How to Change Install Location on Epic Games

Posted on October 13, 2022

Do you need to free up space for games on Epic Games? You can always install games to a spare or external drive. This guide will explain how.

Epic Games is a platform for gaming on PC that offers something for everyone. Big budget masterpieces or small indie classics are all available for you to enjoy—if you’ve got the space.

If you’re running out of disk space, you might want to consider installing your games in a different location, such as an external hard drive. Thanks to the Epic Games launcher, you can change the installation location for games you want to play.

If you’re unsure how to change the install location on Epic Games, follow the steps below.

How to Change Install Location on Epic Games

You can change the installation location for games on Epic Games before you install it. As the Epic Games launcher looks the same on both PC and Mac, the steps for this should be the same on both platforms.

To change installation location on Epic Games:

Open the Epic Games launcher and sign in (if you aren’t already).
In the launcher, select Library on the left.
Locate the game you want to install in your game library.
Select the Install button on any game you want to install.
In the pop-up, accept the terms and conditions for installing the game.
In the Choose install location menu, select where you want to install the game by pressing Browse.
Once you’ve moved the game installation directory to another location, press the Install button.
Allow time for the game installation to complete.

Once the game is installed, you’ll be able to play it via the launcher or by launching it directly. The game will be installed in the location you specified.

How to Move Installed Games on Epic Games

You can also move games that you’ve installed in Epic Games to another location. You might want to do this if you’ve run out of space on your primary hard drive, for instance.

We’d recommend only moving games to a location where the game won’t run at a lower speed. For example, moving the game to an external hard drive will cause load times to increase, due to the reduced read/write speeds.

These steps will only work for Windows users.

To move an installed game on Epic Games:

Locate the game’s installation folder in File Explorer.
Copy the installation folder in its entirety to another location.
Once you’ve copied the installation folder to a new location, open the Epic Games launcher and sign in (if required).
Select Library on the left.
Locate your game in the list, right-click it, and select Uninstall. This will delete the original game installation folder (but not the copy).
Once the game is removed, select the Install button to begin installing it again.
At the Choose install location menu, select a new and final location for the game files (but not the same folder as the copied files from earlier).
Allow the installation to reach a few percentage points (eg. 5%). Once it has, right-click the game in the Library tab and press Cancel install.
At this point, move your game’s installation files (copied from earlier) to the new location for the game files.
Return to the Epic Games launcher and press the Resume button.
The Epic Games launcher will detect the game files you copied and verify their integrity. If prompted, press Replace to replace any game files that require it.
Allow time for the verification process to complete.
Once the game has been verified, Epic Games will allow you to begin playing it, so press Launch to do so.

Making the Most of the Epic Games Library

Thanks to Epic Games, you don’t need to fill up your main hard drive with huge games. Similar to Steam, you can change the install location on Epic Games to use a second drive or an external one. If you run out of space, you can also move installed games to another location.

With space freed up, you can start to make the most of your Epic Games library. If you want to keep your gameplay secret, you can appear offline on Epic Games. If the platform isn’t for you, you could also consider uninstalling the Epic Games launcher (but you’ll need to remove any games that require it, too).

Want to try a different platform? You can always set up a wishlist on Steam and ask your friends and family to gift you some new games to play instead.