How do I reinstall the client without reinstalling all my games?

[Worm Prime Minister]

My computer is 64 bits, but my Steam client is 32 bits for some reason. I probably downloaded it on my old 32 bit laptop and passed it to my current external hard drive.

Sometimes, when I start Steam, the client just doesn't load up, I have to manually go to the task manager to kill it and then start it again. Everytime I do, I see it says "Steam (32 bits)", while the fact it is 32 bits is probably not the reason this happens, reinstalling the client might also fix this while making my client run faster with 64 bits instead of 32 bits. It's killing two birds with one stone.

But I don't want to reinstall all my games, only the Steam client itself. I tried updating it but that doesn't make a difference, and it says it's updated to the latest version already. So how do I reinstall it without having to reinstall every game I have and lose my modded content?

[nullable]

Steam is a 32bit app. The bitiness doesn't matter. The main benefit of 64bits is the application being able to address more than 2GB of RAM. Most applications don't need 2GB of RAM, so being 64bits doesn't make a difference.

Your issue isn't a problem with the amount of bits.

As far as reinstalling Steam goes. I'd copy the game folders outside of Steam, reinstall Steam, copy the game folders back. When you go to install a game, it'll detect previously existing files and skip downloading and go right to verification and finishing.

[The Giving One]

Do you have Steam installed to the external, because you mentioned that here :

Originally posted by Worm Prime Minister:

I probably downloaded it on my old 32 bit laptop and passed it to my current external hard drive.

This is probably your problem of Steam having issues launching at first.

[Jaunitta 🌸]

There is 2 folders you can rename and move outside of Steam so they remain aftr you remove Steam client.
The Steamapps, and the Userdata. Rename them steamapps_old and Userdata_old.
Cut them and place into a new folder outside of Steam folder name that folder you identify with like my steam stuff.
.
Then delete everything else restart Steam and it reinstalls clean
replace the 2 folders from your backup.

Here's the Steam clien download page but you dont really need that.
https://store.steampowered.com/about/

[Worm Prime Minister]

Originally posted by The Giving One:

Do you have Steam installed to the external, because you mentioned that here :

Originally posted by Worm Prime Minister:

I probably downloaded it on my old 32 bit laptop and passed it to my current external hard drive.

This is probably your problem of Steam having issues launching at first.

Yes I installed Steam in an external magnetic hard drive, why would that be an issue?

[Worm Prime Minister]

Originally posted by Jaunitta 🌸:

There is 2 folders you can rename and move outside of Steam so they remain aftr you remove Steam client.
The Steamapps, and the Userdata. Rename them steamapps_old and Userdata_old.
Cut them and place into a new folder outside of Steam folder name that folder you identify with like my steam stuff.
.
Then delete everything else restart Steam and it reinstalls clean
replace the 2 folders from your backup.

Here's the Steam clien download page but you dont really need that.
https://store.steampowered.com/about/

I see, that solution makes sense, I know that all game info is in steamapps so what is stored inside userdata that is important and is always stored locally? On the meantime, is there any other folder that might contain local only information that I should backup as well?

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by Worm Prime Minister:

Yes I installed Steam in an external magnetic hard drive, why would that be an issue?

You can do that, and many do, but it's just not recommended :

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/4578-18A7-C819-8620

Because everything has to be set up properly to hopefully avoid problems. And in this case, I can't be sure that is the issue, but it could be, due to the drive being slow to start perhaps or security software having an issue with the drive, perhaps.

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/1F39-DCB4-FF28-5748

There are a few possibilities, but none of them have anything to do with the bitage of your OS, as explained by the good Snakub.

Fortunately, there is an easy test you can do to rule several things out :

Boot your PC into safe mode with networking enabled in the boot options. It has to be WITH networking. Then only run Steam in this boot. As long as there are no issues with the drive connecting in this boot, there should be no issues with Steam running in this boot.

For example, if software conflicts with Steam running in a normal boot, that software will not do this in safe mode with networking, because it does not start automatically in this boot.