Steam – What Happens if a Game is Installed to a Removable Drive?

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What happens if you install a game to an external drive and then remove it? Does the game just not work if you try to start it? Does it get "uninstalled" according to Steam? Does Steam have serious problems? What if you plug it back in later? Does it work easily, or does it take a lot of work?

Best Answer

Short Answer

  1. Install game on external
  2. Unplug external > error (missing executable)
  3. Plug in external > game works
  4. Unplug external and restart Steam > game offers & requires installation
  5. Plug in external > game offers & requires installation
  6. Restart Steam > game works

Installing to the same directory when it offers & requires installation detects the game and the game will work.

Answer in Greater Detail

I installed VVVVVV on an external hard drive. The game played fine. I unplugged the drive and got this error:

Steam Error - Failed to start game (missing executable).

(Unionhawk's image)

I plugged the external drive in again and the game worked fine again.

Then, I unplugged the external drive and restarted Steam. The game was listed as uninstalled. After plugging in the external drive, the game remained as uninstalled, and launching it would prompt installation (in addition to creating a new Steam library on the external drive). Installing to the same directory at this point immediately installs the game and it starts working again.

Restarting Steam also detected the game again and it played fine.

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