We know how annoying it can be not to be able to update your game and being locked out of joining your gaming friends. Well, don’t worry as we have all the fixes for this error; keep reading! For starters, Steam is a platform designed for video game distribution back in 2003 by Valve Corporation. Initially, Steam worked as a platform to update the games automatically. However, it expanded to host the third-party publisher games as well. But, for quite some time, whenever a game updates, an error pops up (also shown in the image) named as “Steam Content File Locked.”
What Does Content File Locked Mean On Steam?
Let’s get to know what this error means. Steam Content File Locked error shows that the Steam is unable to write update files on the hard disk. Steam being unable to write on your hard drive, prohibits you from updating the latest version of games. It is a very common error and often termed as the most complex one too.
How To Fix Steam Content File Locked Issue?
This issue can be fixed with many solutions, the most effective being uninstalling the Steam along with all the local game content and reinstalling from scratch. Although being useful, this solution is pretty time-consuming, and it also requires a lot of data. Before jumping to uninstalling and reinstalling, here are a few tried and tested troubleshooting fixes that have worked for many users. Try the following fixes:
#1: Check Antivirus Installed On Your Computer
It is quite usual for your antivirus to term Steam files as viruses, and thus they quarantine them. Therefore, if file locked error pops up, this might be the case for you. Here are different ways to fix the error related to antivirus: McAfee Antivirus McAfee doesn’t allow you to exclude specific files from scanning. However, the only option left is to disable the antivirus entirely until the game is updated. To disable the McAfee, follow these steps:
Open McAfee. Select the option “Virus and Spyware Protection.” Locate the option “Real-Time Scanning,” click it and turn it off.
Now, further, follow the following steps to check the integrity of the game files: The Steam will verify the integrity (this might take a few minutes). Once it is done, update your game again to see if the error still pops up or not. If it still pops up, head over to the next section. ESET NOD32 ESET NOD32 does the same with the content files; it marks a few files as malicious and quarantines them, which further causes the steam content file locked error.
#2: Reset Winsock
Sometimes the culprit can be Winsock catalog that might be causing this error. We can run a command to reset it and roll it back to default settings. Here is how you can do it: Once the computer restarts, run Steam and try upgrading the games to check if the error is solved or not.
#3: Repair Corrupt Files
If the above-mentioned methods did not fix your error, try repairing the corrupted files. Firstly, you can troubleshoot which file is damaged or missing and try downloading it again.
#4: Relocate Steam Installation And Steam Files
Now, it might be time for you to consider relocating the installation files of the Steam. This process has two parts, firstly simply relocating the Steam, however, if an error occurs, then we have to reinstall the Steam over again. Here is the whole process, keep following the steps: If you face any issue or error while moving the location or after relaunching the Steam, follow these steps:
#5: Run Steam As Administrator
Sometimes upgrading a game requires the Steam to gain permission for the access of special files and folders. If it is not granted, then the upgrading process might get halted or blocked. Which, in turn, causes this error. Therefore, Steam might require you to run it as an administrator; here is how you can do it:
#6: Check Disk Scan
It is possible that some parts of the hard disk where the game installation is taking place is corrupted or faulty. If that is the case, the hard drive can’t be accessed. Therefore, a disk check can be run on your system to find out any bad sectors in your disk. Follow these steps to run a disk check:
#7: Restart Your Computer
Like all the other technology gadgets, just trying the off and on method might be useful here too. Sometimes your computer starts behaving weird for God knows what reason. It just needs a little pick me up by restarting it. Try rebooting your system for this error, as well. This might be the most straightforward method of all, but don’t worry about this works too!
