[Windows 10] Can't find installed Steam games through Windows search anymore.

Get steamcmd from here It's an official commandlinetool from valve. Put it into your steamfolder. Now open Powershell (just type it into the searchbar and hit enter) Browse to your steam installation directory by entering

cd 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\' [enter]

(Adjust according to your installation dir)

now copy and paste the folowing into powershell and hit enter:

function executeSteamCmd {
Write-Host "Executing Steamcmd"
	if($PSScriptRoot){
		$myScriptRoot = "$PSScriptRoot\"
	}
	$arguments = @()
	for($i=0; $i -lt $args.count; $i++){
		for($j=0; $j -lt $args[$i].count; $j++){
			if($args[$i].GetType() -eq [String]){
				$arguments += $args[$i]
				break
			}
			$arguments += $args[$i][$j]
		}
	}
	#forcing the pipe to flush by spamming some useless output
	for($i=0; $i -lt 50; $i++){
		$arguments+="+app_info_print 0"
	}
	$arguments+="+quit"
	[string]$out= & (Get-Item "$($myScriptRoot)steamcmd.exe").FullName $arguments
	$out.subString(0, $out.IndexOf("AppID : 0,"))
}



function createShortcut{
	if($PSScriptRoot){
		$myScriptRoot = "$PSScriptRoot\"
	}
	
	Write-Host "creating Shortcut"
	$shell = New-Object -comObject WScript.Shell
	if(Test-Path "$Home\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Steam\$($args[0].Name).lnk"){
		Write-Host "skipping shortcut $Home\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Steam\$($args[0].Name).lnk (file already exists)"
		return
	}
	Write-Host "creating shortcut $Home\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Steam\$($args[0].Name).lnk"
	$lnk = $shell.CreateShortcut("$Home\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Steam\$($args[0].Name).lnk")
	$lnk.TargetPath = (Get-Item "$($myScriptRoot)steam.exe").FullName
	$lnk.Arguments = "-applaunch $($args[0].AppID)"
	if(Test-Path $args[0].Icon){
		$lnk.IconLocation = $args[0].Icon
	}else{
		$lnk.IconLocation = $args[0].Path
	}
	$lnk.Save()
}




	[Console]::OutputEncoding = [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8
	if($PSScriptRoot){
		$myScriptRoot = "$PSScriptRoot\"
	}
	Write-Host "start"
	if(-not (Test-Path "$Home\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Steam\")){
		mkdir "$Home\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Steam\"
	}
	$tmp = (executeSteamCmd "+apps_installed" | Select-String "AppID (\d*) : `"([^`"]*)`" : (.*?)  " -AllMatches).Matches
	$installed = @()
	for($i=0; $i -lt $tmp.count; $i++){
		$installed += (,@{"AppID" = $tmp[$i].Groups[1].value; "Name"=$tmp[$i].Groups[2].value.replace(":",""); "Path" = $tmp[$i].Groups[3].value; "Icon" = ""})
	}
	$arguments = $installed.AppID|%{"+app_info_print $_"}
	$tmp = ((executeSteamCmd $arguments[0..$arguments.count]) | Select-String "AppID : (\d*),.*?`"clienticon`"\s*`"([^`"]*)`".*?`"executable`"\s*`"([^`"]*?\.exe)`"" -AllMatches).Matches
	#"
	for($i=0; $i -lt $tmp.count; $i++){
		$installed[$installed.AppID.indexOf([string]($tmp[$i].Groups[1].value))].Path+="\$($tmp[$i].Groups[3].value)"
		$installed[$installed.AppID.indexOf([string]($tmp[$i].Groups[1].value))].Icon="$($(Get-Item "$($myScriptRoot)steam\games\").FullName)$($tmp[$i].Groups[2].value).ico"
	}
	for($i=0; $i -lt $installed.count; $i++){
		createShortcut $installed[$i]
	}

This creates reall shortcuts (.lnk) of all installed steam-games instead of .url files into your startmenu in a folder named steam. Those shortcuts can be found by the search, pinned as a tile and have the icons set according to the game they are for. The script does NOT overwrite any preexisting lnk files.

Note: steam uses ':' in game names. The script simply removes them, as they are not allowed in filenames. The script doesn't check for any other unallowed characters, it may fail for some games.

Note2: You can also save the script into a file into your steamdirectory with .ps1 extension and execute it via '.\scriptpath\scriptname'. You may need to execute 'Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned Process' before the script, to allow scriptexecution for the duration of the powershellsession.

[deleted]

Happens to me in 8.1. Might be a steam issue rather than a windows one.

I also have this problem, which is quite annoying since I want to place the game-shortcuts inside the startmenu. The old Win8 fix doesn't work, as you also mention. Any ideas?

Edit: Managed to get it to work - moving the shortcuts out of the Steam folder (\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Steam) and into the Programs folder seemed to do the trick - now they all show up.

I found the fix. (Alternative method to JQGGE)

I followed what JQGGE said and got to the shortcuts folder within (\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Steam) and noticed that the steam games were labelled as "Internet Shortcut" rather than the standard "Shortcut". What I did was, I just deleted the internet shortcuts and replaced them with an actual shortcut to the .exe files of the games within the Steam Directory. So now the games are still listed under Steam in the start menu but the search finally recognises them as "Desktop Apps"

Did you find a fix?

Bump! Worked fine for me in 8.1, broken after upgrade to 10. This is a problem as @SentoX mentioned...breaks workflow real bad

I've made a small change to the solution of u/Matzurai Put steamcmd to steam folder first. Get the modified script from here: http://pastebin.com/mwZFUH05 Save it as something.ps1 and execute it with powershell whenever you install something new.

I had to find an easy solution for myself the hard way.

Here's how it works.

• 1-Windows+S and search for an application that actually shows up in the results (In my case steam app showed up but my games didn't.)
• 2-Right click and select open file location.
• 3-Go one level up to the C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
• 4-Add a folder for your game (I added ıt as "Counter Strike")
• 5-Go to steam library and right click on your game and select add desktop shortcut.
• 6-Copy that shorcut to the folder you have just created.
• 7-Boom.

The problem with finding steamapp folder and creating a shortcut for that app in there is, steam's official shortcuts are not file paths but instead urls. Meaning it doesnt go the file path and open the app, but instead it tells steam app to open that game.

This worked for me, and I was searching all over the net to find this but couldn't. Hope it works for you too.

Why not use Jump Lists?

Right click on taskbar and go to properties. Find jump lists and set the number to something high like 20 or 25. The higher resolution your monitor is the more you can comfortably fit.

Add Steam icon to the taskbar.

Next go to Steam, launch or install a game. It will be added to recent on your Steam Jump List, right click on Steam in the taskbar and you will see a little pin beside any games, you can click it to permanently pin games to the jump list.

Problem solved :)