Move Your Steam Install

Andrew Martinez September 29, 2007 Games 38 Comments

Update:There is an “official” Steam post on how to do this. While the steps below will work, you can also use this method. However it will require you to reinstall steam/update the client. The method below still works and requires no downloads/updates/installs.



Moving your steam install? How? This question was raised after I installed Steam and downloaded Half-Life2, Episode One, Lost Coast, and Team Fortress 2 and fully patched them all. I installed Steam to my C: drive and figured that I would get to chose where each purchased game is installed to. Not true!

Steam runs all of its games as subsidiary applications of Steam. Each of the newer Steam based games stores all of its data files and executables under the same directory structure as the Steam client install!

For me, I have one disk for windows and a raid array for games. Having my games run off of my windows drive was getting to me as I know I could have faster load times. After some Googling, I found out how to do it! I compiled directions from a few sources as well as from my experience doing it!

It worked flawlessly for me! However, if you mess it up its your fault and you can just do a fresh install to fix things (you will just have to wait for the dl again though).

Rules!

  1. Steam and all games must stay in thier current directory strucutre
  2. That means you can’t split games and steam up across drives
  3. You can only have 1 active steam install
  4. This will break all shortcuts for games/steam. You will have to manually recreate or fix them. (not hard)

Steps: Moving The Install

  1. Shut down steam if it is running (right click system tray icon => exit)
  2. COPY the steam directory from the original location to the new one.
  3. Rename the original directory. (e.g C:/Program Files/Valve => C:/Program Files/Valve_ORIG or C:/Program Files/Steam => C:/Program Files/Steam_ORIG)
  4. In the new directory (not original), delete the file named “ClientRegistry.blob”.
  5. Manually run “steam.exe” in the newly copied directory.
  6. Watch steam “update” a.k.a verify itself. It won’t download anything/need to reinstall.
  7. Run a game to verify it works
  8. Delete the ORIGINAL install (e.g. C:/Program Files/Valve => C:/Program Files/Valve_ORIG or C:/Program Files/Steam => C:/Program Files/Steam_ORIG )
  9. Done, except for fixing short cuts on your desktop/start menu (see below)

Updating the Shortcuts

  1. Find the short cut that needs to be fixed either on your desktop or in the start menu
  2. Right click it
  3. Chose “Properties”
  4. Change the “Start in” property to reflect the new drive & directory path (e.g “C:\Program Files\Steam\” => “X:\Program Files\Steam\” )
  5. Change the “Target” value to use the new drive & directory path. The STEAM shortcut can’t have i its target edited, don’t worry it will work! (e.g “C:\Program Files\Steam\Steam.exe” -applaunch 440 => “X:\Program Files\Steam\Steam.exe” -applaunch 440 )
  6. Click Apply, Click Ok
  7. Repeate
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38 Responses to “Move Your Steam Install”

  1. fast_eddie said:

    Oct 10, 07 at 6:11 pm

    Thanks a lot for this!!

    It has saved my a lot of time and hassle and has freed up a lot of my C drive for other uses!!

    Cheers!

  2. Pierre said:

    Oct 20, 07 at 8:51 pm

    This didn’t work for my Steam install.. now when I start a game I get ‘platform error: module not found’ error…

  3. Whitehorse said:

    Nov 01, 07 at 1:59 am

    Dude! Thanks a MILLION!!!
    Steam has been eating up my hard drive like a revnant from resident evil….and you are the cure!
    Big Thumbs Up!!!

  4. Adam said:

    Nov 08, 07 at 7:52 pm

    Thanks! Very useful!

  5. titanfus said:

    Nov 17, 07 at 1:25 pm

    THANK YOU! — One less reason to despise Steam, but there are plenty more unfortunately.

  6. Lars said:

    Nov 18, 07 at 10:28 am

    It worked great! thank you!

  7. Hiddepolen said:

    Nov 24, 07 at 7:06 am

    Thanks!!!

    It helped me soooo much, now i can use my C:/ drive nomrally again

  8. John said:

    Dec 08, 07 at 6:54 pm

    You, sir, deserve a medal. Worked perfectly. Thanks!

  9. Your Neighbour said:

    Dec 13, 07 at 6:09 am

    This is very helpful, I have been seeking for such guide over the internet, you should suggest for a sticky on Steam forums.

  10. Your Neighbour said:

    Dec 13, 07 at 6:28 am

    Actually there’s a easier way, I found this link on Steam Support :

    Steam Support Forums

    It tells a easier way of doing it.

  11. Edd said:

    Dec 30, 07 at 10:16 am

    Worked great, thanks.

  12. Costanzafaust said:

    Jan 16, 08 at 6:42 am

    Nice guide. I didn’t want to have to uninstall and redownload steam, and this method worked.

    I also did a backup of the registry and then a search and replace thru the registry of any C:\Program Files\Steam, changing the drive letter to the new partition.
    One of the uninstall entries was under C:\Progra~1\Steam as well.

    I think there are some OS registry settings that don’t get automatically fixed by deleting clientregistry.blob.

  13. Therion Ware said:

    Jan 17, 08 at 1:20 pm

    Hi

    Thanks for that. Dead useful, and worked first time.

    Rgds
    TW.

