Steam is a digital distribution platform developed by Valve Corporation, which offers digital rights management (DRM), multiplayer gaming, video streaming, and social networking services. It distributes games and related media from small developers and indie game publishers. If you are having some issues with Steam or want to reinstall it for any reason, you might wonder if you will lose your existing games in the process. In this blog post, I will show you two methods to reinstall Steam without losing your existing games.
To reinstall Steam without losing your existing games,
- you can use the “Restore and Backup” feature of Steam
- save a copy of your games on your computer.
Continue reading to find out how to do each method.
About Steam
Steam is a video game digital distribution platform developed by Valve Corporation. It was launched in September 2003 as a way for Valve to provide automatic updates for their games but eventually expanded to include games from third-party publishers. Steam offers digital rights management (DRM), matchmaking servers, video streaming, and social networking services. It also provides the user with installing and automatically updating games and community features such as friends lists and groups, cloud saving, and in-game voice and chat functionality.
With the growth of Steam as a platform, the service has also morphed into a social network, with many features designed to engage users beyond playing games. Users can now add non-Steam games to their library, follow other players, and join groups based on interest or participate in “curators” who recommend particular titles.
What Happens If I Uninstall and Reinstall Steam?
If you uninstall Steam from your computer, everything else on your computer stays the same. But, all your saved Steam games will be deleted, and you’ll have to re-download them (if you have the time and bandwidth).
So, you need to back up all your games before you uninstall Steam. That way, you won’t have to start from scratch and pick up right where you left off.
How To Reinstall Steam Without Losing The Existing Games?
While using an app, lots of ups and downs come, and the need to reinstall it becomes imminent. You might face lagging issues, or it may not work properly on your pc anymore. So you decide to uninstall and then reinstall it again. But the thing is, what about all the data inside the app? All your progress, settings, files, etc. Will they be deleted too? The answer is, “It depends.”
When you uninstall an app, generally, its data is deleted as well. But there are some apps that give you an option to backup your data before uninstalling. If the app you’re using has this feature, then great! You can easily reinstall the app without losing any data. In the case of Steam, too, there is a feature called “Restore and Backup.”
Use The “Restore and Backup” Feature Of Steam.
Steam has an inbuilt feature to backup and restores games. This feature can create a backup of all your installed games on Steam. This will save the installation files and game data in a compressed format. So, if you ever need to reinstall Steam, you can use this backup file, and all your games will be restored without any issue.
To create a backup, follow these steps:
Step 1: Launch The Steam App
Firstly, open the Steam app on your device. If you haven’t installed it yet, you can download it from the play store or any other app store.
Step 2: Click On “Steam”
Next, click on the “Steam” button located in the top left corner of your screen.
Step 3: Choose “Backup and Restore Games”
You will see a drop-down menu; from there, choose “Backup and Restore Games.”
Step 4: Click On “Backup”
As soon as you click it, a new radio button will appear as “Backup currently installed programs.” Click on it.
Step 5: Click On “NEXT”
After that, click on NEXT to start backing up your steam games.
Step 6: Select The Games You Want To Backup
Now, it’s time to save all your progress by selecting the games you want to backup. You can also select all of them by clicking on “SELECT ALL,” located at the bottom of your screen.
Step 7: Click on “NEXT”
After selecting all the games, click NEXT to continue.
Step 8: Choose A Backup Location
Finally, you need to choose a backup location. It can be an external hard drive or any other storage device. Once you have selected the location, click NEXT to start backing up your games.
That’s it! These are the steps you need to follow to backup your steam games. Now, even if you need to reinstall steam, you can do so without losing any data.
Save A Copy Of The Games On Your Computer.
Another way to save your progress is by creating a copy of your games on your computer. This way, you can copy and paste the files back to the steam folder after reinstalling it.
On Windows
If you’re using Windows, then follow these steps:
Steps:
- First of all, go to this location: C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\
- Copy the folder of the game you want to backup.
- Paste it in any other location like Desktop or any other drive.
- That’s it! Now, you have a copy of your game progress which you can use to restore later.
On Mac
The process is a bit different for mac users. But don’t worry, it’s still pretty simple. Just follow these steps:
- Launch Steam on your Mac.
- Create a backup for your games and close the app.
- Go to the Finder and search for the Steam App.
- Right-click on the app and choose “Move to Bin.”
- Delete all the leftover files and folders from the Steam directory.
- From the Finder, choose “Go to Folder.”
- Enter Library/Application Support in the directory bar.
- Remove everything related to Steam from this folder and send it to the Bin.
And that’s it! Now you have successfully uninstalled Steam from your device completely, that too, without losing any data.
Uninstall And Reinstall Steam From Control Panel
Did you know that you can also uninstall and reinstall steam from the control panel? It’s way simpler than it sounds. Using Control Panel, you can completely remove steam and all its files from your system. Here’s how:
- Go to the start menu and search for “Control Panel.”
- Click on it to open.
- In the “Control Panel,” go to the “Programs” section.
- Under programs, you will see an option for “Uninstall a Program.” Click on it. This will open a list of all the programs installed on your system.
- Find Steam from the list and click on uninstall.
- Follow the instructions to remove steam from your device completely.
- Now, you can reinstall steam from the official website.
Personal Experience
I have been using Steam for almost a decade now, and I have never faced any problems with it. But there was one time when I had to uninstall and reinstall it due to some technical issues. As a result, I lost all my progress for all the games I was playing then. It was a huge setback for me, and it took weeks for me to get back to where I was.
But now, I know how to back up my progress, and I can do it without any hassle. In this blog post, I have shared the methods I use to backup my games.
I hope this helps you too!
Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs)
Have some more questions? Here’s a list of some frequently asked questions that might help you:
Q. Will I lose my progress if I uninstall and reinstall steam?
A. Yes, you will lose your progress if you uninstall and reinstall steam. However, there are ways to back up your progress so that you can restore it later.
Q. How do I backup my progress on steam?
A. You can use Steam’s “Restore and Backup” feature to backup your progress. Alternatively, you can also save a copy of your games on your computer.
Q. Can I reinstall games on steam?
A. Yes, you can reinstall games on steam. You can do this by going to your Steam library and clicking on the “Install” button for the game you want to install.
Q. How do I uninstall steam?
A. You can uninstall steam from your computer using the Control Panel. Alternatively, you can also delete the Steam folder from your computer.
Conclusion
Uninstalling and reinstalling steam is not as complicated as it seems. Following the methods mentioned in this blog post can easily do it without losing any data.
I hope this blog post was helpful for you. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment below!
