How to Permanently Fix a Steam Content File Locked Error

How to Permanently Fix a Steam Content File Locked Error | Steam is the best platform for PC gaming, period. Its massive library and compatibility of games make it easy to save all your game files in a single place, it also allows coordinate times with game play, and even join groups of like-minded gamers, but it isn’t always roses and rainbows and butterflies, though Steam Content File locked is one of the many Steam app errors that prohibit us from playing new games, It is also steam app error that showcases when you’re updating, downloading, or installing a new game.

But, through a proper and reasoned approach, you can fix the Steam error without a lot of effort put into action. The simplest fix is to just reset the Winsock which according to 80% of the steam community has fixed the problem. But for the remaining 20%, you might have to find some additional fixes to get rid of the steam game content file locked error. This guide is dedicated to all the gamers, that are struggling to fix this problem or just want to spend the weekend playing their favorite title.

How to Fix a Steam Content File Locked  Error

There are numerous fixes you can try. Some are more difficult than others, but every fixes listed here has been reported to work.

Related Post:  How to Repair Steam? Here Are 3 Easy Solutions for You! 

Solution 1: Check Antivirus

In some cases, The antivirus may appear the error. You can disable the antivirus while you update Steam. This method differs depending on the antivirus your computer installed, therefore, you’d confirm instructions on how to disable your antivirus.

There are listed different ways to disable the antivirus until you can update your game.

McAfee Antivirus

McAfee itself a partner of MiniTool software and it has no way to exclude certain files from its real-time scanning. The only way is to disable the antivirus entirely until the game is updated. To do this, open McAfee and select “Virus and Spyware Protection”. Here you find the option of “Real-Time Scanning”. Click that option and turn it off.

Solutions 2: Change Steam and files location

1. Go to Stream Client and click Settings.
2. Click Downloads and select Steam Library Folders.
3. Select Add Library folder and select the new location for Steam.
4. Close the Steam Client.

5.Go to your Steam directory, the default location is

C:Program FilesSteam

6. Delete the exe and all the files except UserData and SteamApp folders.
7. Move these files to the location you specified in Step 3.
8. Open Steam and log in again.

Solutions 3: Reset Winsock

Now for the 80% solutions, resetting the Winsock will surely fix the problem on your computer.

1. Open the Run Command or Press Windows + R key
2. Enter ‘netsh reset Winsock and click OK
3. Restart your computer

The problem will be fixed by just using this simplest method. All hail to the reset Winsock command. For extra detectives, it is a socket-based program that resets the downloaded directory of the previously downloaded or updated content. Don’t worry, your files will not be removed.

Solutions 4: Repair Corrupt Files

If these three above methods don’t work for you, we can troubleshoot which file goes corrupt/missing and try re-download again.

1. Exit steam and navigate to your Steam directory (C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam). If you have chosen a custom location for the installation, navigate there.
2. Move to the folder ‘logs’ and open ‘txt’.
3. Move to the bottom of the text file and search for recent errors.

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

1.  Navigate to the root folder of the mod, in this case, it is 570371714. It has no specific file size as the root folders of different games may vary.
2. Restart steam and move to the downloads folder. Here you will notice that Steam will be asking for an update for the game. Update the necessary files and you’ll be good to go.

Solutions 5: Check Your Hard Drive via MiniTool Partition Wizard

When the game installation has been corrupted or contains bad sectors on your hard drive, you may also receive the error message.

How to check whether your hard drive has bad sectors? Here I listed a disk tool with MiniTool Partition Wizard.

1: Launch it to get the main interface and then choose the Surface Test feature from the left panel.

2. Click the Start Now into the new window to start testing the selected disk. It will automatically test the disk surface and show the result.
3. Check the test result when you get it.

  Note: Red squares in the test result mean there are some bad sectors, and vice-versa, the green squares in the test result mean there is no bad sector.

If you get a test result with many red squares, those bad sectors might be the reasons impeding Steam game updating.  But luckily, you can try this tool to recover data from such sectors or directly fix bad sectors.

Final Words

If all else fails, you can completely remove Steam from your computer and reinstall it. To remove Steam, open Control Panel > Uninstall a program > right-click on Steam>Choose Uninstall. Once you remove Steam, restart your computer before installing it again. 

You can find the installation file on Steam’s official website. Steam is a great PC gaming platform. Don’t let a few small errors get in the way of a gaming binge–just know how to correct any error you encounter along the way and you’re all set.