How to Fix Steam Content File Locked Error on Windows PC

This post may help you fix the Steam Content File Locked error on Windows PC. You may encounter this error message with one or more than one Steam game. When this error occurs, you will not be able to play the game(s) because Steam cannot read the data from or write the data on files stored on your computer’s hard drive.

Fix Steam Content File Locked Error

Fix Steam Content File Locked error

If you encounter this error on your system, the following solutions may help you fix the issue:

Run Steam as an administrator.
Delete the locked file.
Verify the Integrity of the game files.
Run the chkdsk command.
Reinstall Steam.

Let’s have a detailed look at these troubleshooting methods.

1] Run Steam as an administrator

Because this error may be associated with permissions, running the Steam app as an administrator may fix it. For this, right-click on the Steam shortcut on the Desktop and select Run as administrator. If this works for you, you can change the Steam properties so that it will run as administrator every time you launch it.

run steam as an administrator

The steps for the same are listed below:

Right-click on the Steam shortcut on the Desktop and select Properties.
Now, in the Properties window, click on the Compatibility tab.
Enable the checkbox that says Run this program as an administrator.
After that, click Apply and then OK to save the changes.

2] Delete the locked file

If running Steam as an administrator does not work, you can try to delete the locked file in the game directory. Place your mouse cursor over the “Content File Locked” error message to know which game file is locked. When you hover your mouse cursor, Steam will display the name of the locked file. After deleting the locked file, Steam will automatically create the deleted file in the download directory.

3] Verify the Integrity of the game files

According to the feedback of some affected users, verifying the integrity of the game files fixed the issue. You can also try this method.

The procedure to verify the Steam game files Integrity is listed below:

Launch Steam.
In the games library, go to “Manage > Properties.”
Now, click on the Local Files tab.
Click on the Verify integrity of game button.

Steam will take some time to verify the game files. After the process is completed, update the game that was throwing the “Content File Locked” error and see if it fixes the issue.

4] Run the chkdsk command

According to the feedback given by some users, one of the causes of the issue is the corrupted game files or some errors on your hard drive. In such a condition, running the chkdsk command may help you fix the issue. CHKDSK is a utility developed by Microsoft Corporation that detects and fixes disk corruption.

5] Reinstall Steam

If none of the above-listed methods fix your issue, uninstall the Steam from the Control Panel and then reinstall it.

Hope this helps.

How do I fix Steam download errors?

You may experience download, update, or installation errors on Steam. The error messages that Steam displays are:

An error occurred while installing [name of the game]

An error occurred while updating [name of the game]

Most of the time, restarting the device fixes the error. But if restart does not work, you should try some other troubleshooting methods to fix the error:

Go to “Steam > Settings > Downloads > Clear Download Cache.” This will delete the download cache and may fix the error.
Repair the library folder: You can also try repairing the library folder. Maybe this will work for you. To do so, open the Steam app and go to “Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders.” Now, right-click on the folder and then select Repair Folder.
Change the download region: Sometimes, Steam displays errors due to server errors in a particular country. This may be the cause of your problem. Such types of errors are fixed automatically when the server error is fixed. In such a case you can wait for some time or change the download region. To do this, go to “Steam > Settings > Downloads > Download Region.”
Verify the Integrity of the game files. We have explained the procedure to do this above in this article.
Reinstall Steam.

Why is my game stuck on unpacking on Steam?

There could be many reasons for which a user encounters that the game has stuck on unpacking. For example, the slow internet speed, slow hard drive data transfer speed, etc. If you experience this issue, you can solve it with a simple fix.

Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps location or wherever you have installed the Steam. There you will find a folder named depotcache. Open that folder and delete all the files inside it. Now, restart Steam. This should fix the issue.