Copying Steam from Win XP to Win 7 64bit new install

[rfpraweb]

Need help, thank you for reading.

I want to avoid having to reinstall retail software that uses Steam for activation as well as software and DLC/Expansions I bought online that also uses Steam for activation. It would take forever.

I have read the Steam FAQ's/How-to's. I have read several messages posted on this forum including the message that tells you step by step what needs to be transferred and what programs can be used to move saved games, etc.

I have Windows XP Service Pack 3, 32bit, and Steam is installed on a 2TB formatted in NTFS. Steam is located on J drive, under Program Files.

I just finished installing on a brand new 3TB, NTFS formatted, GPT partition, Windows 7 64bit with Service Pack 1. Steam is also located on J drive under Program Files (x86).

I have 425GB in the Steamapps folder consisting of games bought at retail (in a retail box and with a disc) and I have games bought directly online via Steam/Impulse/Origin/Direct2Drive/Amazon (they either either supplied a code to activate and download from Steam or I downloaded the game and then installed it and it was activated via Steam).

I have followed the recommendations and suggestions that I found in the above FAQs and forum messages and still have a problem.

I have done the following:

Copied Steamapps folder from the Windows XP install over to the Steam folder on the Windows 7 install. I then removed everything but Steamapps and steam.exe and then launched Steam. However after Steam reinstalls itself all the games are greyed out and I can not verify game cache/files. If I click on the install it wants to install the entire game. If I go to Steamapps and try to start the game it either doesn't start or assumes it is a demo.

I even tried the recommendation to copy all .ncf and .gcf along with the Steamapps folder and files from the Userdata folder. I then have games that are either greyed out or are in yellow with the words "download paused" next to the game name. None of these dark or "download paused" games allow me to verify game cache/files either.

The site and program doesn't fully explain the "backup" feature used in Steam app. It seems to be mainly a tool to backup the software, much like you would backup up of your system in case of a drive or OS failure. However they don't explain if the backup of the software is actually a way to reinstall the software to the same account but on a new install with Win 7 versus Win XP. Also one of the forum posts seem to indicate that some of the games will not backup using Steam's backup because of DRM, so those games it wouldn't help using the backup I would assume. BTW, I clone a copy of my running OS and keep a copy put away so if a failure occurs I just reclone the Master cloned drive, so it isn't an issue of not having them if I suffered a failure, which is why I have never used the Steam backup before.

I obviously couldn't do an upgrade on XP and it wouldn't be a very stable system if I did. If I had unlimited bandwidth it wouldn't be an issue, just a waste of time, and do fresh reinstalls. However I have a 300GB cap on bandwidth *cough* comcast.

So what do I need to do to get Steam working on my new system. I am not dual booting either. Win 7 is on its own hard drive which is removeable so I can switch between a win xp only Hard drive and Win 7 only hard drive based on which OS I need to use.

Once again thank you for your time in reading this.

[Τhe Rolling Cheese Wheel]

Install steam, but do not launch
Place steamapps in to the steam folder
launch steam
enjoy

I did this recently by moving my resident evil 5 steam files on to an alternate partition. Initially when I logged in to the new partition my resident evil 5 was greyed out. I double clicked it and the progress bar says it was "discovering existing files" not actually downloading any new things. Drag and drop should work fine.

[rfpraweb]

I will give these suggestions a try. I haven't tried the first suggestion of not starting steam till the games are transferred, not trying to double click on the greyed out games. Probably will need to let me computer stay on all night to recognize all those games due to their total size. The save folders should be perfectly safe, since I still use that drive for Win XP, plus I have a clone of that drive that I keep stored away for the day the drive fails (I avoid the RAID issue and of course a reinstall :) )Will comment back once attempted.

[Delph]

Just hit install when the game is greyed out - it will check what files are on your computer and shouldn't actually download anything

[Satoru]

Just move the steamapps folder to the new one and 95% of your games will work.

You may need to reinstall GFWL for games that requrie that.

[rfpraweb]

When I tested that suggestion of greyed out hit install, it actually started downloading the entire program from scratch. I finally stopped it around 200mb as I don't want to redownload the item. While the retail versions I own will not be too big an issue, the dlc's, the games bought from Steam or a third-party that provides a code for Steam (i.e. Direct2drive now gamefly, impulse aka Gamestop) they are the issue and they are what takes the longest to download (can't beat Steam special sale prices).

I contacted Steam, took them nearly a week to respond. And it was obvious that is was sort of a canned auto-response as they told that I could move my Steam games or link them from another drive on my computer, which is not the issue. I have replied to their response in hope that someone will perehaps see that what "advice" they gave was not relevant for my issue.

[Satoru]

Support is simply going tot ell you to use their backup/restore method. So not sure why you're contacting them as that was already put forth.

Also emember that depending on when you ddid the copy the game may have had patches and such so it may need to download the game anyway. Also recently a lot of games have moved over to the newer content server so you may have to downlload some games anyway.