Is Steam not responding on your computer? Here are 7 solutions

For the past months, many game players have noticed the Steam platform stops working properly. Some players found Steam Client Bootstrapper is not responding, some players logged in to their accounts and only to found Steam stops responding. Those issues are most likely to be caused by such as an outdated graphics driver, file system error, antivirus interference, and other reasons.

Note: To get the best possible game performance on the Steam platform, it is wise to upgrade your hard drive to a faster SSD with a powerful disk manager like MiniTool Partition Wizard.

Below are a few solutions which you can try to fix Steam issues. Just keep reading to get the detailed instructions.

Fix 1: Update graphics driver

In some cases, Steam stops responding because the graphics driver is outdated or corrupted. To fix the problem, you need to update your graphics driver to the latest version in Device Manager. After that, restart your computer to check if Steam not responding issue has been resolved. If it still exists, try the next method.

Fix 2: Check the file system error

The file system errors on the hard drive will affect the proper function of the applications installed on it. If your Steam Client Bootstrapper has stopped working, perhaps there’s something wrong with your hard drive. Therefore, you can try checking the file system for your hard drive to fix this issue.

You can use Windows 10 CHKDSK utility to check and repair your hard drive errors and here’s how to do it.

1. Open File Explorer, right-click the drive where your Steam is installed and choose Properties.
2. In the pop-up window, switch to the Tools tab and click the “Check” button.
3. Click “Scan drive” to start checking the selected drive for file system errors.

Apart from the Windows built-in tool, you can also use a professional third-party utility.  MiniTool Partition Wizard, the reliable partition manager, provides a feature of “Check File System” to help you check and repair your hard drive errors easily as well, and you can feel free to have a try.

1. Install the program and launch it to get the main interface.
2. Right-click the partition where your Steam is installed and choose “Check File System” from the pop-up menu. You can also choose the “Check File System” feature from the “Check Partition” section in the left pane.
3. In the pop-up window, choose the “Check & fix detected errors” option and click the “Start” button.

After checking and repairing the hard drive errors, you should get Steam not responding issue resolved. If the issue persists, please read on.

Fix 3: Update the date and time

If your Steam Client Bootstrapper has stopped working, perhaps the date and time settings on your computer are incorrect. You can proceed with the following steps to update the date and time.

1. Open Windows “Settings” and go to “Time & Language” > “ Date & time”.
2. Click “Add clocks for different time zones” from the right pane.
3. In the pop-up window, switch to the “Internet Time” tab and click the “Change settings” button.
4. Check “Synchronize with an Internet time server”. Choose a server from the drop-down list and click “Update now”. At last, click OK to save all changes.

Fix 4: Disable compatibility mode

Some users found that they encountered Steam Client Bootstrapper not responding issue due to the compatibility issue. When they stopped running it in compatibility mode, Steam starts working nice and smoothly. As such, you can try disabling compatibility mode for your Steam.

1. End all the running processes related to Steam in “Task Manager”.
2. Right-click Steam shortcut or executable file and choose “Properties”.
3. Switch to the “Compatibility” tab and untick the “Run this program in compatibility mode for ”option.
4. Click “Apply” and OK to save the changes.

Fix 5: Disable VPN programs

According to the statement of Steam official, Steam not responding problem might be caused by VPN services issue, since most VPN programs are incompatible with Steam client. Therefore, try disabling your VPN programs temporarily or uninstalling them to check if the issue can be fixed.

If the problem appears again, you might need to reset your network Winsock settings. To do this, open your Command Prompt, input the command “netsh winsock reset catalog” and press “Enter”. Then, restart your computer to complete the reset and launch Steam as administrator to check if will respond.

Fix 6: Disable real-time scanning

Your antivirus programs might affect certain important files that are required by Steam to run smoothly. In this case, you can disable your antivirus temporarily, or specifically, disable real-time scanning for your Steam client. If you are using the built-in Windows Defender antivirus, you should add an exclusion for Steam.

Fix 7: Repair your Steam service

The Steam service failure might also lead to Steam not responding issue. To fix this, you can try repairing the Steam service with the steps below.

1. Exit Steam and end all the related processes.
2. Type “cmd” in the Run dialog and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to run Command Prompt as administrator.
3. Input the command line “PATH” /repair and press Enter. PATH should be replaced by the actual path of your Steam service, such as “C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\bin\SteamService.exe” /repair.

Story by Amanda Ko