How to Fix Steam Content File Locked Error? 2 min Read.

Hi all! Looking for a fix for the Steam content file locked’ error? Here are a few solutions that can help to play uninterrupted!

Video games have been appending to the entertainment industry since 1972 when Pong, the first-ever video game was launched in an arcade machine. This aflame the craze of video games, which in no time took over the youth across the globe. Sighting the ever-widening scope of the gaming industry, various companies came forward to distribute and promote video games. Atari games became the first among those companies and distributed.

So far the market has more than 11 Lakh Video Games available for game enthusiasts across the world. 

That’s indeed a huge number!

The modern games which once could be played only on arcade machines can now be played on various devices –home video game consoles and desktop PCs being the two most common devices. This made companies shift to the Internet for the distribution and promotion purposes of video games, giving rise to the first-ever Digital Distribution Platform- STEAM.

What is the “Steam content file locked.” error?

• The “Steam content file locked” error generally occurs when the user is trying to update the games. This means that the files cannot be written to the hard drive by Steam.
• This error will not allow the user to play the current version of any game distributed by Steam. This is indeed a considerable problem that needs to be solved to continue playing.
• One of the major reasons behind this error is corrupt files. 
• Opting for Beta for Steam distributed games could cause this error.

Now that we know about the “Steam content file locked” error, it becomes important to check various methods of how to fix content file locked on steam. Troubleshooting might prove to be a tedious task if you’re not aware of the step by step procedure. Before you proceed you can check similar steam issues like “How to Fix Steam Not Connecting Issue” which are very frequent in occurrence.

We’ll be discussing 5 methods using which we can easily get rid of this error and get all the answers to How to fix content file locked on steam?

How to fix the “Steam content file locked” error?

The following are the ways using which you can resolve the content file locked steam error.

 Let’s check them out!

Run Steam as Administrator

To bypass the “Steam content file locked “ error, run Steam as admin.

• Right-click on the Taskbar and select Task  Manager from the following menu to shut-down Steam

• Go to Steam Client Bootstrapper process, click on it and select “End Task”

• Right-click the Steam icon on your system’s desktop/taskbar( as the case may be)
• Select Run as Administrator. Steam would download and install the update

This would remove the error and you can now enjoy playing the video games again without any interruption.

• Reset Winsock

Follow these steps to reset the Winsock and resolve the “Steam content file locked” error.

• Press Windows+R or type Run in Windows search box and press enter to open the Run window on your system.

• Type netsh winsock reset in the Run window and click OK

• Once done, Restart your PC. 

The problem must be resolved and the “Steam content file locked” error pop up shall no longer prevail. 

Change Steam and game files location

• Go to Steam Clients> Settings
• Click Downloads. From the select Steam Library Folders
• Select the new library for Steam from Add Library Folder and then close Steam Client.

• Go to the default location of Steam Directory-  C:\Program Files\Steam
• Except for UserData and SteamApp folders delete the exe and all other files.
• Move these files to the location you mentioned in Step 3.
• Open and log into Steam Again.

If still the error is not removed, follow these steps:

• Close Steam and go to new steam Location
• Move the SteamApps folders to your desktop from the directory
• Uninstall Steam. Install it Again to the new location.
• Move the SteamApps folder in the Steam directory.
• Open Steam and Login again.

You can even make the Steam files move automatically:

• Right-click on the game.
• Go to Properties>Local Files>Move Install Folder  as shown below.

• Browse to the new location. 
• Select the new location.

By following the above steps, you can remove the “Content file locked” error.

Opt-out of Beta

• Boot up Steam.
• Click Library from the options running horizontally across the top of the client
• Select Properties by right-clicking on the error causing game from the list of games on the left side of your system’s window.

• Navigate BETA ‘s tab
• Click “Select the beta you would like to opt into” from the drop-down menu. And then select ‘’NONE – Opt-out of all beta programs’’. 
• Try to run an update for the game.

Clear Download Cache

 If you’re a frequent computer user, your PC’s history and Cache get jammed. This could result in the “Steam content file locked” error.

To clear download cache:

• Boot up the Steam.
• Navigate to the “View” option in the client Window.

• Go to Settings.
• Select Downloads from the list on the left-hand side of your screen.

• Click on the  Clear Download Cache option and click OK.

• Update or install Steam.

Note– Antivirus software might mistake Steam as malware or threat and hence try to delete it immediately resulting in this error. Therefore you can try resolving the  “steam download paused content file locked”  error by Adding Steam as an exception to your Antivirus before you update Steam.

There you go!

These are 5 incredibly easy methods using which you can solve the “Steam content file locked” error and continue playing video games on your system without any further intervention.