How to Fix Steam Not Enough Disk Space Error on Windows 11/10

Quick Answer

If Steam says “Not Enough Disk Space,” first check the free space on the drive where the game is being installed or updated. Steam may temporarily need more space than the game’s final installation size because it downloads, unpacks, patches, and verifies files.

If you have enough free space, restart Steam, clear the Steam download cache, repair the Steam Library folder, and verify the game’s files. If the drive is genuinely too full, free up space, move the game to another drive, or extend the partition.

Why Does Steam Say Not Enough Disk Space?

Steam may show “Not Enough Disk Space” when the drive used by the Steam Library does not have enough usable space to complete a game installation or update.

However, the error can also appear when you seemingly have enough free space because Steam may need additional temporary space to reserve, unpack, patch, and replace game files during an update. Steam’s update system can also require substantial local disk activity depending on how a game stores its files.

The most common causes of the not enough free disk space Steam issue are shown in the table.

Fix 1. Restart Steam and Your PC

Steam may incorrectly report available storage because of:

• Cached storage information
• Incomplete downloads
• Background processes

Simply restarting Steam and your computer refreshes disk usage detection.

Fix 2. Clear the Steam Download Cache

Steam stores temporary downloads and update files. Over time, these files may:

• Occupy storage
• Trigger installation conflicts
• Cause incorrect space calculations

So, you need to clear the download cache. Here is the guide:

1. Open Steam. Then click Steam in the top-left corner of the window.
2. Select Settings and click on Downloads.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the Downloads section and click Clear Download Cache.
4. Read the warning, then click Confirm.
5. Steam will restart, and you will be prompted to log back into your account.

After logging in to your Steam account, try downloading or installing the game again and see if that works.

Fix 3. Run as Administrator

Running Steam as an administrator gives it full permissions to access the files and directories it needs.

This can help prevent “Steam not enough disk space” errors caused by insufficient permissions.

1. Right-click on the Steam icon on your desktop.
2. Select Properties from the menu.
3. Go to the Compatibility tab. Then, check the box for Run this program as an administrator.
4. Apply the setting.

Once setup is complete, Steam will run as Administrator every time you open it. Next, you can check if the Steam not enough free disk space issue still occurs.

Additionally, when Steam downloads, updates, or installs games, it needs to write data to the hard drive.

If the permissions for Steam or its game folders are set to “Read-only,” the system will block these write operations, resulting in “Disk Write Error” or “Insufficient Disk Space” errors.

To resolve this issue, you need to uncheck the “Read-only” attribute for the hard drive or folder where Steam is installed.

Fix 4. Repair the Steam Library Folder

If Steam says “Not Enough Disk Space” even though the drive has plenty of free space, the Steam Library folder may have a permission or folder-access problem. Repairing the library can restore Steam’s ability to read and write game files correctly.

Here is how to repair the Steam Library folder.

1. Open Steam.
2. Click Steam in the upper-left corner and select Settings.
3. Select Storage.
4. Select the drive containing the affected Steam Library.
5. Click the three-dot menu (⋯) next to the library.
6. Select Repair Library.
7. Wait for Steam to complete the repair.
8. Restart Steam and try installing or updating the game again.

Fix 5. Verify Integrity of Game Files

This solution is particularly effective if:

• Only one game triggers the error
• Updates fail repeatedly
• Game files became corrupted

Steam will automatically replace damaged files. Here are the steps to verify the integrity of the game files:

1. Launch the Steam client and click on Library.
2. Right-click a specific game and select Properties.
3. In the Properties window, click the Installed Files tab from the left-hand menu.
4. Click the Verify integrity of game files button.

Fix 6. Delete Unnecessary Files in Steam Drive

Freeing up disk space is a simple and common fix for the Steam low disk space error. You can delete unnecessary files in the Steam drive.

The Space Analyzer is a utility included with MiniTool Partition Wizard. It helps you scan your hard drives and gain a better understanding of their disk space usage.

