Download failed: HTTP error 0 or Fatal steam error steam needs to be online

[Crimson]

I've had this issue for a day now and have been attempting to fix it for 7 hours straight to no avail. I tried downloading steamcmd for easier mod installation on a game but realised it refused to download and so I went through all of the normal trouble shooting such as: restarting router, connecting to a different network, disabling the automatic settings in lan, lowering the internet security to medium, downloading the best up to date network driver, disabling all firewalls + AVs (router and windows defender) but it all did nothing.

Then another website said to reinstall the steam client, so I attempted to but then I had the same issue once again. Fatal error steam needs to be online, everything else was working fine and I could log into steam on my website and my laptop but just not here? I deleted it from the registry using the editor and used the add or remove programs alongside the uninstaller but it simply would not work.

In the end I got both steamcmd and the client by downloading functioning ones from my laptop and can connect to the servers fine and download games/mods fine, just not steamcmd and the client? Please help.

tl;dr: can't download packages from steamcmd or the steam installer unless I get semi-up-to-date files from my laptop

[Iteration: Al Terra]

Hi, necroing a thread here but did you ever get this fixed? I'm having a similar issue on an older laptop I'm trying to turn into a server for a game called Avorion. The log says "Error: download failed: http error 0" and "Error: Steam needs to be online to update. Please confirm your network connection and try again. Shutdown" I've done all the fixes I can find online, changing my DNS settings, reducing the internet security to medium, and nothing is doing anything whatsoever. If it helps, the OS is Windows 8.1, which is very old and buggy, but it's an old laptop which might not run anything newer. Anything hinting towards an answer would be greatly appreciated!

[Jacobin Laden]

Necro'ing this thread as well. Same issue as the OP with similar troubleshooting. I can get SteamCMD to install on my older Windows 10 pc, but my current Windows 11 desktop and laptop spit out the same http 0 error.

[Steve]

This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.