For gamers, Steam is the go-to spot for buying and storing games digitally. It’s the juggernaut of the gaming world, with very few contenders standing up against the might of Valve and its seasoned offering in Steam. Between Steam sales, longevity, and reliability, Steam is a mainstay and one that most people greatly appreciate.
However, that doesn’t mean it’s a flawless service, and nothing makes that more obvious than its key issue where installed games sometimes disappear or go missing from your Steam client library on PC. Despite the fact, you’ve already had the game paid for and installed, it will be missing from the list of installed games, and no matter how much you search you can’t find it. Sometimes Steam is not recognizing the installed game. It’s a surprisingly common Steam issue, and understandingly frustrating to deal with. So, how do we fix it?
How to Troubleshoot & Fix Installed Steam Games Gone Missing or Not Showing up in the Game Library
Today, we’re going to be running through a couple of simple fixes and troubleshooting methods that will hopefully help you alleviate this disappearing or missing game issue for installed games on the Steam app. The solutions are mainly quite simple, without needing too much technical know-how to make things work.
With some effort, things should be back and start showing up and working as usual in no time, so let’s get right into some possible solutions.
Solution 1: Start Steam as an Administrator
- Right-click your Steam client on the desktop.
- Select ‘Start as Admin’.
- Wait for Steam to launch.
- Check and see if the game has returned to the library.
Solution 2: Unhide the Game on your Steam Client
- Open Steam.
- At the top left of the window, highlight ‘View’.
- Select ‘Hidden Games’.
- Check Library for the game.
Solution 3: Check Steam Filter Settings
- Open Steam.
- Go to Library.
- On the left, next to ‘GAMES AND SOFTWARE’, unmark ‘Show only ready to play games’.
- Check Library for the game.
Solution 4: Correct Default Steam Install Folder
- Open Steam.
- Open the Steam Settings menu.
- Select Downloads.
- Click on Steam library folders
- Click on ‘Add Library Folder’.
- Select the default install folder where your game is.
- Check if a game has appeared in the library.
Conclusion
After following all these steps, you should find your game back in the Steam library where it belongs. Steam itself can often have issues that can be solved simply by restarting the client, but for this issue, our guide should clear everything up.
We hope we managed to help you make your games return to your Steam library, and stay tuned for more tips and fixes.