MiniTool Partition Wizard FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Step 1: Launch MiniTool Partition Wizard to get its main interface.

Step 2: Select the Space Analyzer feature on the toolbar.

Step 3: Select the drive where your Steam installation is and click Scan.

Step 4: After the scan, unfold the tree structure to find large or unnecessary files.

Step 5: Select the items you don’t need and choose Delete (Permanently).

Fix 7. Uninstall Old Games

Uninstalling old games can also free up game drive space. Here is the guide.

Step 1: Open Steam and go to your Library.

Step 2: Find the game you want to uninstall and right-click the game’s title to choose Uninstall.

Step 3: Click Uninstall again on the pop-up confirmation screen to begin the process.

After deleting some games that you no longer need, the storage space occupied by Steam will be freed up to a certain extent.

Fix 8. Clear the Downloading Folder

When downloading or updating games using Steam, all temporary download files are stored in the Steam\steamapps\downloading folder.

When a download is interrupted, fails, or paused, some unfinished files may remain in this folder. Over time, these files can accumulate to several gigabytes or even tens of gigabytes of hard drive space.

Deleting the contents of this folder can free up disk space and resolve conflicts or errors encountered when updating or installing games on Steam.

Fix 9. Move Steam to Another Drive

If your drive is almost full and you don’t want to delete any data, you can choose to move Steam to another drive.

Fix 10. Check for Leftover Files

While Steam’s uninstall function typically deletes most game files, some files and folders may be left behind. If these folders accumulate, they can unnecessarily take up hard drive space.

You’ll need to navigate to your Steam library folder, find the steamapps directory, and then navigate to the common folder.

This common folder contains folders for all your installed games. Find the folders for the game you just uninstalled and delete them.

Fix 11. Extend the Partition Where Steam Is Installed

When should you extend the partition? If:

• SSD frequently runs out of space
• You install large AAA games
• Free space remains below 15%

Then, expanding the partition is a long-term solution.

MiniTool Partition Wizard provides the Extend Partition and Move/Resize Partition functions, which can help you effectively expand disk partitions and release more available space.

How to Extend a Partition

When there is no unallocated space adjacent to the target partition, you can use this feature to solve the issue.

It allows you to allocate free space from other partitions or unallocated areas on the same disk to expand the capacity of the specified partition.

Step 1: Open MiniTool Partition Wizard to enter its main interface.

Step 2: Right-click the drive where you installed Steam and click the Extend option.

Step 3: Click the down arrow from Take Free Space From and choose a partition, and click OK to save changes.

• Open the Take Free Space from the drop-down menu and select a partition or unallocated space.
• Move the blue slider to decide the amount of space to take.
• Hit the OK button.

Step 4: Tap on Apply > Yes to execute the operation. Once finished, the result will be displayed as follows.

How to Move/Resize a Partition

You can only expand the partition where Steam resides if there is unallocated space next to the target partition.

Step 1: Run MiniTool Partition Wizard to its main interface and right-click the partition, and select Move/resize.

Step 2: Drag the arrow lengthen the handle to occupy the unallocated space adjacent to the partition to occupy the unallocated space and click OK.

Step 3: Click Apply to perform the partition extension operation.

Once the installation of Steam’s disk expansion is complete, you can check again to see if you still receive a similar error.

How to increase disk usage on Steam has always been a problem that bothered me. Fortunately, I found the solution in this article.Click to Tweet

Not Enough Free Disk Space Steam FAQ

Bottom Line

The Steam not enough disk space error is usually caused by insufficient free space, corrupted cache files, damaged game files, Steam library issues, or partition limitations.

In many cases, clearing the download cache, removing temporary files, or verifying game files is enough to resolve the problem.

If your gaming drive is consistently running out of storage, extending the partition with MiniTool Partition Wizard can provide a long-term solution and improve your gaming experience.

If you have any questions or suggestions while using MiniTool Partition Wizard, you can contact us at [email protected] for further assistance.