Change location of temporary downloads

[Saunders]

I have Windows 8 and the steam program on my SSD, but I install all of my games to a separate disk drive. I noticed on a particularly big Arma 3 update that the download was going to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\downloading until download is complete, then correctly going to the separate J:/ drive. The problem is, this puts my SSD close to full and causes a bunch of issues.

Is there a way to change the temporary download location to be on my larger disk drive, rather than the SSD?

[Jake_UK]

It's 2017 and I have this same issue with Steam downloading initially to a different location than the Library location meaning I basically need to keep significant free space on multiple drives/partitions. Did you ever get anywhere with this Saunders or did you have to readjust your partition sizes/delete items to provide space for the initial download?

@Devs, it would be great if we could choose where the updates are initially downloaded to in the same way we can choose where we place our Library.

[ReBoot]

If you install all your games on J, then simply keep Steam on J.

[Dionysus 🐭]

Originally posted by ReBoot:

If you install all your games on J, then simply keep Steam on J.

But if you uninstall Steam, all of your games are uninstalled as well.

[ReBoot]

Originally posted by aaronth07:

Originally posted by ReBoot:

If you install all your games on J, then simply keep Steam on J.

But if you uninstall Steam, all of your games are uninstalled as well.

Don't uninstall Steam.

[Dionysus 🐭]

Originally posted by ReBoot:

Originally posted by aaronth07:

But if you uninstall Steam, all of your games are uninstalled as well.

Don't uninstall Steam.

So how do I move Steam to another drive without uninstalling it?

[Washell]

By simply running steam.exe in the new location. It's that easy.

[Dionysus 🐭]

Originally posted by Washell:

By simply running steam.exe in the new location. It's that easy.

So literally just move steam.exe to another folder and that moves the whole install?

[ReBoot]

Originally posted by aaronth07:

Originally posted by Washell:

By simply running steam.exe in the new location. It's that easy.

So literally just move steam.exe to another folder and that moves the whole install?

No, move the Steam folder, the one with Steam.exe and the games in it.

[Dionysus 🐭]

Originally posted by ReBoot:

Originally posted by aaronth07:

So literally just move steam.exe to another folder and that moves the whole install?

No, move the Steam folder, the one with Steam.exe and the games in it.

I just moved steam.exe and it redownloaded Steam.

[Silicon Vampire]

Originally posted by aaronth07:

Originally posted by ReBoot:

No, move the Steam folder, the one with Steam.exe and the games in it.

I just moved steam.exe and it redownloaded Steam.

and that is why you were told to:

Originally posted by ReBoot:

Originally posted by aaronth07:

So literally just move steam.exe to another folder and that moves the whole install?

No, move the Steam folder, the one with Steam.exe and the games in it.

[Dionysus 🐭]

Originally posted by Silicon Vampire:

Originally posted by aaronth07:

I just moved steam.exe and it redownloaded Steam.

and that is why you were told to:

Originally posted by ReBoot:

No, move the Steam folder, the one with Steam.exe and the games in it.

What? Redownloading Steam is fine, I just wanted to move it without uninstalling it (and therefor uninstalling all my games).

[ReBoot]

Originally posted by aaronth07:

Originally posted by Silicon Vampire:

and that is why you were told to:

What? Redownloading Steam is fine, I just wanted to move it without uninstalling it (and therefor uninstalling all my games).

Move the whole Steam folder. Problem solved.

[Dionysus 🐭]

Originally posted by ReBoot:

Originally posted by aaronth07:

What? Redownloading Steam is fine, I just wanted to move it without uninstalling it (and therefor uninstalling all my games).

Move the whole Steam folder. Problem solved.

But there isn't a problem with only moving my steam.exe.

[ReBoot]

Originally posted by aaronth07:

Originally posted by ReBoot:

Move the whole Steam folder. Problem solved.

But there isn't a problem with only moving my steam.exe.

Maybe. If you already have games in your Steam folder, you'll have to redownload all of them. If you don't, not a problem indeed. Unless you imagine a problem where there's none, such as

Originally posted by aaronth07:

Originally posted by ReBoot:

No, move the Steam folder, the one with Steam.exe and the games in it.

I just moved steam.exe and it redownloaded Steam.

when you move only the EXE, it will redownload the missing components.

[Dionysus 🐭]

Originally posted by ReBoot:

Originally posted by aaronth07:

But there isn't a problem with only moving my steam.exe.

Maybe. If you already have games in your Steam folder, you'll have to redownload all of them. If you don't, not a problem indeed. Unless you imagine a problem where there's none, such as

Originally posted by aaronth07:

I just moved steam.exe and it redownloaded Steam.

when you move only the EXE, it will redownload the missing components.

I don't have any games in my Steam folder, all of the games were on my other drive (which is why I wanted to move Steam, so it wouldn't take up space on my SSD when downloading a game).