“Steam Takes Forever To Open”: A Handy Guide To Resolve The Issue

March 3, 2022

If you are fond of gaming you must be a quite familiar with Steam and might be having an account on the portal. This online gaming store is bundled with lots of features for gamers and is rightly the first choice of many players. But, in spite of that several users in recent past have reported about a common issue where Steam takes forever to open. This blog article will address this issue and suggest some solutions for speeding up the Steam process and help you resolve Steam takes forever to open error.

Before going on to discuss about the fixes, let’s get to know the reasons as if why does Steam takes so long to launch?

Table of Contents

Reasons Behind Steam Takes Forever To Open:

There could be numerous causes acting as a source of this problem, we have enlisted a few of the most common reasons behind the occurrence of Steam takes forever to open issue. Here’s the list:

Admin Permissions
Compatibility Issues with Operating System
Corrupted Files
Cookies and Cache
Enabled Family Sharing Feature
Proxy Settings On Computer
Third-party Antivirus
Problems with Background Applications

Having known about the reasons that might hinder the launch of the gaming platform, let’s step further to learn and understand about solutions to fix this issue on Steam.

Methods to Fix the Steam Takes Forever to Open Issue:

Fix#1: Perform Power Cycle

The first and foremost troubleshooting method to be considered is to restart your system by performing the power cycle. Below are the steps to do so:

Shut down your computer and unplug the power cable from the socket.
Also power off your router as well and take the plug out.
Now wait for about 2 minutes and then plug in the power cable for router and once it acquires full signal strength, turn on your computer.

Now open Steam and check if the issue got resolved.

Fix#2: Run Steam as an administrator

If the problem is due to Admin permissions then you must go on to run the Steam with admin privileges and it might work for you to get rid of Steam takes forever to open error. To run Steam as an administrator you need to undertake steps mentioned below:

Look for the Steam shortcut on your desktop, make a right-click on it and select “Properties”.
Now go to the “Compatability” tab and check the box provided next to “Run this program as an administrator:”
Lastly click on “OK” and check if the issue is fixed or not.

Fix#3: Run Steam in Compatibility Mode

Yet another reason behind this problem is Steam’s compatibility issues with your operating system. To overcome this you can run the Steam in Compatibility Mode by performing the steps as under:

Look for the Steam shortcut on your desktop, make a right-click on it and select “Properties”.
Now go to the “Compatability” tab and check the box provided next to “Run this program in Compatibility Mode for” option.
In addition to that you must also select a Windows version lower than the one you are currently using on your PC and apply it to settings.

Now see if the Steam launches correctly or not.

Fix#4: Scan for corrupted files

Possibly there may be some corrupted files on your system which are preventing the Steam to open. You can fix the issue by simply scanning for such files. To perform the scanning process you are required to follow these steps:

Go to the taskbar, and type “Command Prompt”, right-click on it and select “Run as Administrator” from the menu.
Now here type the command “sfc /scannow” and press enter.

Wait till the scan process gets completed and then open the Steam and see whether Steam takes forever to open error still persists or is eradicated.

Fix#5: Clear cookie and cache from Steam browser

In case Steam takes forever to open error is resulted due to the Steam cookie and cache, you can fix it by clearing the cookie and cache from Steam’s browser. This can be done by following the instructions given below:

Navigate to the Steam home screen, click on the “Steam” icon provided at the top-left corner of the client’s window and then select “Settings”.
Now go to the “Web Browser” tab and click on the “Delete web browser cache” and “Delete all browser cookies” options.

Additionally you must try to get rid of Steam’s download cache as well as HTML cache using the next two methods.

Fix#6: Clear Steam’s download cache

Navigate to the Steam home screen, click on the “Steam” icon provided at the top-left corner of the client’s window and then select “Settings”.
Now go to the “Downloads” tab and then click “Clear Download cache”.

