Steam games no longer in library but still take up space

Question

I was clearing up space today on my computer and noticed in my storage settings it said a couple games were taking up space that I clearly remember uninstalling them and they're not in my Steam library. When I click uninstall in my storage app it reads me this message. "Windows cannot find 'C:/User/(my account name)/Applications/steam.exe. Make you typed that name correctly and try again."

I've gone to my user and there is no application file. I've also gone to common in steam to find the game files. The files are not there either. I'm not sure where they are on my computer but they're taking up space. So if anyone knows how to find the files or just delete them it would be much appreciated!

Answer 1

This has been a known issue with Steam for sometime. Although, per the Steam Support forums, it seems the most popular method to troubleshoot this:

1. Check your steamapps/common folder to make sure the directories of said removed games are actually gone
2. Make sure you have updated your Windows Restore points, as they can take up a lot of room with all that unused game data being kept
3. If space is still not freed, back up any non-SteamCloud user data + games that keep local saves, then reinstall Steam

For future reference, Steam Support Forums are always a great place to start for Steam related problems! :)

Edit: I noticed you said storage app, comment added for clarification...

Answer 2

I was going to write a long post about looking in steamapps/common, but then re-read your post, and you said you've looked there.

So your question is more about finding what is using disk space where than about steam specifically.

Try graphing/plotting your disk usage using a tool from this list

• Space Sniffer
• TreeSize
• DiskDetective
• DiskSavvy
• Scanner

Of these, I've only used Scanner, and found it works well though a bit slow on modern large disks.

After plotting your disk usage, you should be able to easily find any large folders easily. If those games really are taking up considerable space, you'll be able to find them pretty quickly.

Answer 3

Download WizTree for free. This will help you find all of your leftover steam games that are still taking up space(up to 15g!) You can delete the problem files directly in Wiztree. Saved me enough space to download Destiny 2