How to fix the Workbench ‘Obstructed’ error in Starfield

Get your Workbench back.

Image of a man standing next to a workbench at night in Starfield.
Screenshot by Dot Esports

Crafting is a major component of Starfield with Workbenches allowing you to improve your items, aid, and arms. A frustrating bug has hit crafting in Starfield however, as you might see an “Obstructed” error preventing you from using any of your Workbenches.

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A Workbench is obstructed in Starfield whenever there is another object directly in front of the intended Workbench. During Outpost construct, you might accidentally place a door right in front of your Weapon Workbench and need to restructure your set-up.

However, players have begun to report this issue occurring whenever there is no discernible object actually obstructing the Workbench. If you are trying to fix this issue, here’s how you can get your Workbench back.

Workbench Obstructed Error in Starfield, fixed

There are two different ways that you can get past the frustrating “Obstructed” Workbench bug in Starfield. Before doing either however, you should first look to see if your Workbench might actually be obstructed by another construct on your outpost. There are have been plenty of times in which I’ve accidentally placed chairs or other minor objects at inopportune locations.

Image of a workbench highlighted in Editor mode in Starfield.
Open your hand scanner and dismantle your Workbench to replace it | Screenshot by Dot Esports

If there is nothing obstructing your Workbench but you are still receiving this error, then your first step should be to delete and then re-place the Workbench. You can do this by pulling up your hand scanner, going to Outpost mode, and then switching to Edit mode. After you delete your Workbench, I recommend placing it in a different location.

If this does not work either, then you need to reload a save. It does not need to be a previous save, as you can simply save the game where you currently are and then go into the menu to reload. Now that you have reloaded the game, your Workbench should be restored to its full capacity.

In an even more drastic case, you might need to restart your entire game. Even after these fixes the bug might still appear, though this is something that Bethesda will hopefully address in coming Starfield updates.

Author
Image of Blaine Polhamus
Blaine Polhamus
Staff Writer for Dot Esports. Avid gamer for two decades and gaming writer for three years. I'm a lover of anything Souls-like since 2011. I cover everything from single-player RPGs to MMOs.