Steam client loads really slow. Steam game shortcuts are also very slow

[wolfish426]

Clicking on the steam shortcut on start menu or double clicking directly, loads the client very slowly. It takes about 20-30 seconds before even the "Connecting Steam Account: xxxx" popup shows.

The client itself is fine and very responsive, once its up.

Also, once the client has loaded and I close it so it goes into the background, clicking on the start menu shortcut, it takes the same 20-30 seconds to load. However, if i right click on the Steam icon in the taskbar and click on Store or Library, it loads up really fast.

The same thing happens to all the steam game shortcuts on the desktop. They take 20-30 seconds to load, but if i click on them through the Steam icon in the task bar or through the Library, they load up instantly.

This started happening about 2-3 days ago, as far as i can remember. I've googled and done all the suggested recommendations. I've done all of the following to no avail.

- Restarted my computer
- Cleared Web Browser data and Downloads cache from Steam settings.
- Made sure there is no proxy settings
- Unselected network auto detect settings in my network settings
- Reinstalled Steam
- Used DDU to uninstall video drivers and reinstalled the drivers
- Tried running Steam in compatibility mode, with Full screen optimization disabled, as admin

None of these have worked. Also, windows has not updated in the last few days. I've not installed anything in the last few days. And the video drivers were reinstalled after the issue.

My specs are:
AMD 7900x
Asus X670E motherboard
32GB RAM
NVidia 2080Ti Graphics Card
Samsung 980 Pro NVMe

Ohh, and I'm on Windows 11 Pro. Anyone got any suggestions?

Edit: I thought I'd add some videos to show what I'm talking about.
Here[imgur.com] is the video of when I click on Steam through Start Menu.
Here[imgur.com] is the video of when I click on Steam through Taskbar.

In both cases, Steam is already running in the background. Notice how long the Start Menu stays open after I click on the link. It feels as if the click isn't even register. This behaviour doesn't happen for any other software I've installed.

Edit 2: for anyone who comes to this post in the future, disabling the iGPU in the Device Manager fixed the issue for me

[Iceira]

Anything lesser then 200gb free work space, can cause longer load time, but it dont sounds like that issue, but if you dont mention such, then there will always be one steam user that has such.

ps.
other tsk is system idle, then you start steamdelayed startup is a thingy, same as give you 100 task and you run around and do little of all and get nowhere, thats not a joke we other just dont talk about it in win10, but it has always been there. ( to many task and why many start to reduce unnwsssary startup app, well its a complex issue depend what user want and need.

technicaly you dont need online client startup before system is done with bootup, but now we are over in the 100 if not 1000 diffrent hardware and how old pc are. ( most never or dont care about this,but lets says top ace pc or hardcore player care in how fast pc is. )
its simple not standard debat on how fast we want, because there will always be someone with better hardware that might have pc startup under 20 to 25sec on win10 cant say that still possible at win11 but i bet someone can say it is.

[wolfish426]

i have 2 nvme. both are 1TB. One is where Steam is installed along with Windows and the other is where the games are installed. Both are basically only 200gb USED.

[Iceira]

Good, then its not a filled disk then. ( as i said you seem to did all in topic, most have discovered, safe boot mode and msconfig, but you also might want to wait 24hours and see what other has to say.

check windows resource manager, do you have something that eat or drain system without you notice or cause issue.


game shortcuts
still require Online client is started, or you just made things worse then your try start a game witout its running.

[wolfish426]

I'm not really sure what you're suggesting, because the problem isn't with Windows startup speed. Steam is slow to load even after windows has loaded etc. How would delaying the steam on startup make the issue go away?

[no154370]

i think i believe the problem lies with here

1) startup tab in Task Manager

you got too many programs enabled to run after you log in to your Windows 11 account.

thus as a result, your CPU becomes extremely slow since it has to load all the Startup Programs all at the SAME TIME.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

here is a solution

i) open task manager

ii) go to startup tab

iii) disable majority of them (leave the realtek HD audio enabled, also leave the anti virus program enabled as well)

doing this will reduce the time Windows will Startup.

another thing to take note

a) don't let your anti virus program run its full system scan every single day automatically.

set it to run 2 to 3 times per week.

