Steam Disk Write Error – How To Fix It

If you’ve encountered the Steam disk write error, you’re probably wondering why it happened. Well, it occurs when you try downloading or updating games like Battlegrounds, PlayerUnknown’s, Rocket League, Dota 2 and GrandTheft Auto V among other games purchased on the platform.

Anytime Steam can’t download or save game data to your computer’s storage, whether it’s during an installation or update, you’ll get the error, which can appear as a popup message that says:

• An error occurred while installing [game title] (disk write error): C:\Program Files (x86)\steamapps\common\game title
• An error occurred while installing [game title], or An error occurred while updating [game title]

The error is triggered during an update or installation on the platform and Steam can’t save your data to the Steam folder, either because the folder is write protected or your hard drive has defects. It can also happen if your security software is blocking Steam from saving or downloading any data.

In order to resolve the problem, here are a few fixes you can try.

How to fix Steam disk write error

Quick fixes

• Restart Steam and your computer as a temporary measure. A restart of the platform can rule out any temporary glitches, after which you can try to download or play games again.
• Remove write protection on the Steam folder by verifying the drive on which the games are stored and removing the write protection from it
• Turn off read only setting on Steam directory as it only applies to individual files or folders. If the Steam directory is set to read only, it can bring up the Steam disk write error
• Run Steam as admin to give extra permissions to the folder
• Clear Steam download cache if corrupted by going to Steam>Settings>Downloads>Clear Download cache
• Move the Steam game to another drive. Also check your drive for errors if you have multiple partitions on one drive
• Disable your antivirus or firewall, and/or add exceptions for Steam

Delete corrupted files

A corrupted file may cause the Steam disk write error so you can navigate to the Steam directory via steamapps/common directory and find a file that has a similar name to the game you want to download. If the file is 0KB, delete it and try downloading or launching the game again.

Check the integrity of the game files

If there are no corrupted files, you could still have some in the system. You can do this by opening the Steam library and finding the game you want to update or play. Right click on it and open Properties>local files tab>verify integrity of game files. Steam will automatically download new versions of the game files if it finds corrupt ones.