My sibling, who’s not too familiar with computers, tried to make the .local folder easier to find by moving it. This has led to all our games seeming uninstalled on our Steam Deck, with most of the storage now showing as ‘non-steam’ games. I’m not super knowledgeable about Linux either, and I’m trying to avoid a factory reset as it’s the last thing I want to do. Any ideas on how to fix this mess? I’m still sifting through the files to assess the situation. Can this be undone, and if so, how should I go about it?
2 Answers
Since they moved the folder, the Deck’s storage is reading most of it as ‘non-steam games,’ which means it’s misinterpreting everything. Finding out where that folder went is crucial. You might end up having to go through each directory carefully. If they don’t remember, just comb through the system until you find it. If the system’s complaining about not having space, you might have to delete or uninstall some things to move the folder back successfully.
First off, have your sibling try to remember which folder they moved things to, that might help track it down. Once you find the misplaced .local folder, you’ll want to move it back to the original spot. When you do this, it’ll likely prompt you to overwrite things. Just agree to overwrite, as the system’s probably created a new, empty .local folder. When you’re done, restart the Steam Deck. With any luck, it’ll bring everything back to normal.
