Steam is a well-known digital gaming service that lets you download and play a lot of games from different genres. Most of the time Steam users have a great gaming experience here. However, sometimes while updating games many people face certain technical problems ranging from minor errors to a few big issues.
In Steam an error occurred while updating corrupt content files, is the most common problem people face. This error shows up when a game fails to load in Steam. Such errors overshadow the past great gaming experience.
The error box prompts that an error occurred while updating corrupt files. Some users see this when they try to update a particular game only while some get this error with all of the games that they try to update.
We will discuss in detail the reasons why this error occurs and the various fixes that you can try to overcome this issue.
Why Do We Encounter Steam Corrupt Content Files Error?
Getting a Steam update corrupt content files pop-up message is not an ideal sight when you are waiting to update a game that you want to play.
An error occurred while updating (corrupt content files) Steam can be caused by several things. Let us see the most common causes of corrupt content files error:
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Wireless Connection Issue
A wireless connection can have more interruptions hence affecting the downloading and updating of game files. If you suspect this is the cause for the corrupt files error, you can switch to a wired connection and see if it works or not.
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Some Game Files Might Be Missing
Steam updating corrupt content files error can happen if some game files are missing or are corrupt due to many reasons. To check if you have all the necessary files for the update, follow the procedure given in the solutions in the next section.
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Admin Rights
You must have admin access for certain updates therefore, not having admin privileges can result in the appearance of this error box.
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App Cache
Many applications store some cache data on your device and use it at the time of loading which minimizes the time taken to load a game. So, this can result in an extra burden on the system which can cause such errors.
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Insufficient RAM Space
Your system must have some free space on RAM so that Steam can efficiently download and process the required updates. Updating a game with little or no space can lead to corrupt content files error.
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Windows Firewall
Windows Firewall can mark some programs as potentially harmful or as threats to the system. As you are certain that Steam and its offered games are not a threat to your computer, you can add Steam and the particular game on the safe programs list so that you can download and update the required games.
How Can We Fix Steam Error Corrupt Content Files?
The main aim of this article is to show you all how to fix corrupt content files Steam.
Now that we have some idea of the most probable causes of the error, we can suggest some appropriate solutions for these issues.
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Change to A Wired Connection
Ask around if your friends have a wired connection or not for downloading and updating games on steam. This can give you a rough idea if this solution will work for you or not. A wired connection provides better internet connectivity and for many people, this switch works wonders.
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Verify Your Game Files
Steam has an option to verify the integrity of game files. This will not only help you to check if any game files are missing or corrupted but it will replace the corrupted files with clean ones as well. Therefore, try and see if it solves the issue for you.
Follow these steps to verify your game files:
- Select ‘Properties’ after right-clicking on the specific game
- Open the ‘Local Files’ tab
- Select ‘Verify Integrity of Game Files’
This will automatically replace corrupt files, hence resolving the issue of the corrupt files.
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Run Steam with Admin Access
As some updates require running your Steam account with administrator access, we will advise you to get admin rights through the following steps.
- Right-click on the Steam icon and select ‘Run as administrator
- Now try updating the game as an administrator and see the results
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Delete App Cache Files
To get rid of any corrupt files in the Steam app cache folder, we recommend deleting the temporary Steam app cache files. Therefore, try this:
- Open file explorer and go to your Steam path
- Select and delete the app cache folder
- Restart your system and update the game to see if this has solved the issue.
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Free Up Some RAM Space
If you want to free up RAM space then here is the procedure:
- Press Ctrl+Shift+Enter on the keyboard to open ‘task Manager’
- Open ‘Processes’ tab
- Right-click on every unnecessary task and select ’End Task’ from the drop-down menu
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Whitelist Steam in Windows Firewall
To add Steam to the safe list of Windows Defender Firewall do as directed below:
- Press Windows+R on your keyboard to open the ‘Run’ dialog box
- Open ‘Windows Firewall’ by typing ‘control firewall.cpl’ in the address bar and then press ‘Enter’
- Click on ‘Allow an app or feature through Windows Defender Firewall’ on the side menu
- When the ‘Allowed Apps’ box appears, click on ‘Change Settings’
- Click on ‘Yes’ if a permission box comes up
- Update the game and make sure this solution works for you
Our Final Thoughts on Corrupt Content Files Steam
So, hopefully, all these solutions provided will help resolve the error. If the error does not go away with these fixes you can always contact Steam Customer Support for further assistance.