Format Vista -> Install Windows 7, Steam folder?

Anominity · 27 Oct 2009 at 14:58

Would it be possible for me to copy the contents of my steam folder to another drive, format my Vista drive, install Windows 7, reinstall Steam, and import the game files again?

Please let it be so, I don't want to have to redownload 120+GB of games once more

Clairvoyant · 27 Oct 2009 at 14:59

Copy your steam folder to another drive.

When you reinstall steam point the install to the new location of the steam folder.

Did it with my win7 install.

NvidiaDan · 27 Oct 2009 at 15:00

if you right click on one of your games there is a backup option which you can use to save on another hard drive and then re-install without having to download.

BloodyL · 27 Oct 2009 at 15:00

Yes, all you have to do is move the steam folder, install Win7, move the steam folder back and run the main steam.exe application, it will re-install itself and you won't have to re-download anything.

Confused · 27 Oct 2009 at 15:01

Move the Steam folder, install, then you've got 2 options:

1) Move folder back, run steam.exe from the Steam directory
2) Leave folder where it is, run steam.exe from the Steam directory

Anominity · 27 Oct 2009 at 15:07

Fantastic news, wasn't sure if it was different with changing OS. That said, I do have a fair few games that aren't on steam, those will have to be reinstalled

Liquidfox · 27 Oct 2009 at 15:42

The benefits of steam, if only they supported more games from retail purchases

Squark · 27 Oct 2009 at 15:46

One thing I'd like from steam, to be able to 'register' my retail CD keys for available games with it so that I could then download the game whenever

PhillyDee · 27 Oct 2009 at 16:07

You can with some stuff from STEAM.

I just done the above with Win7. Dragged it from my Vista dual boot drive and ran it. How fantastic!

chaosophy · 27 Oct 2009 at 16:09

Squark said:
One thing I'd like from steam, to be able to 'register' my retail CD keys for available games with it so that I could then download the game whenever

You can with some games. Not sure how up to date that list is though.

Anominity · 27 Oct 2009 at 16:16

Yeah, seen that list a few times, really not very thorough, unfortunate that, as that would be a fantastic feature.

QlimaxUK · 27 Oct 2009 at 17:55

for me i keep my steam folder permanently on another drive drive, that way when i format i don't have to move my steam games around

EDIT: i still have it on my 'main' drive, same as C:\ but on a 2nd partition which on my PC is E:\

LoadsaMoney · 27 Oct 2009 at 17:57

I just copy my SteamApps folder to another drive, re-install Steam, then copy it back.

Destination · 27 Oct 2009 at 18:28

Question regarding this, save games are stored in the user profile not within steam are they not?

A person should consider backing up this also, and then copying back across to their new user profile.

PlumpMonkey · 27 Oct 2009 at 19:36

As others have said, I always just copy the Steam folder to another drive, copy it back, run the steam.exe and all is good.

However, this time with Win 7, running steam.exe didnt seem to do anything. I just downloaded the steam client again, ran it, and it picked up all the steam games I had moved back anyway.

Kezmo · 27 Oct 2009 at 22:07

Games on another drive , saves a lot of hassle.

Schnippzle · 27 Oct 2009 at 22:10

I recently made the move from Vista to 7, and I have to say it could not have gone smoother with regards to Steam. Just ran the steam app on the hdd where its installed, and the program just re-registered again. Could not have been simpler.