I recently installed Windows on a new 256GB SSD. Before that, I had a 1TB hard drive filled with all my games, but when I set up the SSD, I unplugged the hard drive. Now that I've reconnected it, all my files are still there, but Steam indicates that I need to reinstall all my games. Did I do something wrong, or is there a way to access those game files without downloading everything again?
3 Answers
As for needing to redownload Steam, that's expected after a clean install of Windows. But once you set the library location, it should be able to detect your games. Just keep an eye on the installation paths!
Yeah, that's pretty common! Sometimes Steam doesn't automatically recognize the games after a fresh install. Just make sure you add your old Steam folder back as a library. If you've done that, Steam should see your files when you try to reinstall the games. And no worries about needing to download Steam again—that sometimes happens when you install Windows fresh.
You can add the location of the hard drive to your Steam library. Just open Steam, go to settings, find the storage section, and add your old drive as a library folder. It's usually something like "D:Program Files (x86)Steam" if that was the letter assigned to the drive. This should help Steam recognize the existing files, although you might have to manually reinstall the games to point to those files.
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