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Steam Content File Locked: Unlock It With These 7 Solutions

Sure-shot fixes to get things up and running

5 min. read

Updated onOctober 4, 2023

updated onOctober 4, 2023

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Key notes

Steam is a popular client with close to 130 million active users who use it to play theirfavorite games on Steam. Though highly polished, the gaming client has been found to run into issues, especially theContent file lockederror in Steam.

The error has been encountered by users worldwide and for a wide range of games, which makes troubleshooting a lot more intricate. So, let’s find out all about the problem and go through the solutions.

What does it mean on Steam when it says content file locked?

TheContent file locked errorin Steam, on Elden Ring and other games, appears when trying to update them and stops the process from completing. It’s usually encountered when the download reaches 90-95%. Here are a few reasons you might be getting the error:

How can I fix content file locked on Steam?

Before we move to the slightly complex solutions, try these quick tricks first:

If none worked, head to the fixes listed next.

1. Terminate the game’s process

Several users reported getting the SteamContent file lockederror with Vavle and a few other games when they were running in the background, and terminating the process did the trick. Also, if a Steam game is configured to run at boot, make sure todisable the startup program.

2. Reset Winsock

3. Verify the integrity of game files

Issues with some game files can often lead to theContent file lockedSteam error with MW2. And the gaming client has a built-in option to fix such problems.

4. Clear the Download cache

5. Move the game to another library

After you are done moving the game to another drive in Steam, theContent file lockederror shouldn’t appear again.

6. Delete the local files and then reinstall the game

7. Reinstall Steam

If none of the solutions so far have worked, reinstalling Steam would get things up and running, and you should not receive theContent file lockederror anymore.

Also, we recommend that avid gamers check our quick tips and tricks tooptimize Windows for gaming.

For any queries or to share another solution, use the comments section below.

Steam Content File Locked: Unlock It With These 7 Solutions#

What does it mean on Steam when it says content file locked?#

How can I fix content file locked on Steam?#

1. Terminate the game’s process#

2. Reset Winsock#

3. Verify the integrity of game files#

4. Clear the Download cache#

5. Move the game to another library#

6. Delete the local files and then reinstall the game#

7. Reinstall Steam#