Solution 1: Disconnecting Xbox 360 controller and disabling beta
There seemed to be a bug in Steam beta and the Xbox 360 (even PS4) controller. The solution is quite easy. First, you have to disconnect the controllers and after opting out of the beta version, launch Steam again. Follow the steps listed below:
Or if you installed Steam in another directory, you can browse to that directory and you can proceed with steps mentioned below.
Solution 2: Clearing your download cache
Your download cache includes items that either update files or downloaded data from Steam. This folder is used as temporary storage until the updates are installed into your directory. There can be many instances when your files may get corrupt either due to network failure or some internal error. We can try clearing the download cache to fix the Bootstrapper issue. After relaunching Steam, it will download the files we deleted again and update them.
Solution 3: Running the client as administrator
Any working software needs two permissions; to read from the drive and write on it. Failure or denial to perform any of the two actions may cause Steam to act unexpectedly and crash. Hence, in this case, it is possible that Steam might not have some specific authorities which are needed to launch which is why the bootstrapper fails to load. You can also try running Steam as an administrator.
Solution 4: Disabling Cortana
Many users reported that disabling Microsoft’s digital assistant (Cortana) solved their issue. Cortana has administrator privileges and monitors your actions and gathers data so it can serve you well. In many cases, this can conflict with your software (in this case Steam) and cause unexpected errors. Disabling Cortana isn’t as simple as it used to be. When Windows 10 was launched, you could easily disable Cortana by just a flip of an option. However, after the upgrades, Microsoft removed the option completely. However, there is still away. We can edit the registry after creating a system restore point in case anything goes wrong.
If this solution doesn’t work and you want Cortana to come back, you can enter the Registry Editor the way described and delete the folder we just made. After restarting your PC, Cortana should be available again.
Solution 5: Disabling VPN programs
Steam support officially responded to the problem by stating that your VPN services can be the issue. They recently identified several categories of programs (which provided masking or VPN) to be incompatible with Steam. We can give it a shot by disabling the VPN programs or temporarily uninstalling them and starting Steam again. Please make sure that they are uninstalled completely because if some remnants of the program are left, they might still interfere with Steam. Always remember that a full system boot is mandatory after the uninstallation of this software to ensure that the registry has been successfully updated. If this still doesn’t work, we can try completely resetting your OS networking support. Please note that this should be done as a last resort (even if re-installing Steam doesn’t work which is mentioned in the later solutions). Come back to this part, if the last solution doesn’t work.
Solution 6: Checking if Steam is running in compatibility mode
We can check if your Steam is running in compatibility mode. In some cases, Steam runs incompatibility after sensing your operating system. The main role of a compatibility mode is to help older programs run in newer versions of Windows. Windows pretends (towards that app) that it is an older version so the application can run more smoothly and efficiently. However, this may prove to be a problem sometimes when Steam itself has moved on from the previous version to the newer one but the settings are still enabled.
Or if you installed Steam in another directory, you can browse to that directory and you can proceed with steps mentioned below.
Solution 7: Adding Steam to your antivirus exceptions
Steam has a history to get flagged by anti-virus programs and get blacklisted. The client may not be able to perform regularly if it isn’t added to the exceptions list. Steam doesn’t harm your computer in any way; even if it does get flagged you have nothing to worry about it exploiting your computer in any way. We have listed a number of ways to add steam as an exception to antivirus software. If you don’t find your desired antivirus below, you can always head over to its official site and follow the instructions. McAfee Antivirus: McAfee has no way to exclude certain files from its real-time scanning. The only way is to disable the antivirus entirely until the game is updated. To do this, open McAfree and select “Virus and Spyware Protection”. Here you find the option of “Real-Time Scanning”. Click that option and turn it off.
Then follow the following instruction to verify the integrity of game files. Hopefully, after performing the above steps, your Steam won’t give any issue.
ESET NOD32 NOD32 has the tendency to mark some application files as malicious and will most probably quarantine it. This often results in the error while updating a game. Browse to your current Steam directory and copy the address Or if you installed Steam in another directory, you can browse to that directory and you can proceed with steps mentioned below. After copying the address open ESET NOD32 and paste the location in “exclude from real-time scanning“. Follow the ‘verify integrity of game files’ method listed above and you will be all good.
Kaspersky AV Kaspersky may sometimes flag Steam as an intruder and disable it from making any changes to the hard drive. To fix this, head over to ‘threats and exclusions’. Navigate to ‘trusted zone’ and add Steam.exe as a trusted application. Remember to change the settings to Do not restrict application activity as well as Do not scan opened files. Follow the ‘verify integrity of game files’ method listed above and restart your computer.
Solution 8: Refreshing Steam files
If all the mentioned solutions don’t work, it means that there is a bad file in your Steam’s operating files. We have no specific way to pinpoint the exact files that are giving us trouble. The most we can do is check the logs for any errors that Steam generated. An example of an error is this: The number written first in the URL is your APPID, in this case (346110) is the AppID for ARK Survival Evolved.
