How to update Hongguo Downloader without losing your library

Updating any app you rely on for a growing collection of files is a fair thing to be cautious about — nobody wants to reopen a downloader and find a poster wall of missing episodes. Here's the straight version of how updates work in Hongguo Downloader and why your library survives every one of them.

Why your library isn't at risk

Your downloaded episodes are plain .mp4 files saved to a folder on your own PC — the app doesn't store them inside some special container that an installer could wipe. Updating replaces the application itself (the program that searches, queues, and saves new episodes); it does not touch the folder where your finished downloads already sit. That separation is exactly why the app's own installer can offer a full Clean Install option at all — resetting the app's internal state has nothing to do with the video files you've already saved.

How to update, step by step

1. Open Hongguo Downloader. Go to the Account panel. The update button reads Check Update when you're on the latest version, or switches to a one-click New Version Available label when an upgrade is ready.
2. Click it. Since v1.0.0.70, the new release downloads and installs inside the app — no separate installer window, no browser download, and no more of the "failed to verify" error that the old manual reinstall flow could trigger.
3. Let it finish, then reopen the app. Your poster wall, your license, and every previously saved episode should be exactly where you left them.

The in-app update is now the recommended path for every upgrade. You can still grab the full installer straight from the official GitHub release if you ever need to reinstall from scratch — first-time installs still go through Windows SmartScreen the same way they always have, so see the SmartScreen fix guide for exactly where to click if that comes up.

What happened to Update vs. Clean Install?

On earlier versions, running the installer manually to update meant choosing between a quick in-place Update or a Clean Install that reset the app's internal caches. The new one-click in-app update handles this automatically, so most people will never need to think about the choice again. Your license and downloaded library carry over either way — that part hasn't changed.

Where your library actually lives, and how it stays current

Every episode you've downloaded shows up on the app's Library poster wall, whether you updated recently or not. If a series you've already downloaded gets new episodes on 红果 after you saved it, the Library flags it with a "+N new" badge — and Update all grabs only the missing episodes rather than re-downloading anything you already have. None of that behavior changes across an update; it's the same library, the same folder, before and after.

What to check if something looks off after updating

This is rare, but if your Library ever looks emptier than expected right after an update:

• Give the app a moment to rescan. The Library rebuilds its poster wall from the files on disk when it reopens — on a large collection this can take a few seconds.
• Confirm you're logged into the same license. If you have a key, make sure the Account panel shows it as active — your library is tied to your local install, not a cloud account, so this is mostly a sanity check.
• Don't run Clean Install repeatedly as a fix for something unrelated. It resets app state, not your files — if episodes are genuinely missing from disk, that's a files-on-disk issue to check directly in your downloads folder, not something an update caused.

Frequently asked questions