How To Change The Download Location For A Game On Steam

Because you can find every big game in the Steam store, it is one of the most popular programmes among PC gamers. Its user interface simplifies the download, installation, and management of consumers' favourite games.

When a Steam user wants to download a game, the game is downloaded and installed from the application's default installation location. By default, this path is C:Program Files(x86)Steam. Here's the issue: most users won't have enough space on their C drive, particularly for games that require a huge amount of storage, such as 50–100 GB. To address this issue, Steam allows users to alter the location where games are downloaded and installed using the application. Users have the option of creating multiple library folders and selecting the installation location when downloading games. You won't have to re-download a full game if you use Steam. The most recent Steam update now allows users to relocate a game completely to another location without losing any game data and without having to download it again.

We covered how to modify the game download/install location in Steam as well as how to migrate existing Steam games from one folder to another in this article.

Change the location where Steam games are downloaded and installed

1. Open the Steam application.

2. Go to the Steam menu at the top of the application window and select Settings.

 3. Select the Downloads tab in the left pane of the Settings window.

4. On the right, hover over STEAM LIBRARY FOLDERS, which is situated beneath Content Libraries.

5. The Storage Manager window will appear. To create a new folder for downloading/installing games, click the '+' symbol below.

6. In the Add a new Steam Library Folder dropdown, select the option Allow me to choose a different location. Select Add.

 7. Here, you can select a new location. You can use the dropdown menu to change the drives.

8. Navigate to the folder of your choice and click on it to show it. Select.

To make a new folder, go to the place where you want it and click on New Folder.

9.It will now show up in the Storage Manager.

10. If you want, you can make this new folder the default so that all future downloads and instals will happen in this folder, too.

11.Select the folder you want to make the default folder by clicking on the three horizontal dots next to this folder. Then, choose Make Default from the drop-down menu that opens.

12. In the main Settings window, close the Storage Manager and click OK to close the main window.

In Steam, you now have a new location to download and install games. If the default folder has been set, all new games will be installed in that location. If you have numerous library folders, Steam will ask you to choose a location when you want to download/install a new game.

Existing Steam Games Should Be Moved to a Different Steam Game Folder

You may need to migrate games that are already in Steam to another library folder due to space limits on your drive. There are two methods for moving existing games in Steam to a different location. The Storage Manager is used for one, and the game's characteristics are used for the other.

How to Use Storage Manager

1. Open the Storage Manager window in Steam using Steps 1 – 4 above, where we created a new library folder.

2. In the window, select the drive that has the game installed and needs to be moved.

 3. Select the checkbox associated with the game that you want to move.

4. Click on the Move button at the bottom.

5. In the Move Content prompt, select the drive with the new Steam library folder using the dropdown.

6. Click on the Move button.

Wait for this process to finish as it may take some time depending on the size of the games that are being moved.

Using the Games List

1. Launch Steam and select the Library tab.

2. Right-click on the game to be moved and choose Properties.

 3. Here, go to the Local Files tab in the left pane.

4.On the right side, click the Move Install Folder button.

5. Select the library where the game needs to be moved from the dropdown menu. Select Move.

This copies the game's files to the library location you specify. To relocate the other games, repeat the process described above.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

We hope that this tutorial was helpful in assisting you in changing the download/install location for games in Steam as well as moving game data between different Steam game directories. Please leave a comment and let us know if you have any problems with the methods outlined here.