The "Free at least 5MB" error in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (CoD: AW) is a notorious false positive usually unrelated to actual storage capacity. It typically appears during campaign cinematics or when connecting to multiplayer, indicating a failure in memory allocation or file permissions. Immediate Fixes for PC
Adjust Windows Page File: This is the most successful community-verified fix.
Open System Properties > Advanced > Performance Settings > Advanced tab. Under Virtual Memory, click Change.
Ensure "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives" is checked, or manually set it to at least 2GB.
Modify Security Permissions: The game may lack "Full Control" to write to its own directory. Locate the game folder in Steam/steamapps/common.
Right-click the Call of Duty Advanced Warfare folder > Properties > Security tab.
Click Edit and grant Full Control to all listed users/groups. cod advanced warfare 5mb error fix
Disable Router UPnP: Activision previously identified a networking conflict that triggers this specific "Out of memory/space" dialog.
Log into your router settings and turn off UPnP. Note that this may require manual port forwarding for an Open NAT type.
Lower Texture Settings: Setting textures to "Extra" or "Ultra" can cause memory leaks that trigger this error. Change these to High or lower. Error Code: 8224 on Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
The "insufficient free disk space" or "please free at least 5MB" error in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
is a legacy bug often caused by incorrect virtual memory (page file) settings or file permission issues, rather than an actual lack of storage. Steam Community Fix 1: Adjust Virtual Memory (Page File)
The most reliable solution for this error is to reset your Windows page file, which the game uses to offload data. Steam Community Windows Key , type "Control Panel," and open it. System and Security Advanced system settings tab, click in the "Performance" box. In the new window, select the tab and click under "Virtual memory". Option A (System Managed): The "Free at least 5MB" error in Call
Ensure "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives" is checked. Option B (Manual Reset):
If it's already checked, uncheck it, select your game drive, choose Custom size
, and set both Initial and Maximum to at least 4096 MB (or up to 16000 MB if you have space). restart your computer Fix 2: Grant Full Control Permissions
Sometimes the game can't write temporary files due to restricted folder permissions. Steam Community Navigate to your game installation folder (usually Steam/steamapps/common/Call of Duty Advanced Warfare Right-click the folder and select Properties tab and click Select your user profile and check the box for Full Control Steam Community Fix 3: Disable In-Game Shader Options
The game's optimization settings for shaders can trigger memory-related crashes. Open the in-game Video Options "Shader Preload During Cinematics". "Cache Sun Shadow Maps" and "Cache Spot Shadow Maps". Texture Quality to "High" instead of "Extra/Ultra" to prevent memory leaks. Fix 4: Verify Game Integrity (Steam)
If specific game files are corrupt, Steam can reacquire them. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare General Discussions What Is the 5 MB Error
Here’s a proper write-up on fixing the “5 MB error” in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (typically encountered on PC/Steam when the game fails to allocate enough memory or misreads available VRAM).
The error usually appears as:
"Not enough video memory. You need at least 5 MB of video memory."
This occurs even on systems with 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB+ of VRAM. It’s a false positive — a bug in the game’s hardware detection logic, not an actual lack of memory.
If you’ve been kicked from a multiplayer match or prevented from joining a server in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare with a message mentioning “5 MB” (often reading: “Server only allows cvars with size below 5 MB” or similar), you are likely dealing with a modded game file conflict or a corrupted game cache.
Here is the definitive guide to fixing this error and getting back into the action.
players2 folder, not core game files).If the game launches but shows 5 MB in graphics settings:
Documents\Call of Duty Advanced Warfare\players\config.cfg with Notepad.seta r_videoMemory "0"seta r_videoMemory "4096" (use your actual VRAM in MB, e.g., 2048, 4096, 8192)