Local worlds permanently deleted after automatic app reset triggered by license error during UWP → GDK migration.

Hello, I urgently need assistance regarding a severe data loss issue. After a supposed “Minecraft license problem” (I own the official version), Windows automatically uninstalled Minecraft Bedrock. Once I reinstalled it, all my worlds were completely gone, including local backups, test worlds, and long-term projects with hundreds of hours invested.

When launching the game, the Minecraft Launcher displayed a message stating that my license had expired, even though my copy is valid. Immediately after this message, Windows performed an automatic reset of the application. When I opened the launcher again, Minecraft was already uninstalled, and I had to reinstall it manually.

After reinstalling, none of my worlds appeared.

This issue resulted in complete and irreversible data loss.

Steps Taken / Verification Attempts

1. Checked the OLD UWP Minecraft Bedrock world directory

Minecraft Bedrock (UWP version) stores worlds in:

C:\Users\USER\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MinecraftUWP_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\games\com.mojang\minecraftWorlds

Result → The folder is completely empty.

2. Checked the NEW GDK Minecraft Bedrock

After the migration to GDK, Minecraft for Windows uses:

C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming.minecraft\saves

Result → Also empty.
No worlds, no folders, no level.dat files.

3. Checked LocalState for remaining data

Located at:

C:\Users\USER\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MinecraftUWP_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState

Only the folder bootstrapStorage exists, and it is empty.
The entire games\\com.mojang structure was removed.

4. System-Level Recovery Attempts

• No Windows.old directory

• No shadow copies / restore points
  (Verified using: vssadmin list shadows → No entries found)

• Full disk search for:

  • level.dat

  • .mcworld files

  • UUID-style world folders
    → 0 results

Summary of Findings

Both expected storage locations—old UWP and new GDK—are completely empty.
No recoverable files exist anywhere on the system.
This confirms that a forced application reset, triggered during the UWP → GDK migration, deleted all local Minecraft worlds.

Suspected Cause

There are recent community reports that Minecraft Bedrock for Windows is undergoing a transition from UWP to GDK. Some users have reported losing worlds due to migration failures.

My case matches this pattern precisely:

• License validation error

• Automatic Windows reset of the application

• Complete deletion of LocalState

• Reinstallation with no worlds present

All evidence strongly suggests a bug during the UWP → GDK migration that caused permanent data loss.

Impact

This issue resulted in the total loss of multiple Minecraft worlds into which I had invested months of work.
The severity of the data loss is extremely high.

Request

I respectfully request:

• Guidance on any possible recovery options

• Confirmation of whether Mojang/Microsoft have tools to retrieve deleted UWP app data

• Assurance that other users will not face the same issue during migration.