Or if you installed Steam in another directory, you can browse to that directory and you can proceed with steps mentioned below.
Steam.exe (Application)SteamApps (Folder)
Solution 9: Perform Clean Startup
In some cases, a clean reinitialized startup of the computer might get rid fo this issue on your computer and if you think you have already tried this, you might be wrong. Some computers are configured in such a way that they turn off completely but some of the launch data is written to the RAM and this prevents a complete reinitialization of the computer. Therefore, in this step, we will first be configuring your computer to perform a clean startup and after that, we will be checking to see if performing one actually fixes this issue with Steam. For that:
Method 10: Disable Antivirus Program
In some cases, allowing the client through the Antivirus might not help you in overcoming this issue on your computer and it still might be preventing some functions of the Steam client from running properly. Therefore, it is recommended that you try to temporarily disable your Antivirus program completely and then try to run the Steam Client. If the client runs fine, it means that the issue lies with the Antivirus and you can move on towards trying to fix the Antivirus instead of Steam.
Method 11: Update GPU Drivers.
Another issue that some people encountered while trying to run the Steam client is that it sometimes tries to use the GPU resources during the launching process and if your drivers aren’t properly configured to allow this use, the error message is displayed. Therefore, in this step, we will be attempting to update the GPU drivers and in doing so, we should be able to fix this issue. For that:
Method 12: Reset TCP/IP
The command that we will be using in this method is commonly used to reset the TCP/IP connection. TCP/IP stands for transmission control protocol/Internet Protocol, it is a type of protocol used to communicate with other computers. If TCP/IP setting on your computer has been glitched or bugged, even though you might be able to ping a computer on your network, you won’t be able to pull some webpages correctly and your internet will work for some addresses while for others, it won’t be able to work properly. Furthermore, we will also be resetting the Winsock to recover the computer from any socket errors that can arise if you have been downloading suspicious or unverified files on your computer or if you have run a malicious script or even if you have been surfing unsecured websites. Winsock issues are a common example of the number of things that can go wrong on a Windows computer with the network and in this step, we will be executing a couple of commands from your command prompt to fix these issues, however, keep in mind that none of these should damage any file that isn’t automatically regenerated by the computer so you don’t need to worry about losing any files.
Method 13: Install Steam On A Different Hard Drive
Sometimes the drive that Steam installs itself on may be affected by file corruption, or may not have enough room for the various updates that Steam requires now and then. In fact, there are a bunch of issues that may be related to the drive on which Steam is stored. If the option is available to you, changing the drive where Steam is located could solve the Steam Client problem. This process is similar to that of reinstalling, except obviously this time you’re changing the desired location before you re-download Steam. Before starting, remember to back up your files in case anything goes wrong.
Method 14: Update the Date And Time Settings
Date and Time settings on your computer are used by the network services verify a server’s security certificate. If the date and time settings have been configured incorrectly, the security certificate of the server might appear to the network services as suspicious and they might not allow the computer to connect to that server. Therefore, in this step, we will be updating the Date and Time Settings. For that:
Method 15: Refresh Client Registry
Steam’s registry is prone to the occasional hiccup where it gets stuck in a loop preventing the client from fully loading. This options, however, is only available for some users so make sure to check if the file is actually available in your Steam Client folder before following through with the instructions. In order to refresh the Client Registry:
Method 16: Check File System For Your HardDrive
In some cases, if the harddrive’s file system has been rendered corrupted or mismanaged, you might be unable to properly launch the Steam client because its launching process will be halted due to a mismanaged file system due to which it won’t be able to properly retrieve its files. Apart from the Windows built-in tool, you are recommended to use a professional third-party utility MiniTool Partition Wizard. As a reliable partition manager, this utility provides a feature of Check File System to help you check and repair your hard drive errors. This seems a bit more convenient than using the default tool so we recommend you try this out.
Method 17: Delete a Config File
In some cases, it is possible that a certain config file for Steam might’ve been corrupted or you might’ve selected some incorrect configurations on your Steam client due to which you are running into this error. Luckily, we can easily remove this file from the computer and Steam should generate it automatically without the loss of any data. However, you might see a reset in some preferences that you might’ve set. In order to do this: Workaround: Finally, if you’re still struggling to get Steam up and running, there’s a wide community you can go to for help. They have message boards that are worth looking at, as you may find someone has already asked a similar query and received helpful advice. If that’s unsuccessful, you can then post your own question on the forum and wait for responses. Chances are, with the number of gamers Steam attracts, plenty of people have had similar experiences. Of course, there’s also the general support section on the Steam website that could be of use. They have a fairly thorough list of help topics that range from gaming issues to problems signing in.
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