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Well, well, one day you wake up, you turn on your computer, you open your browser and you see an update of the Steam game, but you can’t update it because some stupid bug has locked the Steam content file. Annoying, huh?

I’ll show you the different ways to deal with the problem.

But why don’t you explain to the newcomers to the Steam games what Steam really is?

When you first hear about Steam, it’s a digital distribution platform for video games that was launched in 2003 (in September, to be precise). This distribution platform has been developed by Valve Corporation and its primary goal is to provide automatic updates for steam games. Thanks to the founders for including the third party game updates today.

Because we offer such a great platform for players, it can sometimes become difficult to update a game. It has become such a plague that when users update their steam game, they encounter a steam game error.

Wrong about something like this: An error has occurred while updating [the game] (the content file is locked).

What does content lock on steam mean?

When a Steam content file lock error occurs, it means that the Steam service is unable to write update files to your hard drive, preventing you from playing the latest versions of their games.

Most users consider this error to be a complicated or confusing problem, but with the right approach you can solve the steam error quickly and without too many problems.

How do I repair a steam locked content file?

Being confronted with this error does not mean that it cannot be corrected, so keep your head down, because there may be many solutions to this error.

Some solutions are very effective, which is a total guarantee that the error will be corrected. Removing steam and all local game content, and then reinstalling it, has proven to be the most effective method. Although this method has worked for many users, it takes a lot of time and data that you might want to try.

However, I prefer to start with simple and quick solutions before resorting to the time-consuming measures mentioned above.

So let’s get started, but before we do that, make sure you make a recovery point in case something goes wrong.

Solution 1: Check the antivirus programs installed on PC.

Most of us only trust our computer if antivirus software is installed. However, the same anti-virus programs can also cause this steam error.

This may be hard to believe, but this is what’s going on: Antivirus programs are very smart and may therefore decide to mark steam files as a potential virus and quarantine them. If this happens, you will not be able to write the Steam game files to your hard disk.

So, what do you want to do?

In this situation, your only option is to turn off the antivirus until you can update your steam game.

The steps for disabling the various antivirus programs are different. However, you can temporarily disable most of them by following these steps.

The instructions in this fix are only for deactivating the anti-virus software, not for temporarily uninstalling the anti-virus software.

The following steps will help you disable anti-virus in Windows:

1. Click in the Windows notification area and find the icon of the antivirus program you are using.
2. When you see the antivirus icon, right-click the icon and select Disable, Stop or something similar. With some antivirus programs, you can open the program and then turn it off from the antivirus menu.

After disabling the antivirus, you should then check the integrity of the game files. Under the :

1. Restart your computer, then restart Steam.
2. Go to the LIBRARY section and right click on the game that caused you problems.
3. Select the Properties option and click on the Local files tab.
4. Then click the VERY INTEGRATED NOMINAL FILES button. Be patient for a while until Par tries one or two matches.
5. After checking the file integrity in Steam games, try to update Steam games and hopefully the content file locked in Steam will be repaired.

If this error has not yet been corrected, try the following solution and see if it is a viable solution.

Solution 2: Changing the location of steam and game files

If the above solution did not work for you, moving the steam installation and game files may help.

However, if the error persists even after changing the location of Steam files and games, we need to reinstall Steam. The whole process is outlined below.

Any interruption in the copying process can damage the files, forcing you to reinstall the client. So ensure a stable power supply and do not use cables to transfer files to your computer. It is advisable to close other running applications as well.

Here’s how:

Part

1. Open the steam client and click on Settings.
2. Click on Downloads and select Folders in your Steam Library.
3. Then choose ADD LOCK. It’s in the lower left corner.
4. Now choose a new location for Para.
5. After choosing your new location, close the Steam Client and navigate to your Steam Guide. (The default location is C:Program FilesSteam).
6. Locate and delete the exe and all files except the UserData and SteamApp folders.
7. Now move these files (UserData and SteamApp folders) to the new location specified in step 4.
8. Then start Steam, log in and check if you can update Steam games without any problems.

If the steam file locking error reoccurs, follow the steps listed in section 2 below:

Part 2:

Re-installing steam is the next thing to do if the above steps have not helped you out of this mess. Even if it’s a long process, it should take care of everything.

Like this,

1. Close your Steam account and then navigate to the folder or location where you moved the Steam service.
2. Move/cut the StyeamApp folder from this folder and paste it onto the desktop.
3. Uninstall Steam now to completely remove the old Steam settings from your PC.
4. Once the uninstallation is complete, reinstall Steam, but this time in the original location of your choice.
5. Then move the SteamApps folder you added on your desktop to a new Steam folder. Moving this folder is important because it copies all game content, saved games and settings and allows you to pick up where you left off.
6. Start/Open Steam and enter your login details.
7. Finally, check the integrity of the Steam game files using the check steps in solution 1, and now everything should work properly.

