Frequent 'steam' Questions

180 votes

10 answers

656k views

How do I move Steam games to a new computer without re-downloading them?

I have just bought a new computer and I have everything migrated over except for my Steam games. I looked in Program Files/Steam/ and I found a folder full of the games I have downloaded, but I do ...

Josh Hunt

1,941

asked Aug 1, 2009 at 23:52

186 votes

6 answers

316k views

How can I move an installed game from one Steam library folder to another?

I use (and have it much bigger) drive D: to store all my user data and games, but I have installed the Steam client on drive C:. When I was installing a first game (Warhammer 40000), I've chosen to ...

Ivan

2,263

asked Dec 17, 2012 at 19:18

70 votes

2 answers

247k views

Is there any way to start Steam in offline mode without logging in first?

I recently find myself needing to start Steam in offline mode rather frequently (my wife is hogging my account to play Plants Vs. Zombies, and most of what I play doesn't really need to be online). I ...

Aubergine

19.3k

asked Mar 30, 2011 at 21:27

39 votes

3 answers

147k views

Can I register a retail boxed copy of a game with Steam?

I personally do not like to purchase games digitally. There's just something magical about going to the store, picking up a boxed game, staring at the amazing box art, bringing the game home and ...

cowgod

7,728

asked Jul 7, 2010 at 21:37

75 votes

10 answers

260k views

Is it possible to play two different Steam games on the same account at the same time?

I own a lot of games on Steam, and I'm overall a big fan of the service. However, one thing about it really bothers me, and I'm wondering if anything can be done about it. Let's say I have two ...

TM.

5,168

asked Jul 20, 2010 at 21:15

125 votes

9 answers

480k views

How do I remove a Steam game from my library?

I like how Steam presents my library to me. However, there is one thing that keeps irritating me every time I open Steam: the Team Fortress 2 Beta. I don't want it, yet it is always in my games list....

Lg102

1,536

asked Sep 13, 2011 at 20:11

47 votes

4 answers

917k views

Get Steam to realize I have games already installed

I uninstalled and re-installed Steam. I didn't uninstall my games, and they still exist on my hard drive (I checked). I have an SSD and a HDD, and to save space I install programs (including Steam) to ...

Jon

1,692

asked Feb 28, 2014 at 1:11

30 votes

10 answers

310k views

How do I find the ID for a game on Steam?

Every game on Steam has a different Game ID (also known as App ID). For instance, looking on my own computer, Portal has an ID of 400, and FTL: Faster Than Light is 212680. How do I find this ID for ...

IQAndreas

4,122

asked Jan 7, 2014 at 16:11

12 votes

5 answers

151k views

How can I copy/transfer games via external hard drive?

I have successfully transferred "Killing Floor" from my brother's laptop to my own via external hard drive. The problem, now that I have all the files, is that I don't know how to launch the game ...

ILOAAP

121

asked Mar 29, 2012 at 3:39

17 votes

5 answers

535k views

How to make two people play at the same time?

My brother owns Skyrim on steam. We use Steam Family Share, but we were wondering how both of us could play it at the same time?

Ivan Hammar

223

asked Jan 10, 2016 at 17:50

119 votes

11 answers

713k views

Can I tell Steam which monitor to open a game on?

I have two monitors and Windows 7. Is it possible to tell Steam to open a game on my second monitor instead of the main monitor? If that's not possible through Steam itself, is there some other way ...

Adam Lear♦

13.4k

asked Aug 23, 2011 at 3:43

32 votes

2 answers

97k views

What happens if I buy a game I already own through Steam a second time?

I am debating whether or not to get the Potato Sack (yes, I realize I've been debating for several weeks now) bundle through steam. I already own: Defense Grid: The Awakening, Super Meat Boy, and ...

Raven Dreamer

171k

asked Apr 16, 2011 at 2:00

31 votes

6 answers

448k views

How to get Steam to recognize existing game files from a different source?

Let's say I have a game bought on retail/other digital download and installed on my hard drive. I buy the same game (or a minor variant of it, say the GOTY edition) on Steam. It should be possible to ...

ronno

1,050

asked Dec 26, 2012 at 10:08

13 votes

3 answers

88k views

How to get steam to recognize game files downloaded on another machine?

Yesterday I purchased GTA V for the PC via Steam and downloaded it onto my laptop at work. When I got home to transfer the 65 GB worth of files to my main computer, I cleared up 65 GB of space on my ...

Mitch

133

asked Apr 15, 2015 at 18:39

10 votes

1 answer

71k views

Can't log in due to Steam Guard and an inactive email account, what now?

I am unable to log into my Steam account as I do not have access to my email account for the Steam Guard verification process. I have raised a ticket but have not received a reply from Steam Support ...

Jango Rust

101

asked Dec 21, 2013 at 0:17

120 votes

9 answers

940k views

Is there any way to hide your Steam status from others?

Is there any way to prevent others from seeing your Steam status without removing them as a friend? Let's say I want to play Borderlands 2 without letting some friends know. Is there any way to hide ...

childe

72.5k

asked Nov 26, 2012 at 21:09

51 votes

10 answers

66k views

Is it possible to install Steam games to two different locations?

