Prerequisites

1) Skyrim Anniversary Edition on Steam
2) Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10 (64bit).
3) 7-Zip or WinRAR
4) An account on Nexus Mods
5) Visual C++ x86 and x64 - MO2 requires this be up-to-date

• Create a folder named Skyrim Enhanced. 
• Place this folder in the root of your X drive*. 
• Inside the Skyrim Enhanced folder, create two more folders; Tools and Backup.
  

• Open Steam and go to your Library
  

• Find The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition  
  

• Right-click, select Manage, and finally Uninstall.
  

• Navigate to Documents/My Games/  and delete the Skyrim Special Edition folder
  

• Open Steam, and in the upper left-hand corner click Steam, then Settings.
• Click on Downloads
• Click STEAM LIBRARY FOLDER
• Click ADD LIBRARY FOLDER
• Select a location that is outside UAC protected folders, such as X:\Gaming\Steam
• Save and close all settings windows when finished
  

• Open your Steam Library
• Find The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition 
• Left-click and then select Install
• Uncheck both shortcut options in the installer (we will use MO2)
  

• Select X:\Gaming\Steam or keep the default if you skipped the previous steps
• Once the installation finishes, launch Skyrim Special Edition from Steam
• Allow the launcher to detect the best settings based on your hardware
• Click Play and allow the game to load to the main menu
  

• Close Skyrim Special Edition
  

• Right click on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition, select Properties
• Under GENERAL, uncheck Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game
• Click UPDATES
• Click the drop-down menu under AUTOMATIC UPDATES
• Click on Only update this game when I launch it 
• Close the settings menu
  

• Open X:\Gaming\Steam\steamapps\common
• Right-click on the Skyrim Special Edition folder
• Select 7-Zip, and add to archive
• Cut and paste the archive in X:\Skyrim Enhanced\Backup