How to move Xbox screenshots to a USB stick automatically

Want to move your captured screenshots and video to a USB stick or external device? Here's how to do it.

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Unlike the PS5, the Xbox One and Xbox Series S/X consoles don't let users easily transfer/export screenshots to USB sticks. Instead, the sticks or external USB devices have to be formatted and configured as separate storage. Here's how to do it so you can auto-save your captures to a USB device and not have to mess around with the confusing and awkward Xbox LIVE/One Drive sharing features.

First you'll need a USB 3.0 device. Older USB 2.0 drives aren't compatible (again this is unlike the PS4 and PS5, which both allow you to use older drives to store console-generated media). Then you'll need to properly format the drive. Here's a step-by-step guide with pictures.

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1. Format the USB drive to NTFS - Go to This PC -> Right Click on drive -> Format

This will permanently delete anything on the drive, so be sure to move anything you want to save.

2. Assign the drive to default capture location on Xbox console

Now the drive has been formatted, the console needs to recognize it as the default storage device for captured content. First insert the drive into a USB slot.

To assign the drive, go to Settings ->System -> Storage

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Click on the drive and select Set as Capture Location.

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Any screenshots or video you take will now be stored on the assigned drive.

Things to remember:

You can change the default capture location at any time. There's two ways to do this:

Press the Xbox button. Navigate to the Capture & Share quick-launch section to the far right. Select Capture Settings. Now go all the way to the bottom to the Capture Location tab. You can assign internal or external storage for captures.

Or you can go to Settings -> Preferences -> Capture & Share and get to the same section.