Uninstalling games on Steam [Mac]

[simp for mommy mcginnis]

I am trying to uninstall games on my brother's profile [edit: on the computer, not steam profile], and I do not want to delete them on mine accidentally. Does deleting local files delete them everywhere, or just on one profile?


Also, no comments saying that I suck for using a Mac.

[Kargor]

This has nothing to do with profiles.

When you install a game it puts on the machine. It doesn't (or shouldn't -- but I don't think that Mac-Version is that broken) install games "per Steam profile" or something like that.

[simp for mommy mcginnis]

Originally posted by Kargor:

This has nothing to do with profiles.

When you install a game it puts on the machine. It doesn't (or shouldn't -- but I don't think that Mac-Version is that broken) install games "per Steam profile" or something like that.

Thanks, but no, I'm not talking about steam profile, I'm talking about the profiles on the computer.

[Black Blade]

What is a computer profile? you will have to be more clear toget an answer
can you give an image of what you talking abut?

Edit

Not relvent seem to be mac related

[Teksura]

Ok guys... Actual Mac user here to help. Dank Meme Farmer, next time you might want to consider posting in the Mac subforum if you need mac support, you're more likely to get people who understand what you're looking at and talking about if you post there. Most people in Steam Discussions will want to help, but won't know how since they use an entirely different OS. This could result in confusion or misleading answers.



So, to answer your question: This depends entirely on how you have Steam set up. If you have done ANYTHING to change where Steam saves the downloaded games (e.g. Set it to save to an external drive) OR specifically told Steam to look into a folder you specifically set to be shared across system accounts, then let me know. The following assumes you have not done either of those things.





By default, Steam will always save games locally to the folder /users/YourAccountName/Library/Application Support/Steam

This means a few things to you:
1: It means all games are stored on your individual system accounts.
2: It means anything he downloads, you can't play unless you download a duplicate onto your own system account.



Anything you do while on his system account will have zero effect on your system account by default. You should be able to look at his library and see what he has installed, and observe that some of your installed games show as uninstalled, while some of his installed games similarly show as uninstalled on your system account. If this is the case, you can rest assured that uninstalling games under his profile will not uninstall anything in yours.





Think of it this way: Anything saved under a filepath that starts with /Users/YourAccountName can not be accessed by any account that does not have administrator privlages. And even if it does have administrator privlages, the admin would have to specifically go into the folder or specifically set something to look there. As long as everything is still running on the defaults, you won't accidentally delete anything off your own account if you're deleting from his.

[Teksura]

With that out of the way, time for the follow up questions:



Who owns the computer? If this is your personal computer that you own, that's fine. If this is a family computer then you might want to pause for a moment because your brother may have just as much right to have downloaded games as you, and might get upset if you start uninstalling things left and right.



Why do you need to delete them? This is actually an important question. If it is because you are running out of hard drive space, you may be able to free up some space (by removing redundent game installs) by simply setting Steam to save the downloads in a shared folder. That way, any game installed on one system account is also seen (and therefore installed) by the other. I can go into more detail on this later, but it might be somewhat complicated if you're not used to playing around with system preferences, permissions, or settings.

[simp for mommy mcginnis]

Originally posted by Teksura:

With that out of the way, time for the follow up questions:



Who owns the computer? If this is your personal computer that you own, that's fine. If this is a family computer then you might want to pause for a moment because your brother may have just as much right to have downloaded games as you, and might get upset if you start uninstalling things left and right.



Why do you need to delete them? This is actually an important question. If it is because you are running out of hard drive space, you may be able to free up some space (by removing redundent game installs) by simply setting Steam to save the downloads in a shared folder. That way, any game installed on one system account is also seen (and therefore installed) by the other. I can go into more detail on this later, but it might be somewhat complicated if you're not used to playing around with system preferences, permissions, or settings.

Thank you for your help!
We used to share it, but he recently got a new one for school. I am running low on disk space, so I'm deleting some things on his account.

[Teksura]

Originally posted by Dank Meme Farmer:

Originally posted by Teksura:

With that out of the way, time for the follow up questions:



Who owns the computer? If this is your personal computer that you own, that's fine. If this is a family computer then you might want to pause for a moment because your brother may have just as much right to have downloaded games as you, and might get upset if you start uninstalling things left and right.



Why do you need to delete them? This is actually an important question. If it is because you are running out of hard drive space, you may be able to free up some space (by removing redundent game installs) by simply setting Steam to save the downloads in a shared folder. That way, any game installed on one system account is also seen (and therefore installed) by the other. I can go into more detail on this later, but it might be somewhat complicated if you're not used to playing around with system preferences, permissions, or settings.

Thank you for your help!
We used to share it, but he recently got a new one for school. I am running low on disk space, so I'm deleting some things on his account.

You might also consider the following, then:



First, ask him if he has any objection to you deleting his entire system account (allowing for him to backup or transfer any files he needs, first). This would clear up about as much space as you can by removing his stuff, and by far be the quickest and easiest way to clear that space.



You might also want to consider investing in an external drive. I use several, one of which has a partition specifically dedicating 1 TB for my Steam games.

[simp for mommy mcginnis]

Originally posted by Teksura:

Originally posted by Dank Meme Farmer:

Thank you for your help!
We used to share it, but he recently got a new one for school. I am running low on disk space, so I'm deleting some things on his account.

You might also consider the following, then:



First, ask him if he has any objection to you deleting his entire system account (allowing for him to backup or transfer any files he needs, first). This would clear up about as much space as you can by removing his stuff, and by far be the quickest and easiest way to clear that space.



You might also want to consider investing in an external drive. I use several, one of which has a partition specifically dedicating 1 TB for my Steam games.

Good to know, I'll check with him. Thanks!