Steam not recognising exisisting folder

[MesZa]

I just did a BIOS update for my PC and it caused a few issues, but the main one for me is that i now have maybe half a terrabyte of games that are installed but Steam won't recognise them. The games are already installed under the ProgramFiles (x86) folder, but when I hit download to see if Steam would recognise those files, it created a new Steam Library folder. I should also note that Steam did not detect this storage device when I opened it, and I had to manually add it, despite it already detecting the other three. What should I do from here?

[Thomas53]

The easiest thing to do is copy 1 game to the new folder and see if it works. DON'T copy them all until Steam Recognizes the new folder,. I recommend only one game for more as a time saver then anything else. And if it works then yu can copy them all over and rename the old folder as SteamLibray.old This way if you have problems later on you have them backed up.

[TatamiMatt]

4 hours ago, MesZa said:

I just did a BIOS update for my PC and it caused a few issues, but the main one for me is that i now have maybe half a terrabyte of games that are installed but Steam won't recognise them. The games are already installed under the ProgramFiles (x86) folder, but when I hit download to see if Steam would recognise those files, it created a new Steam Library folder. I should also note that Steam did not detect this storage device when I opened it, and I had to manually add it, despite it already detecting the other three. What should I do from here?

I remember doing something similar to this myself at some point, now it was years ago so idk if its changed or if im even remembering it right, but you need to declare what folder you want steam to use or something, which means itll use the one you specify as it doesnt search for folders automatically if/when the file path is broken

[OhioYJ]

@MesZa are you signed in as that same user? You can freely move your Steam games library folder as you wish, where ever you want, to whatever drive you want. You just point Steam to the library folder, and you're good to go. There should be no messing around needed. In fact if something else is needed for the game to run, steam will detect it's missing and install it. 

 

I've wiped Windows, reinstalled, replaced drives, built new machines, it's never an issue. I've routinely move my Steam library to new drives as my library has grown. 

[Pusbucket]

I had a similar problem and I think I just uninstalled Steam, re-installed it and pointed to the folder on the drive I moved them to, the rest was automatic.

At first I tried launching the game from the new folder, that kinda worked but left redundant registry entries, if I remember correctly. It's been a while.

 

One thing I noticed, and I'm not trying to be rude, but it appears as though you just go click, click, click when installing stuff as your file management is kinda messy.

 

What's on your C: drive?
The only things I allow to install to the root drive or Program Files folders are things that have to be there, everything else including my Steam library are on another drive.

Makes it a lot easier to deal with if you have to re-install Windows or something like that.