Solution 3: Winsock Reset

The Winsock directory appears to be another problem that can lead to the Steam content file locking error.

However, it is best to reset it to the default settings by executing the netsh winsock reset command.

You can follow the steps below to reset Winsock:

1. Press Windows + R on the keyboard to open the Run dialog box.
2. Type cmd in the text box and press Enter to open the command line terminal.
3. Click Yes to allow the administrator to perform a User Account Control (UAC) when prompted to do so.
4. Type netsh winsock reset in the CMD window and press Enter on your keyboard.
5. Restart the computer after successful execution of the command.

Try updating Steam games and see if the problem with the Steam content file has been solved.

Solution 4: Restoring damaged files

If you still have the same steam error, we can try to recover the game files. This will repair the corrupted or missing files that make steam games impossible to update.

Here are instructions that can help you recover damaged or missing Steam Game files:

1. Close all applications, including Steam, and navigate to the Steam directory (C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam).
2. Open the Logs folder and click the Txt button.
3. Scroll to the end of the text file and see if there are any current errors in the logbook of your device.

Here is an example of an error: 2017-04-12 12:47:31] [AppID 346110] Cancelled update : The file transfer failed: Uncompressed file C:Program Files (x86)Team Apps Workshop Contents346110570371714LinuxNoEditorNPCFemaleAssetsNudeNude_Human_Female_Body_D.uasset.z.uncompressed_size (disk write error) Kevin Arrows

The first number in the URL is your APPID, in this case (346110) is the AppID for ARK Survival Evolved.

1. Then navigate to the root folder. In my case it is according to the above error log 570371714. Please note that the main folders of the different games may be different.
2. Restart Steam and then navigate to the download folder.
3. Finally, click the Update option if there are updates to update the required files.
4. Restart the computer and check that the error has been corrected.

Solution 5: Disc control

If the game is installed on a hard drive that is damaged or contains damaged sectors, you will receive a Steam Content File Locked error message when you try to update.

Because if the hard drive has bad sectors, it will slow down. In addition, some parts of the hard disk are not accessible in this case.

Scanning the disk can help to check the disk for damaged sectors.

We look at two ways to scan a hard disk: via the command line and via the partitioning wizard. You can use both options because they both achieve the same goal.

Option 1: Scanning a volume from the command line

1. Press the Windows + R buttons simultaneously to open the Run dialog box.
2. Type cmd and press the Enter key.
3. Type chkdsk c: /f without the quotes in the command line terminal and press Enter to execute the command.
4. Press the Y button on the keypad to confirm the programming of a disc control.
5. Wait until the operation disc check is complete.
6. Restart the Steam Game and make sure that the content file locked by the Steam Error is saved.

Option 2: Scanning Hard Disk Drives with MiniTool Partition Wizard

Do you want to check if your hard disk contains bad sectors? e We recommend you to use the MiniTool Partition Wizard toolkit.

This tool is a universal partition manager that can detect bad sectors on a hard drive. You can use it for other tasks, for example. For example, to transfer the operating system from one hard drive to another without losing space, to scan space when your computer slows down, and many others.

[button color=blue size=large link=https://cdn2.minitool.com/?p=pw&e=pw-free icon=fa-download target=true nofollow=true] Download the free MiniTool Partition Wizard [/button].

Here you can learn how to control bad sectors on your hard disk with the MiniTool partitioning wizard :

1. Download and install this software using the button above.
2. After installation, launch the application to open the main interface. From there you can see your player and the functions you can use in a list.
3. Now click on the disk you want to test and select Surface Test in the left pane. You can also right-click on the meter and select Surface Test from the Surface Test drop-down menu.
4. In the next window, click Start Now to test the selected station.
5. After the scan, you will see the results on the screen. Check the test result on the following points:

• The red squares: This means there are bad sectors on your hard drive.
• Green squares: This test result means that there is no damaged sector on your hard drive.

If the test result has a lot of red squares, this means that you get a content file that Steam accidentally blocked. These results are the worst news, because your drive seems to be faulty.

The good news, however, is that MiniTool Partition Wizard can recover data from these sectors, including data lost due to deletion, formatting, virus attack, and so on.

Solution 6: Run Steam as director

In some cases, Steam requires administrator permissions to access certain folders and files. If administrator privileges are not granted, Windows may block access to the folder and an error may occur when locking the steam content file.

Therefore, to get rid of it, you have to manage steam as an administrator:

1. Right-click on the pairs and select the Properties option.
2. Click the Compatibility tab and select the Run as Administrator checkbox.
3. Click the Apply button or the OK button.
4. You can now launch Steam and see if the problem persists.

Bottom line

I hope you were able to fix the bug that was bothering you when you locked the Steam file.

For all newcomers: I’m glad you know almost everything about steam games now, and when you encounter this bug, you’re ready to face it.

I was pleased to receive you and let me know if you were able to solve the problem in the comments below.

You can also consult:

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