Access Denied: can't delete game files in steamapps folder

[ZhanDragon]

Title.

Games that crash during launch through steam somehow disappear from my games library. When I uninstall the game and try to reinstall, Cache.Windows is unable to be overwritten by Steam or deleted by me even though I am the administrator. Whatever steam did it seems to make it so I don't even have control over files it installed. I keep getting Access Denied errors or saying I need administrator privileges.

Please advise.

[Axoler]

This is going on with me too

[Pcnuttie]

If you need adminstrator privilages then maybe run as adminstrator when you try to open steam after log out. Try again and see.

[Hexxitfan11]

This issue is frustrating. Steam deletes most files from games when i try to uninstall, but there are always a few that persistently resist deletion. I have tried every solution i have found, plus a few I decided to try. Security changing just gives an error when i try to change anything, even though it says that I have full control of the folder. Attempting to delete via system level command prompt via pstools still says access denied. stripping attributes from folder fails. UAC to minimum and restart does nothing. verify file integrity does nothing. FileAssassin doesn't work. The ONLY option that actually works on my computer is rebooting to safe mode. that's it. I dont know what the hell Steam does to the files, but they are damned difficult to remove.

IMPORTANT: I had this problem when Steam was in my program files, so i deleted every steam file i could find on my computer and registry and reinstalled it to my D drive. this issue STILL HAPPENS. So, at least in my case, it doesn't appear to be a UAC restricting access to system folder issue.

[Hexxitfan11]

Here is how to restart WINDOWS 10 in safe mode the easy way and delete steam files. (pull this up on a separate device so you can view the instructions.)

1: Click Start
2: Click Power
3: HOLD shift and click restart
4: Click on maintenance, the one with the wrench
5: When presented with a screen that says something like "restart to change options such as" and then a list of things, press restart.
6: your computer will restart and display and advanced options menu. Locate "Safe Mode with Command Prompt" and press the number key that corresponds to it.
7: You will be presented with a command prompt. (I am going to use the location of a default steam installation for this guide. Replace the following path with your steam installation.) Enter the following command: "cd C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common" and hit enter.
8: You should be in the "common" folder. Enter "dir" into the command prompt. You should see a list of folders corresponding to the games you have installed.
9: Enter the following command: "rd /q /s FolderNameHere" replacing FolderNameHere with the folder you want to delete.
10: enter "dir" again and verify that the file is deleted.
11: repeat until any games you do not want are gone
12: enter the following command to restart the computer: "shutdown /f /r". You will get a notice that the computer will shut down. Click "OK" and wait about 30-40 seconds. Your computer should restart as normal and the files should finally be removed.

[Hexxitfan11]

I should also note that this approach will likely work for almost any access denied scenario, although i must advise you to be careful when in safe mode. there are no safeguards to prevent you from trashing your operating system, so know what you are changing! In this case it is just steam files and will not affect your computer.

[Chodicus]

My dad helped me figure this out:

Go to the folder of the game you want to delete, right click, select Properties, uncheck Read-only. Click Apply, click OK. Now go into each subfolder -- every last one, every last thing left -- and uncheck Read-only for those. That should allow you to delete the folders.

I had recently tried the command prompt in safe mode with a game folder I wanted to delete, and that was giving me grief. This was what finally allowed the folders to be deleted.

Also, as a preemptive measure, make sure you have Steam cloud sync disabled if you want to avoid this in the future. That appears to be the source of the issue; I had Steam cloud sync enabled when I installed the games giving me these issues. I had Steam cloud disabled when I installed another game, and when I uninstalled that game I could delete those folders no problem.

[Jesse]

engedinge