[Storage] - Steam is unable to repair a library with a missing "steamapps" folder.

[ZereoX]

Your system information

• Steam client version (build number or date): 1733265492 (Stable) / 1734391190 (Beta)
• Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): SteamOS 3.6.20 / 3.7.0 (Deck) and Manjaro w/ Gnome 46 (Desktop)
• Opted into Steam client beta?: Yes. Issue is present on both Stable and Beta
• Have you checked for system updates?: Yes
• Steam Logs: steam-logs.tar.gz
• GPU: AMD Van Gogh RDNA 2.0 (Steam Deck) and RX 7800XT (Desktop)

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

If an external storage device (USB, External HDD, MicroSD) which contains a valid Steam library is emptied by deleting the steamapps folder, Steam will throw a disk write error when attempting to install something to it. The Repair Library option will also fail to re-create the steamapps folder leaving the user with an unusable library.

If a title is still actively linked to that Steam library, pressing Play will fail to launch the game but will re-create the appmanifest_<APPID>.acf. This will cause the parent directory (in this case the steamapps folder) to be re-created but otherwise the user will have to reformat the drive to recover the library.

Steam Deck	Desktop

content_log.txt:

[2024-12-17 08:46:08] Library folder "/run/media/deck/SL64G/steamapps" is not writable (Disk write failure).
[2024-12-17 08:46:08] Failed installing AppID 2357570 (Disk write failure)

Steps for reproducing this issue:

Steam Deck

1. Insert a MicroSD into the Steam Deck (if not already formatted, navigate to Steam > Settings > Storage and format it).
2. On the Devkit Management Tool, select the target device and press Remote Shell.
3. Run rm -rf /run/media/<STORAGE_DEVICE>/steamapps/ (replacing <STORAGE_DEVICE> with the label of your particular storage device).
4. On your Steam Deck, navigate to any uninstalled title and attempting to install it to the MicroSD.

Reproduction Rate: 5/5

Affected Platforms

• LCD / Jupiter: Yes
• OLED / Galileo: Yes
• Desktop Deck-like session (gamescope -e -- steam -gamepadui -steamdeck): Yes
• Desktop: Yes

Actual result

• User is unable to install a title and must reformat the drive.

Expected result

• Steam should regenerate the steamapps folder if its missing when using the Repair Library option or when a library is selected as install location.