How to fix disk space errors on Steam [SIMPLEST METHODS]

Vlad Turiceanu
by Vlad Turiceanu
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fix Steam Not enough disk space error on Windows 10

Steam is one of the most popular digital distribution platforms in the world. From 2003 when it was first released until today, millions of users worldwide enjoy downloading and playing games through it.

At the beginning, Steam only offered first-party games but now it has developed and allows access to third-party games and developers. With more and more features on every update comes also the risk of errors.

On of the most common issues users have reported in Windows 10 is the Not enough disk space error when trying to download a game, even though there was plenty of space on the computer.

Fortunately, there are a lot of solutions to this problem and today we will go through them.

What can I do if Steam says there is not enough disk space? The fastest way to solve the issue is to clear the Steam download cache. In most of the cases, incomplete or corrupted files are triggering the error. If that doesn’t work, repair your Steam library files and delete the partially downloaded game.

For more on how to do that, check the guide below.

Steps to fix low disk space errors on Steam

  1. Clear Steam Download cache
  2. Repair Steam Library files
  3. Delete the partially downloaded file

First and foremost, lets try some some quick and simple solutions like freeing up some disk space, rebooting your Windows 10 PC, disabling the antivirus or running Steam as an administrator.

If none of them worked, we can try some more advanced solutions.

Solution 1 – Clear Steam Download cache

It’s possible that some of the files that Steam cached are incomplete or corrupted, so the best solution is to clear the cache. To do that, follow the steps:

  1. Launch Steam.
  2. Go to Settings.seam settings not enough disk space error
  3. In the left panel choose Downloads.
  4. In the bottom of the window there should be a Clear Download Cache button. Click on it.not enough disk space steam clear cache
  5. The This will clear your local download cache, and you will need to log in to Steam Again message will appear. Click OK.
  6. Restart Steam, login with your credentials and start the game download.

Solution 2 – Repair Steam Library files

The Steam Library is where all your games are, and sometimes it’s not configured correctly. In that case you should repair it by doing the following:

  1. Launch Steam.
  2. Go to Settings.
  3. In the left panel choose Downloads.Steam app - settings
  4. In the Content Libraries section click on Steam Library Folders.
  5. A new Steam Library Folders window should appear. Right-click on the Steam Registry C:Program Files (x86)Steam and select Repair Library Folder.Steam Repair Library folder not enough disk space
  6. Once the process in finished, restart Steam, login with your credentials and start the game download again.

Additionally, you can verify the integrity of the Game files:

  1. Launch Steam.
  2. Go to Library.
  3. Find the game that’s of interest to you and right-click it > choose Proprieties.game proprieties steam not enough disk space
  4. Select the Local files tab and then click on Verify Integrity of Game Files.steam not enough disk space Game Properties Local Files Verify Integrity of game files
  5. Restart Steam, login with your credentials and continue the game download.

Solution 3 – Delete the partially downloaded file

If the download was interrupted by an error, then the files are incomplete thus creating a Steam conflict. To fix this, follow the steps:

  1. Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete and select Task manager.task manager not enough disk space steam error
  2. Find all the Steam services that are running and click on End task for each of them.
  3. Go to your Steam directory. Usually, the path is C:Program Files (x86)Steam.
  4. Go to the Steamapps folder > and then downloading folder.
  5. Locate the folder that’s causing the problems. You can identify it by the application ID.
  6. Restart your PC, login in to Steam with your credentials and continue the game download.

If you can’t delete the folder, then you might have managed to make it Read only. To fix it, do the following:

  1. In the Windows search bar type cmd. Right-click the result and click Run as an administrator.
  2. In the cmd window type cd c:/program files (x86)/Steam and then attrib -r /S *.*.
  3. This should make your folder R/W again and you should be able to delete it.

As you can see, there are a lot of solutions and workarounds to the Not enough disk space message error, and all of them are confirmed as working by users.

For more information about Steam and how to fix commonly encountered errors, check out our other guides:

We hope that one of these solutions solved your problem. If you have any more questions or you know another ways to solve the disk space issue on Steam, reach for the comments section below and we’ll be sure to check it out.

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