Is it possible to transfer Steam games to a different computer without needing to reinstall them?
Is it possible to transfer Steam games to a different computer without needing to reinstall them?
I plan to purchase a new computer, but I’d prefer not to reinstall all of my Steam games. My internet connection is limited at 100 gigabytes per month and an average speed of 10 Megabits, so I want to avoid dedicating a significant amount of time and bandwidth to re-downloading them. Furthermore, my family utilizes the network alongside me, making it particularly challenging to re-download games on the new PC. Therefore, I’m wondering if it's possible to transfer my Steam games to another computer using USB drives.
Duplicate the ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps’ folder (your library directory, no matter where it resides) to the identical location on a new computer. Launch Steam and select “Install” for the game you copied. Allow Steam to verify that all game files are present and possibly download any missing components during the installation process.
You should be okay; install four to five Steam game drives across many of them, provided a Steam directory exists as described previously. Alternatively, open Steam, create a new folder where you require it.
If you duplicate the Steam application folder to an external hard drive, when reinstalling Steam on a new computer and navigating to the new 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam' directory, do you simply copy files from the hard drive into that folder, or should you paste them directly into Program Files and then accept a prompt asking if you want to overwrite the existing folder?