How can I change the Install Directory of Games in Origin

Question

In preparation of the upcoming Battlefield 3 Open Beta, today I attempted to set up Origin to install to the proper directories.

My base Origin is installed at:

"E:\Games\Origin".

For some reason though, Origin wants to install all of my games to:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\".

So I attempted to change this to:

"E:\Games\Origin\Games", or even just "E:\Games",

however I keep getting the error message: "The game installation directory is invalid. Please select a different directory." This always comes up unless I pick a directory that is in "C:\Program Files (x86)\" somewhere.

As you can see below: Red is the error message I get every time I try to change the directory, Green is the default location which can only be changed to VERY similar locations, and Blue is showing the fact that I can change the location of the installers just fine.

Is there any way (even using other programs, like a registry editor) to change the directory that Origin will install my games to?

Answer 1

Locate the "Origin" sub-folder in your Application Data - or simply use Start | Run | "%AppData%\Origin".

There's a settings.xml file, open it with a text editor and change the path in the line that begins with

<Setting key="DownloadInPlaceDir"

Answer 2

It's a little bit of a workaround, not a fix, but you could trick Origin in to thinking you've not changed anything, while putting the data wherever you want by making using of a directory junction point.

Please note that I don't have Origin and haven't tested this with Origin, but it's a trick I use all the time - Windows User Profile, Steam, Music, and so on...

Also note that my instructions here require Windows 7 or Windows Vista. You can do this on Win XP, but I cannot remember what the command is...

1. Close Origin and all games.

2. Copy the current folder to the desired location. You must ensure there is no longer a folder with the old name on the system as we're going to place something of that name in a moment.
   For sake of safety I recommend you copy the data to the final location (not move) and then simply rename the old location, deleting it only after you know everything is working.

3. Run a copy of the command prompt as an administrator: find command prompt on the start menu, right-click, and choose "run as administrator"

4. Run the following command (with the relevant old and new locations, in that order):
   mklink /D "C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\" "D:\Games\Origin\Games"

This will create a directory junction point (essentially a symbolic link) in the old location that will silently redirect all requests to use that location (and any sub-locations) to the new location you have specified, it does this without the knowledge of most programs - so they will continue to work unaffected.

I personally used this months ago to move all 100GB or so of installed Steam games to a completely different hard drive, it has worked perfectly since then because Steam still thinks it is installed in the same place as it was before.

Answer 3

I've just tried to move the location of where BF3 is installed, changed the default location to where i wanted it, moved the BF3 folder there and was met with the same issues that it doesnt see the game. Clicking to download just makes it download to the default location.

What i was able to do was find the registry key with which to modify it so its found in Origin.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\EA Games

This is for a Win 7 x64 system, so could be slight differences to location (do a 'find' on 'EA Games' in regedit, should pick it up).

I suspect this wont correct Origin so future titles go into my games folder, however for now it does the trick. Not sure if its what you wanted though, but if nothing else i might help someone who finds this page while searching for a solution.

Answer 4

I got it to work by using E:\Program Files (x86)\.

Answer 5

I downloaded Battlefield 3 and Crysis warhead to the folder D:\Origin Games and then decided that I wanted to change it to just D:\Games. When I moved the two games over Origin didn't recognise them as installed and only had the option to download them - not to play. Did this on Windows 7 ultimate 32-bit

Open run command and enter regedit32. Search for whatever game you're working with, look for the Installdir and change it to your new location. Close and reopen Origin and bam, all solved.

Answer 6

I had the same problem.

Try changing the directory to someplace in Program Files. Anything other than /86 will work.

Answer 7

I've been looking for this answer for hours and it really worked. When it says uninstall, it won't uninstall game, so don't worry.. I hope this one helps.It did it for me(very quickly) Don't forget to change install directory at first..

If you have Origin installed on your primary SDD or HDD, let's say 'C drive' for example, with your game folder in 'C':\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games' and you want to move Origin along with your game folder over to a new Hard drive, let's say 'F':\Program Files (x86)\Origin & Origin Games' etc.(it does not matter what you call it) Now what happens when you launch origin after moving it? Well it will show your installed games but with "ready to install" and will no longer launch the game. Hitting the install button does nothing.
Fix: First make sure under your origin settings general tab that your installed games directory is the same as the directory containing your games, for example 'F:\Origin Games'. Then close origin, and make sure it's closed in the taskbar near your clock.

Go into your game path, navigate to '_installer\DISK1' and launch 'EASetup', it will come up with the option to remove your game, click it, don't worry it won't uninstall your game at the new directory. A dialogue box may also popup, hit cancel if it does. After the uninstall has completed, launch origin, and hit the install button again, this time after a few seconds it should say 'installation has completed' and the game will now work again!

http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/7461348.page

Answer 8

The answer isn't completely known, but, for me at least, was quite simple.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin is where it wants to put it.
E:\Games\Origin\ Is where I wanted it to go.

See the difference? the backslash after Origin. Origin does NOT like that slash.

So, make it look like this instead:

E:\Games\Origin

Windows always puts the slash after the folder name and Origin does not want that slash to be there.

Answer 9

This is what worked for me. I installed Origin on the hard drive in which I planed on downloading my games on. Then I wrote the path as such. G:\Origin\games So in your case E:\Origin\games

Answer 10

I moved it from my SSD to my HDD and then I uninstalled it using the remove tool in Control Panel (this doesn't remove your BF3 because it isn't there). Then I did as mentioned above

Locate the Origin sub-folder in your Application Data - or simply use Start | Run | %AppData%\Origin.

Open settings.xml with a text editor and change the path in the line that begins with:

<Setting key="DownloadInPlaceDir"

Then I removed the \ in the end of E:\Program Files\Origin Games\ and became E:\Program Files\Origin Games. Then I just installed it using Origin but it found BF3.

Answer 11

I would just recommend changing %APPDATA% by opening a command prompt with administrator privledges and using SET %APPDATA%=C:\New\Folder\Here. You can verify it was set by checking the output of echo %APPDATA%.

Note that this most likely won't work for larger installers that tend to put themselves in Program Files, has a good chance of causing a lot of problems with programs you already have, and won't be stored on reboots (most likely), so only try this if you're sure you know what you're doing.