Sometimes Steam users encounter an unpleasant error “access denied to files”. This can happen when installing or updating a game and, accordingly, leads to the inability to play your favorite title. In this guide, we will tell you how to fix the error in Steam.
To solve the above problem, you will have to try several methods, and one of them will definitely work. So, here are the possible ways to fix the “file access denied” error:
Restart Steam / Restart your PC. The issue is likely due to a temporary glitch in the Steam client or the OS. Try restarting the Steam application, and if that doesn’t work, restart your computer.
Run Steam as administrator. Sometimes the OS does not give the Steam client the necessary permissions to access files. In this case, running the application as administrator will help.
Turn off Steam. Go to the directory where the client is installed, find the application called steam.exe, right-click on it and select “Run as administrator”.
Clear your Steam download cache. Your PC may have clogged or corrupted cache files. You can remove them with a simple step.
Open Steam and go to the application settings.
Select the “Downloads” category and click the “Clear Cache” button. This will help solve the problem with accessing files in Steam.
Check the integrity of the files. Corrupted files in the game folder can also cause the access error. To fix this, select the game in the Steam library, right-click on it and select “Properties”.
Go to the “Installed files” category and click the “Verify integrity of game files” button. Wait for the operation to complete.
Repair your Steam library folder. The “access denied” error may occur due to a corrupted Steam library on the drive where the game is installed. You need to repair the library to fix the problem.
Open Steam settings, go to the Storage category, select the desired drive, then click the button with three dots “…” and select Restore Library. Wait for the operation to complete.
Check the attributes of the game folder. If the directory where Steam games are installed has the “Read Only” attribute, you will not be able to add new files to it.
Go to the Steam client directory and find the “steamapps” folder. Right-click on it and select “Properties”. Uncheck “Read-only” and click “OK”.
If the game is installed on a different storage device than the one where the Steam client is located, look for the “SteamLibrary” directory, inside which you will find the “steamapps” folder.
Make sure you have enough space on your drive. You may be trying to install the game on an SSD that doesn’t have enough free space to do so. Check if this is the case and delete or move unnecessary files if necessary.