Fix: Steam Not Enough Disk Space

In this tutorial, learn how to fix disk space errors on Steam.

Steam is one of the most popular digital distribution platforms in the world. From 2003 when it was first released until today, it has more than 30 million users which are active.

Even though being updated frequently and having “bug fixes” updates all the time, Steam also comes up with many errors. One of the most common problems users have reported in Windows 10 is the Not enough disk space error when attempting to download a game, despite you have a lot of it available.

You do not have enough disk space to run this game

Fortunately, there are a lot of methods to this issue and your problem goes away.

How To Fix Low Disk Space Errors on Steam

To begin, let’s try some simple and quick methods like rebooting your Windows 10 PC, running Steam as an administrator, freeing up some disk space, or disabling the antivirus.

If the problem still persists, you can try some more advanced methods.

Method 1. Clear Steam Download cache

The fastest method to solve the problem is to clear the Steam download cache. To do that, follow the steps:

1. Launch your Steam client.

2. Navigate to Settings.

3. In the left panel, select Downloads.

4. In the bottom of the window, click on Clear Download Cache button.

Clear Steam Download cache

5. Restart Steam.

Now you need to sign in with your credentials and start the game download.

Method 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. Open Steam.

2. Navigate to Settings.

3. In the left panel select Downloads.

4. In the Content Libraries section, select on Steam Library Folders.

5. A new Steam Library Folders window should occur. Right-click on the Steam Registry C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam and click Repair Library Folder.

Repair Steam Library files

8. Once the process is finished, relaunch Steam, sign in with your credentials and continue the game download.

Or you can also verify the integrity of the game files:

1. Open Steam.

2. Navigate to Library.

3. Locate the game that’s of interest to you and right-click it and click Proprieties.

4. Go to the Local files tab and then select on Verify Integrity of Game Files.

5. Relaunch Steam, sign in with your credentials and start the game download again.

Method 3. Delete the partially downloaded file

If the download was interrupted by an error, then the files are incomplete hence creating a Steam conflict. In order to fix this problem, follow these below steps:

1. Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete and select on the Task Manager option.

2. Look for all the Steam services that are running and click on End task for each of them.

3. Navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\downloading

4. Inside you might see a folder containing all the download files. Find the folder that’s causing the problems. You can locate it by the application ID and delete that folder completely.

5. Restart your comouter, sign in to Steam with your credentials and continue the game download.

Method 4. Changing path of installation

It may be possible that Steam isn’t accepting the file path which is already specified with the Steam installation. you can set a new file path on a different drive and then try installing your game there. Here are the steps:

1. Open Steam.

2. Go to Settings.

3. In the left panel, select Downloads tab.

4. In the Content Libraries section, you will see an option which says “Steam Library Folders”. Select it.

5. After that, you will see a list of all of your Steam directories. Click on the “Add Library Folder” button.

6. Next, you will be asked to choose a drive. We would recommend you choose a different one from where you were initially installing the program.

7. After choosing the drive, create a new folder and name it something simple which you can easily locate afterward.

8. Click OK and choose the new directory you have just created.

9. Now when you navigate to the Steam store and download and install a game, the client will first ask you which directory you want to install the application. Choose the one you just created.

After the downloading, check if the issue got solved.

Method 5. Freeing up disk space

Sometimes, Steam may really be using larger amount of space as compared to what it’s displaying on the web page. You should delete all the unused data or back it up on some portable drive. Here are the steps to free up disk space by using the Windows tool.

1. Open This PC. All of the drives connected to your computer will be listed here.

2. Right click on the drive on which you are trying to install the game and click Properties.

3. Click on the Disk Cleanup option.

4. Now you will see several check boxes consisting of various options which could be deleted. Tick the ones which you think won’t bring any problems to your PC. Click OK.