Epic’s launcher only lets you move Fortnite by uninstalling and redownloading it. Here’s how to move Fortnite to another folder or copy it to another PC, without the 32GB download.
Back up your Fortnite folder
First, you will need to create a backup copy of your Fortnite folder. Fornite installs to C:Program FilesEpic GamesFortnite by default, so you’ll likely find it there. Navigate to this folder in an Explorer window.
Right-click on the “Fortnite” folder and select “Copy” to copy it to your clipboard.
Paste a copy of the Fortnite folder to another location. For example, if you plan to move Fortnite from your C: drive to your D: drive, you might want to paste it to your D: drive. If you plan to move Fortnite from one PC to another, paste the Fortnite folder to an external USB drive.
Do not immediately copy the Fortnite folder to the desired location. For example, if you want to install Fortnite on D:Epic Games Fortnite, don’t immediately copy the folder there. Instead, consider copying it to D: Temporary Fortnite for now.
Wait for the file copy process to complete before continuing.
Uninstall Fortnite
With your backup copy of Fortnite files safely stored in another location, you can now uninstall Fortnite from its original location.
This step is only necessary if you want to remove Fortnite from its current location, for example, if you want to move Fortnite to another drive on your PC. If you just want to copy the Fortnite installation files to another PC, you can skip this step.
To uninstall Fortnite from your PC, open the Epic Games Launcher app. Select your library in the left pane, click the settings gear on the Fortnite tile and select “Uninstall”.
Click “Uninstall” to confirm. This will delete the Fortnite files from their original location.
Start installing Fortnite on the new location
Then you will start a normal Fortnite installation. In the Epic Games Launcher app, select your library and click the “Install” button for Fortnite.
If you move Fortnite to a new PC, download and install Epic Games Launcher, log in with your user account, then start installing Fortnite.
Select the desired installation location and click “Install”. For example, if you want to move Fortnite to D: Epic Games Fortnite, select that location. If you just want to install Fortnite to its normal C: drive location on a new PC, leave the default option selected.
You need to select an empty folder here. If you try to point the launcher to an existing Fortnite folder, you will see an error message.
Cancel download and close launcher
The Epic Games Launcher will start downloading Fortnite. Wait for the “initialization” process to complete. When the “Installation” text appears, click the “X” under Fortnite to cancel the download.
Close the Epic Games Launcher window by clicking the “X” in the upper right corner of the window to continue.
Move your Fortnite save to the new download location
You now have a new, almost empty Fortnite folder in the new download location. For example, if you started installing Fortnite on D:Epic Games Fortnite, you have a folder there.
Move or copy the Fortnite save folder to the new root folder. In this example, we moved the Fortnite save folder to D: Epic Games. The contents of the old Fortnite folder merge with the contents of the new Fortnite folder.
If you are notified that there are files with the same name, click “Overwrite files in destination”. This will overwrite incomplete download files with files from your backup.
Restart the launcher and continue with the installation
You are almost done. Open the Epic Games launcher again and click on the “Resume” option under Fortnite.
The Epic Games launcher will scan the Fortnite directory, realize you already have the files, and not download them. The “Verifying” progress bar will slowly increase as the Epic Games Launcher verifies that all files are in place and not corrupted. This is not a download.
If any issues are found, the status will change to “Downloading” and the launcher will download replacements for any missing, outdated, or corrupted files.
Fortnite will now be installed in the new location, ready to play.
You can keep your saved Fortnite game files on an external USB drive and use this method to quickly install Fortnite on a new PC without a big download. The launcher will still need to download any updates released since you created the savegame, so you can update it frequently.
