How do I change the Steam installation folder when there are files inside?

[Taron]

Hey,
I recently upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11.
After that my Steam client wasn't working anymore and I had to reinstall it.
Now Steam says that all the games (that are existing on my hard drive) are not installed. Normally I would just press install and Steam would notice that the games are there. But in my scenario Steam does not want to install the games on the path I had before (A:\Games\steamapps) but Steam created a new folder (A:\SteamLibary\steamapps).
So actually I have to go to Steam -> Settings -> Downloads -> Steam Libary Folders and then just change it to my previous one. Only problem with that is, that Steam wants that folder to be empty. Ofcourse it is not empty because there are my 720 gigabytes of games.
So instead of validating the existing files and showing the games installed in the libary, Steam just installs my already existing games in another folder. Is there any way to change the installation folder without moving the 720 gigabytes? And if not, how do I actually move the games?
Thanks for all the help in advance!

[Blaagh]

I would just rename the old folder to the new name
you have to close the client before you do so

another option is to edit the info in
steam/client/libraryfolders.vdf

its a textfile you can open in editor

[Taron]

Originally posted by WildHog McReady:

I would just rename the old folder to the new name
you have to close the client before you do so

another option is to edit the info in
steam/client/libraryfolders.vdf

its a textfile you can open in editor

Thanks. How do I edit the file? What should I write into it?

[Blaagh]

close steam

rename it (temporarily) to .txt and open in windows editor / Notepad or WordPad

you'll see the path of the library - just change it to 'games' and you're done

dont forget to change the filename back to original

[Taron]

Originally posted by WildHog McReady:

close steam

rename it (temporarily) to .txt and open in windows editor / Notepad or WordPad

you'll see the path of the library - just change it to 'games' and you're done

dont forget to change the filename back to original

I changed the path-link in the liberyfolders.vdf.
Thank you, it worked! Thanks for your help. Have a good day!