  14. stufff said:

    Jan 31, 08 at 1:49 am

    This worked flawlessly, thank you very much. Rather than edit the properties of each start menu shortcut one by one however, I deleted them all, made desktop shortcuts of all the games via Steam, and then just dragged and dropped all the desktop shortcuts into the start menu folder.

  15. Jeff said:

    Aug 18, 08 at 1:06 pm

    Thank you so much!

  16. Mashi Maro said:

    Sep 01, 08 at 11:53 pm

    Thanks, very helpful!

    Solution worked on 64bit AMD x2 2.0 GHz running Windows Vista.

  17. AlphaW0lf said:

    Nov 02, 08 at 10:47 am

    Thanks very much for this!!! I didnt want to resize my partition so this really came in handy to switch my steam-install to my D-drive. Thanks a lot! Good tutorial!

  18. OMIGHTY1 said:

    Nov 04, 08 at 4:26 pm

    Thank you so much! This worked epicly well! More speed and space for me! XD!

  19. kieran said:

    Nov 12, 08 at 5:39 am

    Thanks alot for posting, awesome work… extreme dude!

  20. Azarien said:

    Nov 16, 08 at 10:55 am

    Works.

  21. hak said:

    Mar 03, 09 at 3:45 pm

    Thx

  22. txf said:

    Apr 29, 09 at 11:31 pm

    Hey, thanks for this. I was running very low on space on my C drive, so i copied it to my 500gb E drive, now i’m good to go. Worked fine and everything.

    Thanks

  23. whatthe said:

    Jun 07, 09 at 3:12 am

    The Neigbour, how is that fix easier than this guide? is moving a directory and changing some shortcuts easier than uninstalling/re-installing and having to move a directory? i think not.
    try reading for a change

  24. kami said:

    Jul 16, 09 at 7:34 am

    question… this worked really well until i tried installing a .vpk package. it gives me and error now… any fixes?

  25. Make STEAM point to separate drive - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net said:

    Aug 12, 09 at 1:45 pm

    [...] http://www.themoreuknow.net/blog/blo…steam-install/ Moving a steam install should be a relatively straightforward process. Basically you backup your games, uninstall steam, reinstall steam, move games to new spot. __________________ [...]

  26. Elia1995 said:

    Sep 02, 09 at 7:15 am

    Thank you a lot!!!! My C drive was full that I couldn’t install Saints Row 2 (I have it on Steam) now that I’ve “migrated” Steam on my bigger drive wich I use for backups and extra files (YTP Clips) wich is 1 TB now I can finally install Saints Row 2 ^^

  27. Kricket said:

    Oct 20, 09 at 4:07 pm

    Thanks! I’m preparing to wipe my drive to upgrade to Win7 and moving Steam to a different drive was much easier than re-downloading everything!

  28. mike said:

    Dec 18, 09 at 1:40 am

    thanks, worked well.

  29. WTF said:

    Jan 01, 10 at 4:39 pm

    Please help, i can’t change my target

  30. Galiant said:

    Jan 18, 10 at 3:50 am

    Thanks for this, I was running out of space =)

  31. Thkaz said:

    Feb 19, 10 at 1:34 pm

    Vlw!! Steam toska… tem q se virar nos 30!

  32. Dave said:

    Feb 20, 10 at 6:01 pm

    Excellent advice. Worked superbly for me!

  33. Bob said:

    Mar 12, 10 at 10:19 am

    This is even easier:
    https://support.steampowered.com/kb_cat.php?id=3&t=qanda

    Just delete everything except steam.exe and steamapps, move the whole directory, and re-run. Problem solved.

  34. dan said:

    Apr 02, 10 at 10:17 am

    iv actually ran into a problem with this concerning the steam shortcut…..you see im just trying to move the steam folder from one folder on my same HD (the C drive) to another folder. Now each time i move it from one folder to the next folder everything works well up until i have to change the steam client. I put in to change it from C:\Program Files\Steam\ to C:\x folder\Steam\ but even when i do that it will continue to just reinstall in the programs files. This has become really annoying and i dont know why the client will just accept the changes

  35. Paul Traynier said:

    Apr 02, 10 at 6:22 pm

    I have just created a free application which uses NTFS junction points to relocate the steam folders. These allow folders to be linked from other drives, but will only work for Windows Vista and 7 (not XP). For steam, this means you can selectively move some games to a different drive – ideal for freeing up space and keeping the games playable from steam.

    See http://www.traynier.com/software/steammover/ for more information.

  36. Are Steam games automatically downloaded in C: Drive? - Page 2 - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net said:

    Apr 07, 10 at 5:30 pm

    [...] to do so. http://www.themoreuknow.net/blog/blo…steam-install/ __________________ Intel SSD Owner ClubThe Samsung Owners ClubEVGA X58 LE/3x SLI Owners ClubThe [...]

  37. Emmer Gulle said:

    May 09, 10 at 1:48 pm

    Dude many thanks to you. It saves me a lot. I ve been having this oroblem for 2 months and you gave the cure! Amazing! Thumbs up!:)

  38. Neuer Speicherort für installierte Steam Spiele | Philippe H. Regenass said:

    Oct 08, 11 at 7:10 pm

    [...] vom 09.10.2011: Hier noch die Anleitung wie man den Steam Ordner unter Windows verschieben kann. Dieser Eintrag wurde [...]

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