How to Add a New Steam Library Folder [Latest Guide 2024]

You are running out of space on your drive, or your present drive performance is poor, and now you are worried about adding a new steam library folder.

Did I guess your problem? Thumbs up, if I can.

You have come to the right place to ease your worries.

As a gamer and tech specialist, I will show you the best way of adding a new steam library folder on your default Steam drive or another drive.

So, keep reading and follow my instructions.

Why Add A New Steam Library Folder?

Also, you may need to move your steam games from one hard drive to another hard drive on your computer for technical issues like performance.

In these cases, you need to add and configure a new steam library folder on your other hard drive to install or save or transfer your games.

How To Add A New Steam Library Folder

Adding a new steam library folder in your game drive or another drive is not a big deal. You can create or add a new steam library folder following some simple steps.

So, why late? Let’s get started.

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Here are the steps to add a new steam library folder on your PC:

1. Click Steam in the top-left corner of the main window.
2. Select Settings in the drop-down menu to open your steam settings.
3. Select and open the Downloads tab.
4. Click Steam Library Folders at the top of the right side window.
5. Click Add Library Folder in the bottom-left corner of the Steam Library Folders window to add or create a new Steam library folder.
6. Choose your new drive or the new location where you want to save Steam games.
7. Click the New Folder button in the bottom-left corner if needed
8. Enter a folder or directory name what you like and click Ok.
9. Choose the folder for your Steam games, then click Select in the bottom-right corner.

In the Steam Library Folders window, you will see a new location. When you install a game or move the install directory of an already installed game, you will choose it as an install location.

Select your new library folders in the Steam Library Folders window and make the default installation by right-clicking on the folder.

But before that, go through our epic guide on Stream Origin Games Over Steam.

How To Fix Failed To Add New Steam Library Folder

When you try to install a game on the Steam library or a new Steam library on a different drive, Steam displays the error Failed to add a new steam library folder, and the installation process fails.

This issue occurred for some critical reasons like your applications are currently busy with other work processes. Also, this issue occurs when the Steam client is currently downloading a new game or updating a game.

When your game application performs other tasks, sometimes it conflicts with creating the new Steam library and shows this error.

To solve this error, you can try restarting your PC first because a restart can solve many critical issues on the PC. Restarting your system works like magic.

You can stop or pause any downloads or updates on your steam that is currently running. It can be the cause of these issues. After stopping or pausing the download or update, you can try to add your new Steam library folder again.

I hope these solutions help you to fix your issue.

How To Create New Steam Library On Another Drive

In Steam, you can create or add a new steam library on another drive at any time. Sometimes, gamers are needed to add a new steam library on another drive because of running out of drive space.

Another reason could be slower drive performance. When your drive performance is slower than regular performance, you need to add a new steam library on another drive.

Let’s see how to add a new steam library on another drive.

Follow these steps to add a new steam library on other drives:

1. Open Steam on your computer.
2. Click Steam in the top-left corner and select Settings in the drop-down menu to open your steam settings.
3. Select the Downloads tab and click Steam Library Folders at the top of the right side window.
4. Click Add Library Folder in the bottom-left corner of the Steam Library Folders window to add or create a new Steam library folder.
5. Choose your new drive where you want to save or install your Steam games by clicking the drive drop-down menu.
6. Click the New Folder button in the bottom-left corner, choose and choose a folder or directory name, and click Ok.
7. Choose the drive and folder for your Steam games, then click Select in the bottom-right corner.
8. The selected drive and the folder will now display in the Steam Library Folders window.

You can make your new drive a default installation location after displaying the new drive in the Steam Library Folders window. Right-click it in the Steam Library Folder window and select Make Default Folder.

You may now choose which library to install a Steam game in by selecting the drop-down menu under Choose location for install when installing a game.

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How To Add Steam Library Folder On Same Drive

Adding a steam library folder on the same drive is a bit tricky process. But, you can create or add another steam library folder on the same drive.

When you add another steam library folder on the same drive Selected drive already has a Steam library folder; this error message is shown.

But, this error message is shown because your current steam client is limited to one library per partition. To add a new steam library on the same drive, you need to edit the libraryfolders.vdf file and add commands.

Do not worry. Now I will show you how to solve this error and add a steam library folder on the same drive.

Follow the step below to add steam library folder on the same drive:

1. Create a steam library folder with a unique name.
2. Close your Steam.
3. Open the Steam folder on your drive where you installed it.
4. Select the steamapps folder and open it.
5. Open libraryfolders.vdf file with Notepad++ or WordPad to not mess with formation.
6. Enter “2”  “Paste here your new library folder location” this code into the file before the last curly or second bracket.
7. Save and close the file.
8. Open Steam again and click Steam in the top-left corner.
9. Select Settings in the drop-down menu to open your steam settings.
10. Select the Downloads tab.
11. Click Steam Library Folders at the top of the right side window, and here you can see the list of your library folders.
12. Select your new library folders and make the default folder by right-clicking on the folder.

Example:

“2”  “C:\\Games Data (C)\\SteamLibrary (C)”

Explanation of code

Here, into the first double quotation 2 means the second library folder in Steam. When you installed Steam, it created the first library folder, which is the default folder.

Into the second quotation, C:\\Games Data (C)\\SteamLibrary (C) code indicates the location or path of the new Steam library folder. Here you enter your new Steam library folder path.

Note: Don’t forget to add the double quotation (“”) and the double slash (\\) after each folder. Also, do not add extra code.

Also check our exclusive tutorial on how to disable shader pre-caching in Steam.

How To Move Steam Games To Another Drive

In steam, you can pick different library folders to install games when you download them from Steams. Now, you can move your games from one drive to another drive without re-downloading the games.

If your hard drive space is running out or performing and you want to move your games file to another drive, you can move your games file.

Steam has a moving feature to move your game files from one drive to another drive. You do not need to reinstall or redownload the games. It saves you a lot of valuable time.

You need to create a second steam library folder on another drive to move steam games to another drive. To create a steam library folder on another drive, follow my earlier section, How To Create New Steam Library On Another Drive.

Follow the steps to move steam games to another drive:

1. Create a second steam library folder on another drive.
2. Open your Steam client account.
3. Click Library to show your game list.
4. Choose your game and select Properties by right-clicking on the game you want to move.
5. Select Local Files on the left-side properties menu window.
6. Click on the Move install folder to open the new Move Install Folder window.
7. Select your new Steam library drive and click Move Folder.

Now, you can see your game files start moving.  So, you need to wait a while to finish moving the files. To finish the files moving process time depends on your system performance and game files size.

Final Thoughts

To add a new Steam library folder on the same drive or another drive is a simple process. You can move your game files from one drive to another drive without losing your valuable time. You do not need to re-download or reinstall your game.

In this post, I describe adding a new Steam library folder on the same drive and another drive. Also, describe how you fixed the error when adding the Steam library folder on the same drive and fixed failed to add a new steam library folder error.

I hope you find this post helpful. Feel free to share your experience with your friends and other readers.