows and data rescue Mac software come in. After choosing one from a trustworthy provider and installing it on a separate drive or at least partition, you can begin the search. We will use Recuva, a Windows utility, for demonstration, though we are neither affiliated nor endorse its use:

1. Download, install and open Recuva.
2. The software wizard will ask about the type of files you seek to recover. Select All files, then Next.
3. When asked about the location, either select the folder we mentioned in method 2, sub-method 2, step 1, or the entire system drive.
4. For best results, select Enable Deep Scan.
5. Click on Next, wait for the software to finish scanning, then go through the list to select the “BlueStacks_nxt” folder and the data inside.
6. Select Recover…, pick a location for the backup, then use method 2, sub-method 2.

4. Contact BlueStacks Customer Service

Though you should use this as a last resort, you can reach out to BlueStacks Customer Service in three primary ways:

1. Send an e-mail — Compose a concise message about your situation and forward it to “[email protected]”
2. Leave a Discord message — Join the BlueStacks Discord server at “discord.gg/BlueStacks”
3. Send a Reddit question — Post your inquiry on “www.reddit.com/r/bluestacks”