Follow these 5 easy steps to copy The Elder Scrolls Online to a new computer.
Say for a moment that you want to install The Elder Scrolls Online to a new computer or perhaps a gaming laptop that you want to take on the road. What do you do? You could spend hours installing the game from disk and downloading the latest patches and updates, or you could follow these 5 easy steps and be up and running in about 20 minutes.
How To Copy The Elder Scrolls Online
If you already have ESO installed, there’s no need to re-install the game on a new computer and go through the hassle of downloading updates. All you need to do is copy and paste the files you already have to your new computer’s hard drive.
Step 1: Getting Started
To copy The Elder Scrolls Online to a new computer, make sure that you have:
The latest version of the game installed on your primary computer.
An external drive with more than 63 GB of free space to copy the ESO files to.
Step 2: Locate The Folder
On most installations, The Elder Scrolls Online will be installed in a folder titled “Zenimax Online” located in Program Files (x86) on your C drive:
C: Drive> Program Files (x86)> Zenimax Online.
Note: if you initially installed ESO on a different drive in your gaming rig, you’ll need to follow the path for the correct drive letter (whatever that drive letter is).
Basically though, you’re looking for the Zenimax Online folder. This folder contains the game’s launcher and game client in two separate sub-folders titled “Launcher” and “The Elder Scrolls Online.”
Locate the Zenimax Online folder on your computer.
Step 3: Copy The Folder
Copy the Zenimax Online folder (containing the “Launcher” and “The Elder Scrolls Online” sub-folders) by dragging it to your external drive.
The Elder Scrolls Online is a large game, and it should take about 10 minutes or so to copy.
Step 4: Paste The Folder
Paste the copied Zenimax Online folder from your external hard drive to your new computer. Make sure the folder is dragged and pasted to Program Files (x86).
Copy and paste the Zenimax Online folder to your new computer.
Step 5: Launch The Game
To launch the game on your new computer, find the application titled “Bethesda.net_Launcher.” This application resides in the “Launcher Folder.”
C: Drive> Program Files (x86)> Zenimax Online> Launcher> Bethesda.net_Launcher
Run the application, and the game will start right up.
Congratulations! You just learned how to copy The Elder Scrolls Online to a new computer in 5 easy steps.
Double-click to run the ESO launcher application.
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Shane Scarbrough
Shane Scarbrough is the founder of the Skyrim Fansite. He's a business owner, video game journalist, and role playing game aficionado. When he's not working he enjoys reading, writing, and playing video games. He's currently on his third playthrough of Skyrim, and is playing as a Templar in The Elder Scrolls Online. You can find Shane on Google+ and FaceBook.
Good info only thing to remember is you have to run the launcher as admin or the launcher will throw an error 201 manifest fail. Also, in my case this was a new install of windows 7 with a dx 12 graphics card so the system threw a d3dx9_43.dll file missing error. Easy fix by making sure to install the dx runtime from Microsoft.
cool, I was wondering about this, and would I need to copy the live folder as well which is usually in c:/’Users’/’Name’/my documents/elder scrolls online/live ?
wouldnt the game need some type of installation credentials in the registry as well as this live folder or would it automatically handle these?
Thanks for your comment and question Jimbo. You bring up a very good point. Assuming you don’t have a prior version of ESO installed on the second computer, I believe you’re correct.
Alexw
7 years ago
Hey when I try to do this eso000.dat files don’t want to transfer?? Any fix?
Ivan
3 years ago
Just tried this today on a fresh Windows 10 install. Did not work. Ran launcher as admin and pc went unresponsive. Had to re-install the game. What a pain.
Brett
2 years ago
OMG thank you so much!!
Randy Marsh
8 years ago
thank you for that shane, and thanks for the site! keep up the good work 🙂
4
Good info only thing to remember is you have to run the launcher as admin or the launcher will throw an error 201 manifest fail. Also, in my case this was a new install of windows 7 with a dx 12 graphics card so the system threw a d3dx9_43.dll file missing error. Easy fix by making sure to install the dx runtime from Microsoft.
Thanks RadoGamer — excellent points.
cool, I was wondering about this, and would I need to copy the live folder as well which is usually in c:/’Users’/’Name’/my documents/elder scrolls online/live ?
wouldnt the game need some type of installation credentials in the registry as well as this live folder or would it automatically handle these?
Thanks for your comment and question Jimbo. You bring up a very good point. Assuming you don’t have a prior version of ESO installed on the second computer, I believe you’re correct.
Hey when I try to do this eso000.dat files don’t want to transfer?? Any fix?
Just tried this today on a fresh Windows 10 install. Did not work. Ran launcher as admin and pc went unresponsive. Had to re-install the game. What a pain.
OMG thank you so much!!
thank you for that shane, and thanks for the site! keep up the good work 🙂
4
Thanks for the words of encouragement, Randy. Greatly appreciate it!