Steam Stuck Preallocating: How to Fix

If you’re having problems with Steam getting stuck while preallocating files, don’t worry, you’re not alone. This is a common problem that many people have been reporting lately. In this article, we will show you how to fix the steam stuck preallocating issue. We will also provide some tips to help prevent it from happening in the future.

What is the Steam Stuck on Preallocating Error?

The popular digital distribution platform Steam was created in 2003 by Valve. This Steam Client was designed for all gamers by Valve.

We may also play the games on our desktop computers and consoles (Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch Nintendo).

Steam allows us to search through its library of games, which is fantastic! It also has the necessary space to download those games on our Windows PCs. Furthermore, it compresses the files in an attempt to prevent fragmentation.

But sometimes, during this file optimization process, steam gets stuck and doesn’t respond. This steam preallocating issue is very common and occurs due to various reasons that we will discuss later in the article. If you are also facing steam stuck on preallocating files then don’t worry because we have some solutions for you.

Before moving on to the solutions, let’s take a look at the causes of this problem.

Causes:

There can be many reasons behind this steam getting stuck while preallocating files. Some of them are as follows:

• Your system doesn’t have enough RAM or storage space to complete the task.
• The Steam Client is not up-to-date and needs to be updated.
• The steam content is damaged or corrupted.
• Some files are still being downloaded in the background which is causing this preallocating issue.
• There is some problem with the steam servers.

These were some of the most common reasons due to which you might face steam preallocating stuck error. Now, let’s move on to the solutions.

Steps To Fix Steam Stuck On Preallocating Issue

Here are some of the best solutions that you can try to fix this steam preallocation issue:

Restart your PC:

This is the first and simplest solution that you can try. Sometimes, restarting your computer can fix this problem as it will kill all the processes and start afresh. So, simply restart your computer and check if the problem is fixed.

Update Steam Client

As we mentioned earlier, one of the causes of this problem can be an outdated steam client. So, you need to make sure that your steam client is up-to-date. To do that, open steam and click on Steam present at the top left corner of the window. Now select Check for updates from the drop-down menu. If there is any update available, it will start downloading automatically. Once it’s done, restart steam and check if the issue is fixed or not.

End Background Processes

As we mentioned in the causes section, sometimes background processes can also cause this steam preallocation stuck error. So, you need to end all the background processes. To do that, press Ctrl+Shift+Esc keys together to open the task manager. Now click on the Processes tab and select steam.exe. After that, click on End Task present at the bottom right corner of the window. Once you have ended all the steam processes, restart your computer and check if the problem is fixed or not.

Delete Download Cache

Another reason for this steam preallocation stuck error can be corrupted download cache files. So, you need to delete these files in order to fix this problem. To do that, first of all, close steam completely. Now press Windows key + R keys together to open Run dialogue box. In the Run dialogue box, type steam://flushconfig and press Enter. This will delete all the download cache files. After that, restart steam and check if the problem is fixed or not.

Change Download Region

Sometimes changing the download region can also fix this steam preallocation stuck error. To do that, open steam and click on Steam present at the top left corner of the window. Now select Settings from the drop-down menu. In the Settings window, click on Downloads present in the left panel. Now in the right panel, under Download Region, select any other region from the drop-down menu and check if the problem is fixed or not.”

“Reinstalling steam will delete all your games and progress so make sure you create a backup before doing that.

To uninstall steam, first of all, close steam completely. Now press Windows key + R keys together to open Run dialogue box. In the Run dialogue box, type appwiz.cpl and press Enter. This will open the list of all the installed programs on your computer. Now select steam and click on Uninstall present at the top of the window. Once steam is uninstalled, restart your computer.

After that, download steam from their official website and install it on your computer. Now launch steam and check if the problem is fixed or not.”

We hope this article was helpful and you were able to fix the steam stuck on preallocating error by following the solutions given above. If you have any further queries then feel free to ask in the comments section below. Thank You!” Try these steps and comment below whether they worked for you or not. Also, let us know if you have any other methods to fix this issue.