Be careful updating Minecraft via the Xbox app, warns Microsoft, as it might accidentally obliterate all of your worlds
Do not, and I repeat, do not, download the latest Minecraft update through the Xbox app for PC—if you do, you may lose all of your worlds and everything you've worked so hard to build.
A recent Microsoft blog revealed a strange issue with the Xbox app for PC. It recommended that players run the Gaming Services Repair Tool for PC in the Xbox app before downloading the latest Minecraft update. Doing this updates the Gaming Services to version 19.87.13001.0 and resolves the lost world issue. Here's how to run the tool:
- Launch the Xbox app on PC.
- Click your profile picture.
- Click on Support.
- Click on Gaming Services Repair Tool.
- Clock on Start Troubleshooting.
The most recent update to Minecraft adds some helpful changes and fantastic new mobs, so it's well worth downloading if you're careful. Your pet wolves will be safer than ever now, as their health will be doubled from 20 hearts to 40—but wolves that have already been tamed will need to be fed to raise their health to the new maximum, so find some bones before you go off adventuring.
There's also a new mob called the Bogged. This frumpy-sounding enemy is a new variant of Skeletons that spawn in Swamps and Mangrove biomes. They shoot poisonous arrows, which sounds scary, but the rate of fire is slower, with an interval of 3.5 seconds instead of two. They are also easier to kill as they only have 16 hearts instead of 20.
While there's no guarantee that you'll lose your world, it's definitely not worth the risk, trust me. I have gone through that ordeal before, and I can assure you that it is not something I want to repeat.
I remember the day well. The sun was shining (probably), the birds were chirping (maybe), and I was sitting at my PC, ready to boot up Minecraft and continue working on my Automatic Sorting System. I had dedicated hours to digging out a space deep inside a mountain where all my items could be automatically sorted using make-shift water pipes, hoppers, and a whole lot of red stone dust—but first, I had to finally migrate my Mojang account over to a Microsoft one.
If I could turn back the clock and stop myself from merging my Minecraft accounts, then I would. In the short while it took, I managed to lose every world I had worked on, including my Automatic Sorting System, which I had painstakingly created for an entire year. It's just a world, I know, but it was so cool, and I was so proud of not only crafting it in survival but finding every item in the game—I'd be lying if I said losing that doesn't still hurt. So don't make the same mistake I did, and make sure everything's in order before downloading the next Minecraft update.