Steam Won’t Open: 10 Ways to fix it in 2024

All gamers of the world, know that Steam is the world’s leading gaming platform with a high level of complexity, which increases the possibility of bugs and errors. So, if you sometimes face software issues due to small design bugs, that is normal. But here, you might ask yourself what will happen if you suddenly face the app doesn’t launch on your PC. Here, we want to discuss this topic, and after finding out why it happens, we will mention the top ten ways of solving this issue. So, don’t waste time and keep reading to learn how to fix Steam won’t open issues. 

Why steam won’t open?

Before I count the top solutions that might help you solve your Steam issue, I want to go deeper and find out why you might face such a problem. Generally speaking, this problem can be caused by various reasons, as simple as Steam processes not closing in the background or other software interfering to more complicated reasons such as congested Steam server or corrupted Steam files and other factors. Also, when you have trouble connecting to Steam, it might be due to Steam undergoing maintenance, or you have a problem connecting to your local network or ISP.  No matter which of the above items is your case, if you desperately want a solution to this problem, save time and dive into the next paragraph to find the best solution for your case.

10 Ways to fix steam not opening

Finally, it is time to find the best answer to the “How can I fix Steam won’t open issue?” question. To find the best answer for your special case, check the below items to find the one that helps you. As you know, there is no need to check them all because just one of them can solve your issue.

Check the Steam server:

Like all similar issues, the first fix in this case would be to check if the Steam server is down. If you don’t know how to do it, there is nothing to worry about because it is as simple as checking the “steamstat.us” page and seeing if others reported the same issue. Unfortunately, if this is your case, you cannot do anything to solve it instead of waiting.

Restart your device:

The next simple solution that works in many cases and will solve simple issues is to shut down the computer and router it, then unplug the power cables from the router and plug them in a few minutes to see if it helps you overcome this error or not.

Close the Steam tasks:

This item would be a bit more complicated than the previous solutions, but there is nothing to worry if you want to try it but don’t know how, just follow the below steps and see the result:

1. Right-click on the Taskbar and choose Task Manager.
2. Look for all the running Steam processes, like Steam Client Service, Steam Client WebHelper, and Steam Client Bootstrapper, then right-click on them and select End task.
3. Again, launch Steam to see if it opens normally.

Reinstall Steam:

If none of the above solutions could help you solve your problem, you might think about reinstalling Steam to solve the problem and save a lot of work. If this is your case please be careful about ending all Steam-related processes in Task Manager and back up game files in “steamapps” and “userdata” before reinstalling.

Clear the app cache:

The “appcache” folder in Steam is where various data about Steam apps and setup is stored. It means every time you open Steam, it remembers little details, which might be wrong, like corrupted files. So it could result in Steam not opening on your Windows system during that time. The good news is that you can solve this issue easily by following the below steps:

1. First, press the “Windows + R” keys and type “C: Program Files (x86)Steam”. 
2. Copy the “appcache” folder to your desktop as a backup, then delete it.
3. Now, launch Steam and see if it opens like before.

Pay attention, if your Steam program opens normally after this process, you can delete the “appcache” backup because a new folder will be created from now on instead of the original.

Update your Windows:

Follow the below steps and try a more recent update if you think this problem is due to a faulty operating system update to see if it solves your issue.

1. Click the Start button and select Settings.
2. Scroll down to select Update & Security.
3. Select “Windows Update” from the left list and tap “Check for updates” below the Update status.
4. Wait a few minutes to download available updates and install them.
5. Here, you can restart your computer and let the new update go into effect.

Pay attention, this tutorial update might be a bit different based on your Windows type, so you can check it on Google by adding your Windows model to the “how to update my Windows” state.

Try Steam in compatibility mode:

Sometimes, the Steam version is incompatible with your Windows, mostly when it is Windows 10. In this case, the best solution is to run Steam in compatibility mode to see if it helps you solve your problem or not.

1. Right-click on the Steam icon and choose Properties.
2. Go to the Compatibility tab and find “Run this game in compatibility mode for” under the Compatibility mode box.
3. Choose a Windows version from the drop-down box.
4. Mark “Run this program as an administrator” option.
5. Click Apply and tap on OK to save the changes.
6. And lastly, restart Steam to see if it works.

Disable antivirus programs:

If you are among those who used to run antivirus software on your system, you should know that they usually hook deep into user systems and might cause issues with Steam. If this might be your issue, you can temporarily disable the antivirus software to see the result. 

1. Press the “Windows + R” keys and type “gpedit.msc” and open Local Group Policy Editor.
2. Go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components. 
3. Choose the name of your Antivirus (i.e. Windows Defender Antivirus) and double click “Turn off Windows Defender Antivirus”.
4. Check the Enabled option and click Apply and OK to save the changes.
5. Restart the computer to apply the changes.

Update all hardware drivers:

Sometimes, this issue would be due to out-of-date drivers, which you can simply solve by following the below steps and updating these drivers.

1. Press the “Windows + X” keys and choose Device Manager from the pop-up menu.
2. Expand the directory and tap on Update driver. 

Pay attention, you should update all hardware drivers to get the best result.

Test RAM:

As the final option, you can test your RAM to see if some problems cause Steam clients to be interfered with. The following steps are used for checking RAM problems. You may want to replace the RAM sticks to resolve this issue and ensure Steam functions normally.

1. Close all running programs by pressing the “Windows + R” keys and typing “mdsched.exe”.
2. Choose “Restart now and check for problems”.
3. Your computer will restart and run a memory check at this level in a few minutes.
4. The computer will reboot automatically, then you can type “eventvwr” in the run window.
5. Go to Windows Logs > System.
6. Click “Filter Current Log” in the right box.
7. Here, you can Check “MemoryDiagnostics-Results” and display all result logs of the memory test.
8. Finally, double-click the result logs and find the detailed information.

Also Read: “Free Steam Games“

Conclusion:

Previously, you read that the “steam won’t open” issue could be due to different cases, from simple ones to more complicated reasons. But no matter, what the reason is, you can solve it by using one of the top 10 solutions mentioned above, such as restarting your device, closing the Steam tasks, reinstalling the Steam, clearing the app cache, updating your windows, and so on. If you still have a question not answered above or any experience about solving the steam won’t open problem that want to share with us, you can use the comments below and type it there.