"steamwebhelper.exe" not responding no matter what

[DieVirulenz]

Hi there,

a friend of mine has been having constant issues with "steamwebhelper.exe" not responding and so far nothing we came up with worked at all.

Here is a list of things we tried:

- Restarting Steam when it happens leads to the same issue
- Starting Steam with the "-no-browser" option
- Reinstalling steam (both to the default location and on a different harddrive)
- Restarting the webhelper with both GPU acceleration and sandboxing disabled
- Deleting "steamwebhelper.exe" and having Steam redownload it
- Clearing steam browser and download caches (both via menu and filesystem)
- Opting for STEAM Beta client
- Adding the "steamwebhelper.exe" and the whole steam folder to the Windows Defender Exceptions list
- Checked firewall settings for steam
- We replaced the RAM (16GB) as we thought it might have been the issue, which it wasnt

Some additional notes:
- There is no additional Antivirus on the system which is Windows 10 and up to date
- When starting the PC and waiting a while so all services come up the error occurs. Starting steam right after being on the desktop seems to work, but we could not identify any services that might cause the issue
- The issue has been going on for a while
- After the dialogue for the non responsive "steamwebhelper.exe" the main Steam window opens but browser and Friends list wont show up

We have been browsing the web up and down and saw a lot of these issues occur but so far no fix seems to remedy it.

So any input regarding this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot in advance!

[Rick & Morty]

Try delete the steam user data some say that help, other might want to test with safe boot mode to ruleout interference, ( same can be said with windows userdata, test with other windows login user to ruleout own windows system data ( other hardcore way use a spare disk to install windows and then test with steam. such is way then you want to try figureout what cause this, or you just want to play.

Do note othe have this, but thatsd not sme as all steam have this. afaik .

If we knew what cause this then i bet we will have told you. ( even some blaim it on steam collection. ) this is not that simple, then all should have it, and we dont.

ps.
do not have other system issue

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /Restorehealth
SFC /Scannow

Google them cmd, if you dont know better

Sme with steam flush cmd.

I dont say they help, sense other already tryied them and fail.

And why ppl need to go down in steam user under windows user profile and wipe data, and then they claim it work for them.

ps.
Dont forget steam is support not us here, we only learn from the past with back to default and prrof its not own pc that cause this.
that mean windows installed and then steam. that was the ways in the old days.
you only instal whats needed, to test it do work , and why spare disk can be seen as a good idea as steam test.

just understand the process of faulthy finding that is what you try to do here. ( so you can explan to them, if they are wrong or have a point with something interference or effect steam.system.

ps.
what do you want us other to say here then it work for many others. man i hope you have the skill to understand it, we do not say you are not right.

do not get caugh in PC BIOS and BRAND board driver or chipset driver is not update,
i cant see its that here. ( but as i said you dont want own pc issue atm.

and you check own support page, i give 2cent for auto update my pc app, i have seen them fail and not doing its job before.

and we are back at proof its steam, im sure they will hear of this test.

a clean windows install and then steam, pretty much simple as it can get.
has nothing to do with me, this is you that try proof to steam, are they have a issue or are you blocking it or do ISP do.

[Rick & Morty]

could also say test with other pc.
( most get caught in this, work at other pc but not own. ) this is what is seen i get busted.
nothing wrong with get caught with a issue, but thast how you proof you did.


ps.
you should also get out of beta and all the other option you did, you are not the only one that out of the blue get a beta client issue, and forgot you was in beta for years.

Beta should be seen as emergency only

[DieVirulenz]

Thanks for taking the time and response.

We also checked with SFC and DISM to no avail.

But thanks a lot for the input. Steam really should step up a bit here.

[Rick & Morty]

You do know make another windons user is seen as load windows basic and test with steam.
its one of them issue, you test its not windows userdata that cause steam issue.

[bidulless]

Originally posted by DieVirulenz:

Thanks for taking the time and response.