[no154370]

your CPU usage in Task Manager, i can guarantee is very high, almost as high as 100%.

Disk Usage too high also will cause the CPU to run slowly as well.

and if both are very high at the same time, your computer will run really slow.

p.s, i know because i monitor my CPU Usage and Disk Usage by leaving Task Manager open in the background

[wolfish426]

The issue isn't only during windows startup, but just as you suggested, I turned off all programs from startup in the Task Manager. Restarted Windows and when everything seemed to have loaded, I clicked on Steam. It was the same problem.

I made a video of what I'm seeing. Here[imgur.com] is what happens when I click on Steam from Start Menu. Notice how when i click on the shortcut, the start menu doesn't go away. At this point, Steam is already running in the background. I also run a CPU/GPU monitor through Rainmeter and CPU doesn't even go above 5% until Steam loads up.

And now look at how fast Steam loads up when I start it from the Taskbar. Here[imgur.com] is that video.

And this is only happening with Steam and no other program. Everything else loads instantly.

[Iceira]

As no154370 say , and that was the things i was think on, problem is most dont need it,

Same as other old steam post that mention this "No GPU hardware accelrations rendering" feel free to reduce steam settings, maybe it now effect your hardware or the new driver that cause issue with it.

Try small mode, its should be seen as thinest client option possible, problem is not most info on the subject other then just start the game. not even sure how much other steam service it give with it. ( seem them as test ways. )

And sense that is a AMD do check board chipset driver and BIOS, you can find crazy topic with AMD board user blaim thing on windows that board support should have told MS about chipset drivers, let's end that debat right here, MS dont make other brands board Driver. they are given to them by Brand support.

MS only test and try avoid core crash, they dont even care if they actual work.
thats your AMD support site that you need check that out just in case it matter here.

[wolfish426]

Well, small mode didn't help either. But I did manage to fix the issue. Your rant about AMD made me think that it might be the AMD iGPU causing conflict or something like that. So, I went into the Device Manager and disabled the iGPU from the Display adapters. And now the problem is fixed and Steam loads quickly.

I'm guessing in the background, I've got some AMD software running and it updated the driver or something on that iGPU, which caused this issue to start happening in the last few days. I'll have to figure that out and disable that auto update. But at least for now, its fixed.

Thanks for all the help and ideas, guys :)

TLDR: for anyone who comes to this post in the future, disabling the iGPU in the Device Manager fixed the issue for me

[Lunchables]

I had the same problem after installing a new CPU, and the only thing needed to fix the issue was disabling the AMD graphics driver! Thanks wolfish426!

[IGoWaS]

Same here. issue resolved by desabling Amd graphics Driver, from device manager. devmgmt.msc thx

[Mr. Hankey The Christmas Poo]

This solution works for me too. Thanks a lot!!

[👊 𝔾.𝔾.𝔾 👊]

Originally posted by wolfish426:

Well, small mode didn't help either. But I did manage to fix the issue. Your rant about AMD made me think that it might be the AMD iGPU causing conflict or something like that. So, I went into the Device Manager and disabled the iGPU from the Display adapters. And now the problem is fixed and Steam loads quickly.

I'm guessing in the background, I've got some AMD software running and it updated the driver or something on that iGPU, which caused this issue to start happening in the last few days. I'll have to figure that out and disable that auto update. But at least for now, its fixed.

Thanks for all the help and ideas, guys :)

TLDR: for anyone who comes to this post in the future, disabling the iGPU in the Device Manager fixed the issue for me

This solved it for me as well. Thanks!

I'm with AMD Ryzen 9 7950X on Windows 11 Pro, btw.

[KNoCKS]

wow it works, 7950x. disabled igpu and problem is gone

[thrasher204]

Originally posted by wolfish426:

TLDR: for anyone who comes to this post in the future, disabling the iGPU in the Device Manager fixed the issue for me

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! 7950x 3080ti and NVMW drives and it was slower than my old 4790k system.