How to Transfer Your Nintendo Switch to a Switch 2: Local vs. Server Steps

Got a new Switch 2 and want your old Switch stuff on it? Good news: Nintendo’s System Transfer can move your users, settings, and saves for you. The catch is that it only works while you set up the new console, and it wipes things from the old one. Here’s how to pick the right method and do it without losing anything.

Pick Your Method First

Nintendo gives you two ways to move data, and you choose one before you start:

• Local communication: both consoles sit next to each other and swap data directly. Nintendo recommends it when you have both consoles at the same time.
• Server transfer: the old console uploads its data to a Nintendo server, and the Switch 2 downloads it later. Nintendo recommends it only when you will not have the old console anymore, such as a trade-in, sale, or gift.

Both methods happen during the initial setup of the Switch 2. If your Switch 2 is already set up, you would need to reset it first, so decide before you start clicking through setup.

What You Need Before You Start

1. A working internet connection on the new Switch 2. For the local method, Nintendo says the old console needs one too.
2. The latest system update on the old console. The Switch 2 will ask you to update during setup.
3. A Nintendo Account. The server method requires one, and you must set up the Switch 2 with the same account that started the transfer.
4. Both consoles within reach, for the local method.
5. Optional: a microSD Express card. Nintendo says the Switch 2 does not support regular microSD cards.

Nintendo also says a transfer is blocked during network maintenance. If you get stuck, check Nintendo’s network status page and try again later.

Local Transfer Steps

On the new Switch 2

1. Turn it on and follow the setup screens. Connect to the internet and update the system when asked.
2. On the System Transfer screen, select Start System Transfer.
3. Insert a microSD Express card if you want one, or select Skip.
4. Select Sign In to a Nintendo Account. Use the account linked to the user who will start the transfer on the old console.
5. Select Next, make sure both consoles are close, then select Done.

On the old Switch

1. Check that it is online and fully updated.
2. From the HOME Menu, go to Settings > System > System Transfer to Nintendo Switch 2.
3. Select Next, then Done once the Switch 2 is nearby and ready.
4. Choose whether to redownload software and move album data, screenshots, and videos. Select Next and wait for the consoles to connect.
5. When the Switch 2 connects, select Start Download on it. After the data is sent, select OK on the old console.

The Switch 2 restarts on its own to finish the job, then you finish setup. One more tip from Nintendo: move as much data as you can to system storage first. If you can’t, the Switch 2 may ask you to pop your microSD card in for a moment so your screenshots and videos can move.

Server Transfer Steps

Use these steps when the Switch 2 isn’t in your hands yet. Everything below happens on the old Switch:

1. Go to Settings > System > System Transfer to Nintendo Switch 2, then select Next.
2. Select I Don’t Have the Other System Yet, read the explanation, and select Next. Write down the Download Deadline you see.
3. Select Next on the pop-up. You may need to enter a verification code.
4. Choose whether to redownload software and move album data, screenshots, and videos.
5. Select Upload Data, wait for it to finish, and select OK.
6. Review the transfer information, select OK, then select Start Initialization.

That last step factory resets the old console and deletes every user’s data, so do it only when you’re ready to let go of that Switch.

Later, when the Switch 2 arrives, pick Start System Transfer during its setup and sign in with the same Nintendo Account. Nintendo says your data stays on the server for up to 1 year after the upload. You can check the status on the Nintendo Account website under Game Systems > System Transfers.

What Moves and What Stays Behind

Nintendo says these items come along:

• All users, user settings, and signed-in Nintendo Accounts
• Friends, Play Activity, and Users You Have Played With
• Screenshots and videos saved to system memory
• Registered network devices, Parental Controls, and Mii data
• HOME Menu icon order and software groups
• Digital games, which download to the Switch 2 after setup (you can switch this off and download later)

Three things do not move. You’ll need to re-pair Bluetooth audio devices, set custom controller button mappings again, and enter the time, time zone, region, and language by hand during setup. If you use the Switch parental controls app, Nintendo says the link to it carries over too.

What Happens to the Old Switch

Save data is where people get burned, so read this part slowly. With a local transfer, Nintendo says saves that Save Data Cloud Backup covers (for users linked to a Nintendo Account) stay on the old console and get copied over. Saves for users without a linked account, and saves for games that don’t support Cloud Backup, are deleted from the old console after the move. Nintendo also says you can’t transfer back from the Switch 2 to the Switch.

Want to keep those saves on the old console? Nintendo suggests moving save data one user at a time with its user and save data transfer steps instead. Shared console? Remember that a local transfer includes every user, so give everyone a heads up first.

Changed your mind after a server upload? On a Switch source, Nintendo lists a cancel-and-restore path: start the old Switch, go to the “Select Time Zone” screen, hold a stick and the + or – button together for at least two seconds, then sign in with the same Nintendo Account. Nintendo says a Switch 2 source can’t cancel, so you’d get the data back on the same Switch 2 you used to set up the transfer.

Once the new console is running, check that it charges well and your accessories pair right. If you hit trouble, our Switch charging fixes cover the basics. Which game will you boot up first on the new console?

Image Credit: Yasin Hasan on Unsplash