CS2 Not Saving Sensitivity

Cause 1: the config file is read-only

This is the one that catches people who followed a settings guide years ago. A very old and very popular trick was to lock your config file so nothing could change it. It works — the game genuinely cannot write to a read-only file — but it also means every setting you touch in the menu is discarded the moment you quit.

CS2 keeps configs in two places, and you need to check both:

• Per-account configs: Steam\userdata\<account ID>\730\local\cfg\ — this is where the game writes your saved convars.
• Install-folder configs: ...\Counter-Strike Global Offensive\game\csgo\cfg\ — this is where autoexec.cfg usually lives.

On Windows, right-click each file, open Properties, and untick Read-only. If your Steam install lives somewhere Windows protects, the folder's own permissions can produce the same result — a config the game is not allowed to write is functionally identical to a read-only one. Our CS2 file locations page maps the whole install tree if you are not sure where to look.

Cause 2: your autoexec is overwriting you

This is the most common cause by a distance, and it is not a fault — it is the feature working as designed. The exec command does exactly one thing: execute a cfg file. If you have +exec autoexec.cfg in your launch options, that file runs on every startup, after your saved config has loaded.

So the sequence is: you change sensitivity in the menu, it saves correctly on exit, then next launch your autoexec sets it straight back to whatever line you wrote months ago. The setting is saving perfectly. It is just being replaced immediately afterwards.

The tell-tale signs:

• The value always reverts to the same number, not to the default.
• Changing it mid-session works fine — it only resets on launch.
• Keybinds vanish as well. An unbindall line at the top of an autoexec wipes every bind before re-adding only the ones in the file.

The fix is to pick one source of truth. Either remove the sensitivity line from your autoexec and manage it in the menu, or keep it in the autoexec and stop changing it in the menu. Our autoexec generator builds a clean file, and the config guide covers what belongs in it. If you are converting a sensitivity from another game rather than guessing, the sensitivity converter gives you the number to put in.

Launch options can do the same thing directly. A stray +sensitivity 2 in the launch options field forces that value on every start, and it will look identical to the autoexec problem.

Cause 3: the wrong Steam account slot

Because sensitivity is a per-user convar, it is saved against the Steam account, in that account's own folder under userdata. Two accounts on the same PC get two separate sets of settings.

That produces two confusing situations. If you share a machine — or have a second account you use for anything — signing into the other one gives you what looks like a reset. And if you moved to a new PC, nothing followed you, because there is nothing syncing it.

That last point is worth saying plainly, because a lot of guides tell you to go hunting for a Steam Cloud conflict. Counter-Strike 2 does not list Steam Cloud among its features on the Steam store page — unlike titles that do, where it appears in the store's feature list. There is no per-game cloud save checkbox for CS2 to be fighting with. If you want your settings on a second machine, copy the files across yourself, or keep them in an autoexec you can carry around.

Cause 4: the value is out of range

This one is easy to miss because the game does not complain. Convars have hard limits, and a value outside them is silently clamped:

If you type sensitivity 12 you do not get 12, and when you come back and see something else there it reads as "it didn't save." Very low DPI setups are the ones that run into the ceiling — if you need an effective sensitivity above 8, raise your mouse DPI instead. Note also that m_yaw and m_pitch both default to 0.022; an old config that changed one of them will make your sensitivity feel wrong even when the number is correct.

Cause 5: the game never shut down cleanly

Config values are written out at shutdown. If CS2 crashes, or you close it from Task Manager, or the machine loses power, that write never happens and the session's changes go with it. People who alt-F4 out of the game habitually run into this a lot.

There is a command for exactly this. host_writeconfig saves out the user config values on demand — it is a standard release command, not cheat-flagged, so it works in any match or on any server. Change your settings, open the console, run it, and the values are on disk regardless of how the session ends.

If the console is not opening, con_enable is the convar that allows it to be activated; it is off by default and can also be toggled from the game settings. See our CS2 commands database for the full list.

The diagnosis, in order

1. Set your sensitivity in the menu, then run host_writeconfig in the console and quit normally. If it survives a restart, your problem was cause 5.
2. If it reverts to the same wrong value every time, open your autoexec.cfg and your Steam launch options and look for a sensitivity line. That is cause 2.
3. If it reverts to 1.25, the game is not writing your config at all — check both cfg folders for read-only files and folder permissions. That is cause 1.
4. If the value you set is above 8, it was never accepted in the first place. That is cause 4.
5. If nothing else fits, check which Steam account you are signed into, and whether more than one numbered folder exists in Steam\userdata\. That is cause 3.

Once it is stable, it is worth building a config you actually control rather than fighting the menu — the best CS2 settings guide covers what to put in it.