Steam – How to install a Steam game I bought at retail from the disc

call-of-duty-modern-warfare-3pcsteamtechnical-issues

I bought Modern Warfare 3 at retail, and after putting disc 1 in it installs Steam then asks for the CD key. After that it then starts downloading the game via Steam.

I have the disc but it refuses to install the game from it. There is no other .exe for the installation besides the Steam setup.exe.

How do I install the game from the disks?

I have a slow line and a limited download cap, so I cant afford to download the entire game.

Best Answer

I had the same problem, and I really have no idea why it happens or how to fix it. I have, however, found a workaround. I tend to just do this from the get-go instead of actually using the setup, because of weird issues like this.

  1. Don't run the disc setup; instead, activate your CD key manually, and abort the actual installation process.
  2. Open the backup window (Steam → Backup and Restore Games…).
  3. Select Restore a previous backup.
  4. Browse to the drive letter of the installation disc.
  5. Steam should tell you that it found a backup of Modern Warfare 3. Click next.
  6. The game will install from disc.

This has worked for me with MW3 specifically, and other games.

Note that you can't entirely avoid downloading it; you'll still have to download the latest patches to bring your game up to date.

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