Fix#7: Delete HTML Cache

Open run box using “Windows + R” and search for “%temp%”.
Now select all files present here by pressing “Ctrl + A” and click on the “Delete” key.
Next to that navigate to the desktop, right-click on the Steam’s shortcut and select “Open File Location”.
Open the “App cache” folder and now delete the “httpcache” folder located therein.
Again open the run box and search for “%localappdata%”.
Open the “Steam” folder and then delete the folder named as “httpcache”.

After clearing the cookies and cache using above three methods, check if the steam takes forever to open issue is resolved.

Fix#8: Uninstall and Reinstall Steam

Another way to fix this problem is by un-installing the Stream app and then re-installing it back again. To do so you need to proceed as follows:

Navigate to the path C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam in your directory and take a backup of the “steamapps ” folder.
Open the run box by pressing “Windows + I” and search for “appwiz.cpl”.
Right-click on the “Steam” and then select “Uninstall”.
Now openyour preferred browser and download the Steam from here.
Once it is downloaded, double click the setup file to get it installed by following the on-screen instructions.
After the Steam client is installed, copy the “steamapps” folder which you have taken a backup and paste it in the Steam directory. (Note: This steamapps folder will replace the newly created steamapps folder.)

Now launch Steam and check if the problem is fixed.

Fix#9: Disable Family Sharing

In order to get rid of Steam takes forever to open error you can try to disable Family Sharing feature on Steam as this might be a potent source for this issue. To disable Family Sharing on Steam follow the steps mentioned underneath:

Navigate to the Steam home screen and click the “Steam” icon provided at the top-left corner of the client’s window and then select “Settings”.
Go to the “Family” tab and uncheck the box provided next to the “Authorize library sharing on this computer” option given underneath the “Family Library Sharing” section and apply these change.

Now launch Steam and check whether the problem is rectified or not.

Fix#10: Pull Proxy Settings

Proxy settings on your computer is yet another reason behind the occurrence of this error, thus you must try to tweak proxy settings using following steps:

Open the run box by pressing “Windows +R” and search for “Control Panel”.
Go to the “Network and Internet” option and then click on “Internet Options”.
Now head to the “Connections” tab and then click on the “LAN settings” options.
Uncheck the box provided next to “Use a Proxy server for your LAN” and then check the box next to “Automatically detect settings”.
Lastly, press “OK” to apply the changes.

Now check if the issue occurs or is resolved by now.

Fix11: Change Steam’s Priority

One way to fix the problem is to change priority of Steam. This can be done by performing the tasks as under:

Open “Task Manager” by pressing “Ctrl + Shift + Esc”.
Select “Steam” underneath the “Details” tab, right-click it and then set the priority to “High” usingthe options from menu.

Fix12: Disable Third-party Antivirus

In case you have installed some third-party Antivirus on your system which might be interfering with the launch of Steam client, hence you can try to get over the situation by disabling it with the help of following instructions:

Locate the “^” icon providedat the bottom right of the taskbar and then right-click the Avast icon.
Take the cursor to the “Avast Shield Control” and then select the “Disable Permanently” option.

This will disable your antivirus software and it might possibly resolve the issue.

Fix13: Disable Unwanted Background Applications

Another likelihood of facing this issue could be the unnecessary applications running in the background which are consuming a lot of CPU processes and system memory thereby preventing the Steam to launch. You can resolve the problem by disabling all the unwanted background applications by performing following steps:

Open the “Task Manager” using “Ctrl + Shift + Esc” and go to the “Processes” tab.
Here locate all the processes which are consuming a lot of “CPU” and “Memory”, and select them one by one and then click on “End Task”.
Next to that, open run box using “Windows + R” and type “msconfig”.
Thereafter click “Services” and then the “Hide all Microsoft Services” option.
Now select the “Disable all” button and click on “Startup Tab”.
Open Task Manager from there only by selecting “Open Task Manager” button.
Select all services separately and click on “Disable”.

Having performed the above steps you would be able to disable all the unwanted applications and services, and it might help you to resolve the said error.

Hopefully, you will manage to fix the steam takes forever to open issue by using the solutions provided above in the article.

How to Transfer Steam Money to PayPal Account