We also checked with SFC and DISM to no avail.

But thanks a lot for the input. Steam really should step up a bit here.

hello
Just may be curious but is your friend using a "modded" w10 ? or a laptop ?
You know , he can come here and use it browser to post himself it issue we won't bite him xd ...

[DieVirulenz]

Originally posted by bidulless:

Originally posted by DieVirulenz:

Thanks for taking the time and response.

We also checked with SFC and DISM to no avail.

But thanks a lot for the input. Steam really should step up a bit here.

hello
Just may be curious but is your friend using a "modded" w10 ? or a laptop ?
You know , he can come here and use it browser to post himself it issue we won't bite him xd ...

Nope none of that, hes just too lazy, and it bugs me more than him to be quite frank xD

[bidulless]

Originally posted by DieVirulenz:

Originally posted by bidulless:

hello
Just may be curious but is your friend using a "modded" w10 ? or a laptop ?
You know , he can come here and use it browser to post himself it issue we won't bite him xd ...

Nope none of that, hes just too lazy, and it bugs me more than him to be quite frank xD

hello
All i can suggest you is first and only in this order ;
- exist steam
- delete folder located at C:\Users\yourusernumber\AppData\Local\Steam
- uninstall steam from the software panel.
- navigate to it old setup folder and delete it ( steam folder )
- download a fresh steamsetup.exe from the store and run it in order to install steam again.
- launch steam and sign up
do all that , it can be a good start, at least bases are correct in this case.
W10 home? nvdia or amd ? last drivers ?

[󠀡󠀡]

Ready for the REAL FIX, OP?

Well here it is:

Go to this location below:

(drive letter where Steam is installed on):\Steam\userdata\(Corresponding Steam Account Number)\config\librarycache and delete achievement_progress.json

If this file is over say 400KB+ (mine was at 8999KB), this is your issue and delete it when Steam is not running.

If Steam Client in Task Manager is taking up 1.1GB+ of RAM, this is 100% the issue/fix.

When Steam starts it will make a new file. The file is simply recording achievements that have been completed and when a user has a lot of games, this file can add up a lot of useless information when it is bugged and not clearing itself out.

This file causes a few issues such as high RAM usage, library view stuttering, Steam Webhelper not running, Steam infinite restart loops, and Steam Library Home not loading/failing to start.

Take my advice, you will not regret it, capisce?

[Pepe]

Try forcing an update on the Steam client.

steam -forcesteamupdate -forcepackagedownload -exitsteam

Later Edit: if you need further troubleshooting the issue with the process itself, and you're on Windows, I suggest downloading the SysInternals suite and check the process tools they have to inspect steamwebhelper.exe.

Download Link: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/.
Process Utilities: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-utilities.

[pascaH]

Originally posted by Cosa Nostra:

Ready for the REAL FIX, OP?

Well here it is:

Go to this location below:

(drive letter where Steam is installed on):\Steam\userdata\118693378\config\librarycache and delete achievement_progress.json

If this file is over say 400KB+ (mine was at 8999KB), this is your issue and delete it when Steam is not running.

If Steam Client in Task Manager is taking up 1.1GB+ of RAM, this is 100% the issue/fix.

When Steam starts it will make a new file. The file is simply recording achievements that have been completed and when a user has a lot of games, this file can add up a lot of useless information when it is bugged and not clearing itself out.

This file causes a few issues such as high RAM usage, library view stuttering, Steam Webhelper not running, Steam infinite restart loops, and Steam Library Home not loading/failing to start.

Take my advice, you will not regret it, capisce?

This is the real answer that fixed it for me.

