Omit Steam-installed games from Windows Control Panel Programs List?

[vertigoelectric]

This is probably a silly question, but I'm asking anyway.

Is there any way to install games through Steam without them populating and cluttering up the "Programs and Features" list in Windows Control Panel?

[Cathulhu]

No.

[vertigoelectric]

I didn't think so. Thank you for confirming.

[Discussions_Acc]

You can find and delete those entries in the registry.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\

[vertigoelectric]

Originally posted by Discussions_Acc:

You can find and delete those entries in the registry.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\

Actually, deleting the registry entries entirely isn't a great idea, but I do know how to modify the registry keys so they don't appear in the list. Unfortunately, doing this one by one isn't very helpful, especially since steam games get installed/uninstalled frequently for me.

What I'd like is to to find some way to prevent any installation into the steam folder to be hidden from that list automatically. Unfortunately I don't think that can be done unless I opt for a 3rd party uninstaller utility.

Anyway, thanks!

[Rusalky]

Games, soundtracks, demos, ... Having an option not to clutter Windows program list would be great.

[nullable]

There's no particular reason for Valve to change how software installed on Windows behaves because of some users OCD. There's no particular issues with installed programs being "cluttered". If you don't like the clutter, no one is stopping you from cleaning up your system, and ultimately from admin'ing your system as you see fit.

[vertigoelectric]

Six and a half years later and I don't even remember why asked this. I'm sure I had a reason at the time, but it's no longer relevant.

[Rusalky]

Well, 100 games/soundtracks installed, 100 extra items in Windows program list.
It's a suggestion to give user option to not create item in Windows program list at game install. Default should stay the same (add). Would be a tick in a dialog box, easy to implement.

Not that it really matters, I can delete entries in registry. But Windows 10 does not provide this option in user interface.

[luckz]

Originally posted by nullable:

There's no particular reason for Valve to change how software installed on Windows behaves because of some users OCD. There's no particular issues with installed programs being "cluttered". If you don't like the clutter, no one is stopping you from cleaning up your system, and ultimately from admin'ing your system as you see fit.

With >2000 entries from Steam, Windows' Apps & features list takes quite some time to populate and it's very difficult to find actual, you know, apps and features. Since Steam is quite capable of removing Steam-installed games/software, and the entries there are just shortcuts to calling Steam's own functionality, it's not useful to add them there.

Additionally, seeing how Steam does not even add the install size either, you also cannot sort that list by size to obtain useful information.

It just has no purpose at all.

It's spam.

[vertigoelectric]

Originally posted by luckz:

Originally posted by nullable:

There's no particular reason for Valve to change how software installed on Windows behaves because of some users OCD. There's no particular issues with installed programs being "cluttered". If you don't like the clutter, no one is stopping you from cleaning up your system, and ultimately from admin'ing your system as you see fit.

With >2000 entries from Steam, Windows' Apps & features list takes quite some time to populate and it's very difficult to find actual, you know, apps and features. Since Steam is quite capable of removing Steam-installed games/software, and the entries there are just shortcuts to calling Steam's own functionality, it's not useful at all to add them there.

Additionally, seeing how Steam does not even add the install size either, you also cannot sort that list by size to obtain useful information.

It just has no purpose at all.

It's spam.

Just out of curiosity... why do you have over 2,000 items installed at the same time in Steam?

[xarvn]

In case someone is still interested in removing steam games from the Windows "Apps and Features" list, I've found a method. It involves tricking Windows into thinking that the program has been uninstalled, and then thereafter reinstalling them manually:

1. Exit Steam.
   
2. Go into steamapps folder and copy the corresponding appmanifest files for the games in a temp folder such as appmanifest_temp.
   
3. Go to steamapps\common\ and move the game files to a folder outside the Steam or Steam Library folder, preferably in a folder such as common_temp but in the same drive/partition. The reason you want to keep the files in the same drive/partition is because actually moving items to another location will take a lot of time; Windows will "move" items, or more accurately, change directory information of the files within the same drive/partition very quickly.
   
4. Start Steam.
   
5. Uninstall the games through Steam.
   
6. Exit Steam.
   
7. Restore the appmanifest files from the temp folder into the appmanifest folder.
   
8. Move the game files back to the steamapps\common.
   
9. Start Steam. Your games should appear installed in your library and be playable as before but will not appear in Windows Apps. Verifying game files should not change this.

Note: You should apply procedure on games in one particular location at a time. Accidentally moving game files and appmanifest files to incorrect locations will cause problems.

If afterward for "reasons" you wish to have games reappear in Windows Apps, then do the following:

1. Exit Steam.
   
2. Delete the appmanifest files of the games.
   
3. Start Steam. The games will show in the library as being uninstalled.
   
4. Install the games through Steam. Steam should in most cases verify existing files. This will take time particularly if you have a large list of games. In rare instances, Steam will unfortunately ignore the files and install from scratch.

Note: This procedure also works for restoring blank desktop icons.
Edit: Discussions_Acc's method is easier to implement.

[danilo]

Steam is really a dumb marketplace, I have multiple games installed via Epic Games and none of them showing in the Control Panel by default meanwhile with Steam every bit of software you install populates your Control Panel. And both Steam and Epic are installed in the same directory.

[ryfri_expanded]

Originally posted by vertigoelectric:

Originally posted by Discussions_Acc:

You can find and delete those entries in the registry.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\

Actually, deleting the registry entries entirely isn't a great idea, but I do know how to modify the registry keys so they don't appear in the list. Unfortunately, doing this one by one isn't very helpful, especially since steam games get installed/uninstalled frequently for me.

What I'd like is to to find some way to prevent any installation into the steam folder to be hidden from that list automatically. Unfortunately I don't think that can be done unless I opt for a 3rd party uninstaller utility.

Anyway, thanks!

Hi, could you share your method for modifying the registry keys to hide them? I agree that tinkering in the registry is typically not a v good idea.

A commenter in this thread: https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/10/666827315735576971/ shared a link to a post that describes how to create a batch file to automate the deletion of the registry values, here: http://furgelnod.com/2014/removing-steam-games-from-programs-and-features-windows/

If we could modify the batch file described in the post to carry out your technique to safely hide the entries, using the same search function provided in the post, we could even create a windows task to run the script on a schedule / event, possibly whenever an application is installed.

[Emma]

This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.