Steam won't open

[Djsint2]

When I launch steam, it doesn't open. I opened task manager and I saw that "steam client Bootstrapper (32 bit)" starts running when I start steam.exe but it closes almost immediately. I run win10 and I never had this problem before. There are no crash reports. Opening steam.exe with administrator rights doesn't work.

[TheSarge1975]

Ok, just tried what you suggested, exact same outcome

[TheSarge1975]

Booted into safe mode with network, tried reinstalling steam, went through its downloading routine, tried starting steam and it did the same thing. I'm at a loss here 😞

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by TheSarge1975:

Booted into safe mode with network, tried reinstalling steam, went through its downloading routine, tried starting steam and it did the same thing. I'm at a loss here 😞

So just to summarize...

You can install Steam and as doing so, in safe mode with networking, you see the installation go fine, and the updates are actually downloaded and installed, and then suddenly, just as it is about to finish and launch, it crashes.

Does that sum it up ?

And forgive me for asking, but you are sure you are in safe mode WITH networking enabled in the boot options menu, correct ?

[TheSarge1975]

You are correct, it goes through all the downloading, installation and updating correctly then crashes on start.
Yes, in safe mode with networking

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by TheSarge1975:

You are correct, it goes through all the downloading, installation and updating correctly then crashes on start.
Yes, in safe mode with networking

Interesting..

I see earlier in the thread where you copied some files from a different computer over and did some merging and whatnot.

I will now suggest you try this....please read the following very carefully and do the steps all in order exactly. If you have games installed, you can move out your steamapps folder and keep that in a safe place, but as of now I am guessing you don't have games installed anymore due to all this trouble.

Fully and correctly uninstall Steam from your computer. Do that EXACTLY as shown here.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9609-OBMP-2526

After you do that, restart your computer BACK into safe mode with networking.

Now, while still in safe mode with networking, manually search your computer and see if you have any leftover files or folders from uninstalling Steam. If you do, then manually delete them.

EDIT..EXCEPT for steamapps if you saved it as explained above. Sorry about that.

Do you still have CCleaner installed ? If you do, delete the registry entries like you did before. Make a backup of the registry as CCleaner asks you to do. You should be able to launch CCleaner manually in safe mode with networking.

This should remove the empty registry keys from uninstalling Steam.

Now, restart your computer AGAIN into safe mode with networking. Steam should now be fully cleaned from your system.

Download a fresh new copy of the installer and while in safe mode with networking, install Steam to C:/Steam only. DO NOT install Steam in any other way, please, such as program files folders or any UAC protected areas of your computer.

http://store.steampowered.com/about/

When you run it this time, see if you notice improvement.

[TheSarge1975]

I will do this today and get back to you

[Bad 💀 Motha]

You never have to install or uninstall Steam Client.
Installing Steam Client is as easy as putting Steam.exe where you want it to ultimately reside, and running that with the Run As Admin option.

To trick an uninstall with Steam; simply rename the Steam folder, then run CCleaner and do the Registry cleaning, this will flag any entry with Steam because now that folder is missing since you renamed it. Once the now-dead registry links are cleared out. Rename what was your steam folder, back to being Steam, then go into that folder, right click Steam.exe and click Run As Admin, this will effectively reinstall Steam. Again, most apps will never work when you try doing it this way, but for Steam, yes it can easily work this way.

If you still have issues, remove all the files from Steam folder, except what I referred to in Post#18

If you continue to have issues, it is usually due to your lack of rights to a folder, simply change that so you have full control.

Again, lack of folder rights being the default under Win8/10, is one reason to never install Steam Client into the Program Files structure, cause the OS deems that no user has full control/admin rights when something is installed there.

[TheSarge1975]

Did everything as described, in safe mode with networking, same bloody result! What the hell did steam do?

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by TheSarge1975:

Did everything as described, in safe mode with networking, same bloody result! What the hell did steam do?

Reinstall the entire OS, something is obviously wrong on that system then.

[TheSarge1975]

All I did was shut down my perfectly pc working with steam, goto bed, wake up, start pc, steam downloaded an update, now it doesn't work, nothing changed on my pc except the steam download. I have win updates set to manual, as always (not that I don't trust old billy gates, but ...), so nothing else changed except steam.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by TheSarge1975:

All I did was shut down my perfectly working with steam over, goto bed, wake up, start pc, steam downloaded an update, now it doesn't work, nothing changed on my pc except the steam download. I have win updates set to manual, as always (not that I don't trust old billy gates, but ...), so nothing else changed except steam.

If it was as simple as that, then a steam repair or reinstall would fix the issue.
Again you can grab Steam.exe, stick it somewhere else and run it, it restalls Steam into that location, if its not running right after doing this, then there is something else that is the problem, not Steam.

And in the future, exit apps properly, such as Clients for Steam/Uplay/Origin, Web Browsers, etc. If you shutdown your OS without doing that, they think they have crashed, cause they were essentially force-closed due to the pc shutdown process.

[TheSarge1975]

Oh and windows is up to date, with no recent downloads

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by TheSarge1975:

Oh and windows is up to date, with no recent downloads

Try this then. In Windows, create a new user (local account only / for testing purposes) and give it Admin status/rights. Then reboot the PC and login to this new user. Then go on Steam and grab the installer > http://store.steampowered.com/about

Install Steam into a different location, such as C:\Steam for example, then try using that one and see if working properly.

[TheSarge1975]

I appreciate your help, but I'm damed if I'm gona reinstall my os just to fix steam, I'll live without it. been shutting down pc with steam on it like that for years now. Thanks for all your help though, everyone. Certainly been immensely more help than steam itself, still waiting for a reply from them full stop!

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by TheSarge1975:

I appreciate your help, but I'm damed if I'm gona reinstall my os just to fix steam, I'll live without it. been shutting down pc with steam on it like that for years now. Thanks for all your help though, everyone. Certainly been immensely more help than steam itself, still waiting for a reply from them full stop!

I just said try a different user. This will be very simple way to test and shouldn't take you but maybe a few minutes in all.