Steam says all drives but C: are read-only

[Nrogark]

I'm just trying to setup Steam. When I try to add game folders on any drive but C: the drive isn't in Steam's folder list and when I try to enter a pathname such as D:\steam it tells me the drive is read-only.

This is happening for all drives but the are NOT read-only they're working perfectly normally.

What is causing Steam to do this and how do I fix it? I can't install on C: there's not enough space and it's not where I install my game to.

[Nrogark]

I just found I can't create a folder on C: either, Steam says C: is also read-only!

I created a folder in Explorer and Steam allowed me to select it but it wouldn't create one itself.

Sadly, pre-creating a folder on D: where I want to put it didn't work. :(

[.l.Sanya.l.]

ку всем

[Tev]

So make C:\ not read only.

Read only means you can't write on the disk.

Right mouse click the disk > Security, ensure your username has the permissions to write on the disk.

[Nrogark]

I am able to write to ALL disks just fine, they are not read-only. This isn't a problem with my account on my PC.

In any case, if C: WERE read-only nothing would work at all.

[Tev]

Originally posted by Nrogark:

I just found I can't create a folder on C: either,

Isn't this outside the Steam -client?
Unless you mean via Steam > Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders.

[Nrogark]

Sorry, I assumed my original post was clear when I mentioned Steam's library list.

The error I am getting is in Steam Library Folders, as per the menu list you posted.

It only lists C:, when I try to add a new folder on C: it tells me C: is read only. If I try to create D:\Steam it tells me D: is read-only, same for all my drives.

Outside of Steam my PC is running perfectly.

[Tev]

Yeah, sorry.

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/864971044973647956/

Either way, plenty of people here have solved this issue by putting the Steam -client itself on the C:\ -drive, while I did read this

What is causing Steam to do this and how do I fix it? I can't install on C: there's not enough space and it's not where I install my game to.

[Nrogark]

Ah great, thanks. :)

I did try searching, honest, on 'read-only' but didn't see that one.

[Nrogark]

Sadly I don't see anything in there to help me. I want to run on D: and most of those posts talk about running on C: One talks about moving from C: to D: but I have nothing on C: to move.

One comment there:

"I put all my steam games on my computers main drive onto the destination drive and then it worked. It appears steam doesn't like to have libraries on two separate drives. "

I don't even understand what the guy was trying to explain.

[Tev]

From what I gather, you should have the Steam -client on C:\

The games can be on other drives, via Steam > Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders.

It might be that you can't use Steam Library Folders if you have the client itself installed on any other drive than the C:\ -drive, in which case the only workaround would be symbolic links.

i.e.

mklink /d "D:\Games\Steam\SteamApps\common\(specific game folder name)" "C:\Games\Steam\SteamApps\common\(game folder name; can be different.)"

i.e.

mklink /d "D:\Games\Steam\SteamApps\common\Antichamber" "C:\Games\Antichamber\"

^ This would make the game on C:\ while being accessed by the client from D:\

[Nrogark]

In the end I decided life's too short to mess with this idiot system do I uninstalled Steam and re-installed on D: so hopefully the problem has 'gone away'.

Thanks for trying to assist, seems there's something very flakey with the Steam client.

[Distorti0N]

This will be late for OP but should anyone facing the same problem find this thread, remember to open your steam client with administrator privileges so that it has the necessary permissions to write to your C:\ drive. Simple fix, particularly for those less tech-savvy.

[Rauko]

Originally posted by Distorti0N:

This will be late for OP but should anyone facing the same problem find this thread, remember to open your steam client with administrator privileges so that it has the necessary permissions to write to your C:\ drive. Simple fix, particularly for those less tech-savvy.

Actually that's not the problem that I think they are describing. I've had the same issue as well. I'm running Steam as Admin, my windows account is admin too. But there's a larger Windows 10 issue here. I've tried to make the folder writable but it reverts to Read-Only every time.

I suggest you check the Properties>Security> Edit (Permissions) and make sure that "TrustedInstallers" have permission to write (full control would be best and possibly necessary).

Now that program (Steam in this case but any other case too) that is installed on another Hard Drive can save/read/write data saved in that folder on another drive.

[Nem o]

Originally posted by Nrogark:

I'm just trying to setup Steam. When I try to add game folders on any drive but C: the drive isn't in Steam's folder list and when I try to enter a pathname such as D:\steam it tells me the drive is read-only.

This is happening for all drives but the are NOT read-only they're working perfectly normally.

What is causing Steam to do this and how do I fix it? I can't install on C: there's not enough space and it's not where I install my game to.

Right click the drive and go to properties, then sharing and advanced sharing and then click "share this folder" and then it worked for me. took me 2 min.

[Cat (O>)]

Originally posted by Nemo:

Right click the drive and go to properties, then sharing and advanced sharing and then click "share this folder" and then it worked for me. took me 2 min.

Thank you, this worked like a charm.