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Smite is a free-to-play third-person, multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game developed and published by Hi-Rez Studios for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One. In Smite, players control a god, goddess, or other mythological character and engage in team battles using their skills and tactics against other player-controlled gods and non-player-controlled minions.
After downloading the game to Steam, many users get a “Smite cannot find Steam installation” error when logging into the game. This IR Cache article discusses some effective troubleshooting techniques to resolve this problem.
Table of Contents:
What causes “SMITE cannot find Steam installation”?
The Hi-Rez service may not be working correctly, and you should consider uninstalling it manually. It will be reinstalled after running the game, and hopefully, the problem will be resolved.
The wrong installation directory is set for the game. After that, the launcher thinks the game is not installed at all. This can be fixed with the Hi-Rez troubleshooter.
How to resolve the `SMITE can’t find the Steam installation` problem?
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Updated: April 2025
Reinstall the game
- Press Win + R to open the launch window. Then type appwiz.cpl and press Enter.
- Right-click on Smite in the list of installed programs, then select Uninstall and follow the instructions on the screen to complete the uninstall.
- After uninstalling, download the game from the official site or from the Steam launcher and install it on your computer.
Reinstalling the Hi-Rez Service from the game folder
- Press Win + E to open File Explorer, then navigate to your game’s installation folder. The default path is usually C: Program Files (x86)SteamsteamappscommonSmite.
- In your game’s installation folder, go to the Binaries -> Redist folder.
- Find the file InstallHiRezService.exe in the Redist folder.
- If this service was already installed, uninstall it first. If not, double-click the executable file to install it.
- Restart the game after installation and check if the “Steam Smite can’t find the Hi-Rez installation” error persists.
Change the installation directory of the game
- Right-click on the Steam launcher and select Run as administrator.
- Click the “Library” tab, right-click on Smite in the list of games, and select “Play Game”.
- In the Smite launcher window, click on the gear icon in the lower-left corner to open the settings window.
- Click Troubleshoot and wait for the Hi-Rez Game Support Diagnostic Tool to launch.
- Select Smite from the list of installed games and change the game installation directory to the actual location where you installed Smite. For example, here we will use D: GamesHi-Rez StudiosHiRezGamessmite.
- Apply this change and see if the “Smite can’t find the Steam installation” error disappears.
Using the “Re-run Prerequisites” option
- Repeat steps 1 to 4 of the above troubleshooting to open the Hi-Rez Game Support Diagnostic Tool window.
- Click the Re-run Prerequisites button at the bottom of the window. You will then have to wait for some time for the process to complete.
- Once the process is complete, you can restart the game and see if the “Smite Steam can’t find the Hi-Rez installation” error occurs.
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