I want to build a new PC with a smallish SSD. I'd like to be able to install some of my games onto the drive (those I care about loading quickly or I play frequently), but have the rest of them on a ...

Morinar

2,750

asked Jul 13, 2010 at 23:41

3 votes

1 answer

7k views

How Does One Transfer A Steam Game? [duplicate]

I have a failure to transfer my game from one HDD to another, and one PC to another. I copied the entire Skyrim folder from one HDD to another. And told where to find it also. Steam did a huge check ...

Lore Friendly

7,153

asked Oct 12, 2014 at 17:36

204 votes

5 answers

370k views

How do I continue downloading a game in Steam while playing?

I have many games on Steam and many more I will buy, but I have a problem and I hope you can point me a solution. When I download a game, is it possible to launch and play a single player game under ...

Drake

42.4k

asked Jul 19, 2010 at 22:06

69 votes

7 answers

77k views

How do you get your Steam games to run on Ubuntu through Wine or something similar?

Ok, I was kind of surprised that this hadn't been asked here before, but maybe it's too technical for this site. You guys decide. I've heard lots of different stories about setting up Wine on Ubuntu, ...

LoveMeSomeCode

1,339

asked Feb 17, 2011 at 13:37

33 votes

3 answers

151k views

Can you choose which version of a game to play on Steam?

I want to play a game in an older update, but can't see a way to choose a specific version. Is this possible?

Mats

351

asked May 23, 2016 at 5:39

33 votes

7 answers

12k views

Can steam create an overview of all my achievements?

I play several games on Steam and I love the achievement system. It would be great to get an overview of all the achievements ever gained in Steam games. Does Steam support this? I haven't found such ...

Demento

2,354

asked Jan 5, 2012 at 15:34

33 votes

7 answers

136k views

Is there any way to stop Steam downloading updates?

How can I get Steam to stop downloading updates automatically as soon as an update is released for a game like CS:S? It's just that I am running on mobile broadband at the moment and Steam loves to ...

James Heald

453

asked Aug 23, 2012 at 12:29

15 votes

5 answers

49k views

Can I run PC steam games on a Mac? [duplicate]

I recently downloaded 'Blood Bowl' on Steam to my Mac, not realizing that it was not Mac-compatible. Is there any software or any way that will allow me to play it, as obviously I've already paid for ...

user7400

asked Feb 25, 2011 at 20:13

14 votes

1 answer

23k views

Do mods or console use disable achievements for Fallout:New Vegas?

I've heard mixed information on this and I'd like to get a straight answer, for two reasons: The widely reported Quicksave/Autosave bug is annoying and, quite frankly, has terrified me into ...

LessPop_MoreFizz

76k

asked Oct 23, 2010 at 2:03

63 votes

5 answers

35k views

Retail boxed Steam activated games: can they be resold?

I recently purchased retail boxed versions of Dead Island (which is awesome) Warhammer 40k: Space Marine (not so much) I finished both games and I was thinking of reselling them or giving them to a ...

Jeff Atwood

8,508

asked Sep 17, 2011 at 0:34

50 votes

1 answer

67k views

Can I safely uninstall games purchased from Steam?

Can I uninstall purchased games from my computer and then later download them through Steam without having to re-purchase if I'd like to? I'm running short on space on my laptop, looking to free up ...

Doozer Blake

18.1k

asked May 27, 2011 at 10:57

49 votes

5 answers

79k views

How do trading card booster packs drop?

So today I woke up and noticed new item in inventory which was a booster pack containing 3 cards from L4D 2. From what I see on market these booster packs are new (graph only shows up to 19 of June). ...

slawek

906

asked Jun 19, 2013 at 9:06

47 votes

4 answers

82k views

Switched Windows to Mac, do I have to buy Steam games again to play on Mac?

I recently switched from Windows to Mac. Steam says I have fewer Mac specific games than total games and it should be an equal amount unless you can only download, install, and play once from your ...

Involuntary Eyeroll

477

asked Feb 5, 2016 at 4:13

24 votes

8 answers

31k views

How can I move Steam games to another disk?

How can I tell Steam to put games on another disk? They are currently on C: but I'm getting a little short on space.

Nifle

1,095

asked Sep 28, 2010 at 20:58

23 votes

1 answer

8k views

Enabling Steam Family Sharing

I'm trying to share my steam library but Valve seems to have updated their interface without updating their docs. Every Tutorial I look at features the settings window with a horizontal tab bar, mine ...

Jamie Taylor

333

asked Feb 5, 2014 at 1:13

15 votes

2 answers

48k views

How do I pick up trading cards?

Steam now has trading cards. In order to get them, you're supposed to play specific games (currently there are only 6 games supported, but they've said more will come). However, I can't figure out ...

BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft

47k

asked May 17, 2013 at 0:45

4 votes

1 answer

2k views

How do I update my full list of games on my Offline PC?

So when I got Steam working offline I had 26 games listed in my library but only 2 installed. Recently I brought a bunch more so I want to update my library on my Offline PC with the full list that's ...

