If you love to play computer games in your spare time, you might be aware of an error where Steam games are uninstalling themselves. When heading on to your computer, the last thing you want is for the games to uninstall especially as they can take a significant amount of time to redownload. But if you’re finding yourself with this error, not to worry as we have the answers to getting your Steam game query resolved.
Steam games are uninstalling themselves
If you have noticed games in your Steam library have uninstalled themselves, not to worry, we have some fixes to get steam games back on to your account in no time.
Firstly, log into your Steam account. Find the Steam settings and click the downloads tab on the left hand side. When you click downloads, you will see a tab at the top of the page that says ‘Steam Library Folders’ when you click that, you are taken to the library where all of your Steam games are stored. Below, you will see an option to add a new Steam Library folder, click to make a new folder. If your games aren’t stored in the Steam library, Steam itself may not understand where the games are being saved to. This simple solution should stop any Steam games from becoming uninstalled.
Why do Steam games uninstall themselves?
Photo by Riccardo Greg on Unsplash
One potential cause of Steam games uninstalling themselves could be software such as antivirus accidentally deleting files that shouldn’t be deleted. If you think this may be the case, you’ll need to check if Steam knows where the uninstalled game is saved first. In order to find this out, follow these steps:
- Open up your computer settings then programme files
- In ‘Program Files (x86)’ you’ll find direct folders for programs and software on your computer, this is found in your computer’s Local Disk.
- In this folder, you’ll find a folder for Steam. Click onto the steam folder and you should see a file called ‘Appmanifest_730.acf’.
- Right click on the file, and click ‘open with’ and select notepad.
- Once this file is open in notepad, you’ll be able to edit things in this file. You’ll need to find the App ID for the game you are trying to fix, this can be found on the Steam website for every Steam game.
- Search through the file called ‘Appmanifest_730.acf’ and find a line called ‘installer’. Here you can change the name of the folder the game is installed in.
- Once finished, try reloading the game to see if it’s still uninstalled.
Steam games uninstalled not enough space
Photo by ELLA DON on Unsplash
It’s not recommended to save your Steam games onto an external hard drive if you run out of memory. This is because they can become disconnected from your computer without being disconnected properly, as well as issues running the game.
If you run Steam games off an external hard drive, you may notice some issues with how the game runs. An external hard drive won’t have enough memory to be running games that are graphic based and performance-based.
Are you having issues with your Xbox Series X turning off by itself? Here’s how to fix this issue.
Steam game uninstalled itself easy fix
Sometimes the games that are appearing installed may need completely reinstalling. If you constantly have issues with games that become uninstalled, try to reinstall them. It’s been known that reinstalling the games can fix them. If an install fault is preventing you from playing games, a reliable method is to reinstall the game and see if the same problem still occurs. If you are still having further issues, try running your computer as an administrator.
Steam game not opening Mac issue
There are a couple of ways to fix Steam games that won’t open on a Mac. Firstly, try force quitting the software by opening the Apple menu and clicking force quit. This will give you a list of programs that you have open currently, select Steam and click force quit. From here you can try reloading Steam and see if force quitting the software has changed anything.
If you press the Command key and the space bar, it will open up what’s known as the ‘activity monitor’. In this menu, you’ll see all the programs that your Mac is running. But like the force quit menu, you will be able to see how it’s running in terms of CPU usage. In this menu, you can select Steam and press stop.
Steam deleting paid for games
If you accidentally delete a paid for game, don’t worry. The game will still be there and you won’t have to pay for it again. All games are linked to your account, and Steam will never require you to purchase a game more than once if it becomes accidentally deleted. Always make sure that your computer’s drivers are updated regularly, and that your computer receives updates regularly. Occasionally, outdated drivers can prevent programs and software from working properly.
You may even need to reinstall Steam entirely if solutions like these aren’t fixing your problems. A fresh reinstall may help in case you accidentally deleted a file, or a program like an antivirus deleted a file it thought was malicious.
If you have noticed paid for games have vanished from your Steam library, a simple solution to this problem is to restart your device. If you are on Mac, remember to untick ‘Reopen windows when logging back in’. This means your Mac will have a fresh restart next time. Alternatively the same can be done for Windows computers, just ensure you press ‘Shut down’ instead of ‘Sleep’.
We hope this has helped you fix your issue with Steam games are uninstalling themselves.
