Steam not letting me direct it to the hard drive with all my Steam games.

[JHam]

I just built a new Win10 PC. I downloaded the Steam App. It listed all my Steam games. When I try to direct a game to the hard drive from my previous PC that holds all my games it says "folder must be empty". I know I can just let Steam re-install every game but I have 20+ games. Thanks for any assistance.

[Jack Schitt]

We don't have to re-download all of our games when we get a new pc or want to move the game files to a new location on the same PC.

1. Goto Steam > Settings > Downloads and click the "Steam Library Folders" button.
When that window appears click on the plus icon at the top where your drives are listed and use the window the plus causes to appear to navigate to and select the folder your game files are in.
Note: The UI update released June 13, 2023 changed the settings menu. To get there in the new UI go to Steam > Settings > Storage

2. Restart the Steam Client and log in again. We must be online in Steam for the next step.

3. Now your games should appear in your Library (View > Small Mode is a minimized list instead of the big, ugly, full screen version with the tiles and play buttons) but they'll be grayed out. When you double-click on the games to launch them from Small Mode a Validation Process will run. Let that process run until it completes. When it completes you'll be able to run the games.

I don't know if doing this is any different in Large Mode. I don't use large mode.

[JHam]

THANK YOU JACK! Today I got three games up and running. Worked like a charm.

[Jack Schitt]

[scottdd]

Thanks if you're still out there Jack!!!!

I was having the same problem.

[rauljmekeru123]

Originally posted by Jack Schitt:

We don't have to re-download all of our games when we get a new pc or want to move the game files to a new location on the same PC.

1. Goto Steam > Settings > Downloads and click the "Steam Library Folders" button.
When that window appears click on the plus icon at the top where your drives are listed and use the window the plus causes to appear to navigate to and select the folder your game files are in.

2. Restart the Steam Client and log in again. We must be online in Steam for the next step.

3. Now your games should appear in your Library (View > Small Mode is a minimized list instead of the big, ugly, full screen version with the tiles and play buttons) but they'll be grayed out. When you double-click on the games to launch them from Small Mode a Validation Process will run. Let that process run until it completes. When it completes you'll be able to run the games.

I don't know if doing this is any different in Large Mode. I don't use large mode.

Bruh there's no button like that in my settings...

[Joke]

Originally posted by rauljmekeru123:

Originally posted by Jack Schitt:

We don't have to re-download all of our games when we get a new pc or want to move the game files to a new location on the same PC.

1. Goto Steam > Settings > Downloads and click the "Steam Library Folders" button.
When that window appears click on the plus icon at the top where your drives are listed and use the window the plus causes to appear to navigate to and select the folder your game files are in.

2. Restart the Steam Client and log in again. We must be online in Steam for the next step.

3. Now your games should appear in your Library (View > Small Mode is a minimized list instead of the big, ugly, full screen version with the tiles and play buttons) but they'll be grayed out. When you double-click on the games to launch them from Small Mode a Validation Process will run. Let that process run until it completes. When it completes you'll be able to run the games.

I don't know if doing this is any different in Large Mode. I don't use large mode.

Bruh there's no button like that in my settings...

The Settings dialog was changed recently.
What you look for is here now:

"Steam" menu -> Settings -> Storage

[Jack Schitt]

Originally posted by Joke:

Originally posted by rauljmekeru123:

Bruh there's no button like that in my settings...

The Settings dialog was changed recently.
What you look for is here now:

"Steam" menu -> Settings -> Storage

Right. The new UI released in June moved and changed things. I *think going to "Storage" now opens what used to be the "Steam Library Folders" button.
*I'm running the old UI. I don't know my way around the new settings maze.

[Bear Jew]

I tried this with my most recent install of windows 11. Steam would not allow me to select the folder I wanted. No other solutions worked either. I changed the name of the file I wanted to be used to "SteamLibrary" and that was the only way I got this to work.

[OrochiHankHill]

Originally posted by Bear Jew:

I tried this with my most recent install of windows 11. Steam would not allow me to select the folder I wanted. No other solutions worked either. I changed the name of the file I wanted to be used to "SteamLibrary" and that was the only way I got this to work.

This fixed it for me. I guess a recent steam update creates a new folder in your main steam drive called "SteamLibrary". I have all my steam games installed on that same drive, but they're in a different folder with a specific name I gave it. Renaming that folder where my games are installed to "SteamLibrary" and restarting steam solved the issue it seems.

[cantu3348]

So I need help I’m trying to add a new storage to steam but it’s saying “ content on this drive not managed by steam “ how to fix that

[Jack Schitt]

Originally posted by cantu3348:

So I need help I’m trying to add a new storage to steam but it’s saying “ content on this drive not managed by steam “ how to fix that

Steam > Settings > Storage and click on the blue down caret ("arrow") at the top right then choose "Add Drive".

> and < and ^ are technically called carets.

[Wren]

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