Memor-X

15.6k

asked Apr 2, 2017 at 5:01

90 votes

7 answers

92k views

How do you force Steam to use a different account for each Windows user account on the same machine?

I just built a PC because my son wants to play PC games. I installed Windows 7, and created 2 user accounts, one for each of us. Within my Windows user account I installed Steam, and downloaded some ...

stuffe

1,033

asked Dec 8, 2011 at 15:45

68 votes

4 answers

377k views

What do Steam Profile levels do?

As you can see my Steam profile says I'm level 20: What exactly do levels do? Do they provide any sort of benefits? I've noticed the following as well: Some of the other users have different ...

childe

72.5k

asked Jun 18, 2013 at 18:53

59 votes

11 answers

141k views

How can I sort/organize my Steam game library?

My game list is approaching 100 games and it is starting to get difficult to sort them. I've categorized them by genre but it's still difficult to find them (and my backlog is getting bigger). I also ...

HenryHey

4,199

asked Sep 24, 2011 at 15:06

58 votes

2 answers

531k views

How do I copy Steam game files from another PC while the game's still downloading?

So I know (by trying it out) that you can copy Steam game files from one PC to another and make the game run with the copied files. This is a different issue than merely copying game files (which has ...

yerforkferchips

683

asked Dec 24, 2013 at 16:18

44 votes

4 answers

72k views

Is it possible to limit the download bandwidth used by Steam? [duplicate]

Is it possible to limit the download rate/bandwidth used by Steam in some way? When I am downloading a game it greatly slows down or even blocks all internet activities in my house.

Drake

42.4k

asked Jul 21, 2010 at 22:25

36 votes

2 answers

35k views

How do I determine what my TF2 items are worth?

As someone who doesn't play Team Fortress 2, I occasionally get people asking me to trade, but I have no idea what's a "fair" price for these items. I don't really get this whole trading thing (I've ...

Django Reinhardt

3,433

asked Dec 4, 2012 at 23:10

35 votes

0 answers

151k views

Can I run a steam game without updating it first?

Is is possible to install a steam game and then play it without having to download a huge update file? I'm temporally on super slow broadband at my parents and want to play a game I got now, not in 10 ...

Kurru

553

asked Dec 25, 2010 at 16:20

28 votes

5 answers

49k views

What happens if I activate a product key on Steam for a game I already own?

I have a Steam product key for Just Cause 2 I got for free with the purchase of my video card. However, I already have a copy of this game attached to my Steam account. What will happen if I try to ...

thekidder

383

asked Aug 18, 2010 at 5:17

27 votes

2 answers

91k views

Does Steam store my savegames?

if I install a Steam game on another computer, will my progress from my first computer be available immediately? Or is this game dependent? If not, what's the best way to transfer the progress?

Felix Dombek

1,192

asked Jan 9, 2011 at 10:36

24 votes

2 answers

80k views

Can I play Civ 5 without having Steam installed?

Is there anyway to remove Steam and still play Civilization V? I am very particular about what gets installed on my computers and what is allowed to advertise at me and run background processes. So ...

Varuuknahl

701

asked Nov 8, 2010 at 14:56

19 votes

5 answers

25k views

Can I copy Steam game files from a Mac onto a PC?

I have a very slow Internet connection at home and cannot download large files there. However, I have a Macbook and fast Internet at school. Is it possible to download a game to my Macbook, then ...

N-C

331

asked Jun 8, 2015 at 16:02

18 votes

2 answers

6k views

What will happen to my owned games if Steam were to close?

Years ago, people would pay for physical discs in order to play games. With proper care, those discs could last years. Currently for most PC games, people pay for Steam Keys. So what will happen if ...

Galabyca

6,640

asked Feb 13, 2016 at 15:29

16 votes

4 answers

316k views

How to view CD key for a Steam game?

I have purchased a game on Steam and can not find out the details of the file or purchase. How does one find their CD Key from a game purchased in Steam?

user70728

161

asked Mar 3, 2014 at 1:26

15 votes

2 answers

67k views

How can you install Steam games offline?

My main computer that has Steam installed on it does not have an active Internet connection. I do not want this computer to have access to the Internet, but I really would like to be able to play ...

Christian

2,019

asked Aug 3, 2010 at 16:10

14 votes

5 answers

187k views

Can I gift games from my library?

I understand that once a game is in the library it cannot be removed, only hidden. My question is, can I gift an uninstalled copy of a game to a friend? I understand that this may be impossible due ...

user43246

149

asked Mar 3, 2013 at 2:30

11 votes

2 answers

11k views

Do I need to buy the same steam game twice for two different operating systems?

I want to buy Rome Total War 2 before it's released because it's currently 50% off. However, at the screen, it only shows a Windows symbol for the OS. If I buy it now, will it only be for Windows? ...

user65278

145

asked Dec 29, 2013 at 23:02

10 votes

2 answers

5k views

Can I influence my Steam region?

There's an Unreal pack available on Steam – but not in my region (Germany) probably due to Germany's laws against graphical violence for minors. I had the idea to ask a friend in the USA to register ...

Felix Dombek

1,192

asked Dec 22, 2010 at 0:24

Questions tagged [steam]

Related Tags