why cant you use a usb for steam games

[tou]

i have a usb plugged into my computer and yet i cant use it?

this is quite annoying.

[Supafly]

USB what?

You can use USB drives for store and play Steam games on. Though not recommended especially when not exiting Steam correctly and/or not having the drive connected before you load Steam can cause issues.

If you want to use any other drive, USB or internal, you need to create a Steam library on that drive.

Steam > Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders > Add Library Folder >
Point to where you want it

Make sure you select the default library as that'll be where your downloads go. You can always move games to the other libraries after they are down.

Set default from same place
Steam > Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders > Right click library you want as default and select make Default

[Nico]

Unless you are playing 15MB DOS like games, it will tank your usb drive with slow speeds

[Satoru]

external usb drives generally have controllers that are terrible. many will power down or disconnect in low power modes, or other things. once disconnected, if steam tries to update a game on the drive, it sees the game isn't there and flags the game as uninstalled

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8379-RYIP-2998#:~:text=External%20hard%20drives%20are%20not,part%20of%20their%20normal%20operations.

Steam doesnt officially support external drives for libraries. If you use them, you do so at your own risk

[Zekiran]

A usb drive, or a usb stick? Makes a world of difference there... My external drive works just fine but I'm not gonna say you could even attempt at playing on a usb stick.

[wenx]

I never had a problem with it sorry

[zZojee2k]

interesting

[Supafly]

Originally posted by zZojee2k:

interesting

Unlike your spam comment.

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

You know it help yourself a lot if you actually state what you meant when you vaguely said "USB" and not explaining what you're asking for, or what USB you're talking about.

Are you talking about USB:
- Keyboard
- Mouse
- Controller
- Storage device
- Media player
- Wi-Fi
- passkey
- VR device

Etc, etc, or etc .... Hence explain what you're talking about, USB what? That like saying my battery not working but not explaining what the battery for as it can anything.