[DieVirulenz]

Originally posted by bidulless:

Originally posted by DieVirulenz:

Nope none of that, hes just too lazy, and it bugs me more than him to be quite frank xD

hello
All i can suggest you is first and only in this order ;
- exist steam
- delete folder located at C:\Users\yourusernumber\AppData\Local\Steam
- uninstall steam from the software panel.
- navigate to it old setup folder and delete it ( steam folder )
- download a fresh steamsetup.exe from the store and run it in order to install steam again.
- launch steam and sign up
do all that , it can be a good start, at least bases are correct in this case.
W10 home? nvdia or amd ? last drivers ?

We tried, didnt help as well.

Originally posted by Cosa Nostra:

Ready for the REAL FIX, OP?

Well here it is:

Go to this location below:

(drive letter where Steam is installed on):\Steam\userdata\118693378\config\librarycache and delete achievement_progress.json

If this file is over say 400KB+ (mine was at 8999KB), this is your issue and delete it when Steam is not running.

If Steam Client in Task Manager is taking up 1.1GB+ of RAM, this is 100% the issue/fix.

When Steam starts it will make a new file. The file is simply recording achievements that have been completed and when a user has a lot of games, this file can add up a lot of useless information when it is bugged and not clearing itself out.

This file causes a few issues such as high RAM usage, library view stuttering, Steam Webhelper not running, Steam infinite restart loops, and Steam Library Home not loading/failing to start.

Take my advice, you will not regret it, capisce?

This path did not exist. We found a file in a slightly different path with that name, which only had about 2KB, deleted it and tried but no luck either.

Originally posted by Pepe:

Try forcing an update on the Steam client.

steam -forcesteamupdate -forcepackagedownload -overridepackageurl -exitsteam

Later Edit: if you need further troubleshooting the issue with the process itself, and you're on Windows, I suggest downloading the SysInternals suite and check the process tools they have to inspect steamwebhelper.exe.

Download Link: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/.
Process Utilities: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-utilities.

Good idea, I did use these tools before, so lets see if we can get some more info.

Thanks for all the input!

[󠀡󠀡]

It has to exist and those other jsons hold no water.

The funny thing is that I know it exists and this is your problem because I had the same exact problem.

If you don’t have that entire folder, that would be your Steam Webhelper issue right there.

[bidulless]

Originally posted by DieVirulenz:

This path did not exist. We found a file in a slightly different path with that name, which only had about 2KB, deleted it and tried but no luck either.

Originally posted by Pepe:

Try forcing an update on the Steam client.

steam -forcesteamupdate -forcepackagedownload -overridepackageurl -exitsteam

Later Edit: if you need further troubleshooting the issue with the process itself, and you're on Windows, I suggest downloading the SysInternals suite and check the process tools they have to inspect steamwebhelper.exe.

Download Link: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/.
Process Utilities: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-utilities.

Good idea, I did use these tools before, so lets see if we can get some more info.

Thanks for all the input!

hello

i know ( it's allready written on your main post ) but please do it as eplained and described before going deeper because you did it may be in a random way.
Why i asked you to do this list in this particulary order is to be sur we are talking about the same thing at the end and it will put your steam folder in a good state not a random one.

[loonis]

Originally posted by Cosa Nostra:

Ready for the REAL FIX, OP?

Well here it is:

Go to this location below:

(drive letter where Steam is installed on):\Steam\userdata\118693378\config\librarycache and delete achievement_progress.json

If this file is over say 400KB+ (mine was at 8999KB), this is your issue and delete it when Steam is not running.

If Steam Client in Task Manager is taking up 1.1GB+ of RAM, this is 100% the issue/fix.

When Steam starts it will make a new file. The file is simply recording achievements that have been completed and when a user has a lot of games, this file can add up a lot of useless information when it is bugged and not clearing itself out.

This file causes a few issues such as high RAM usage, library view stuttering, Steam Webhelper not running, Steam infinite restart loops, and Steam Library Home not loading/failing to start.

Take my advice, you will not regret it, capisce?

My library main page was crashing for a couple of weeks now. Removing the achievement_progress.json file finally solved the problem for me. Steam support was not able to help, however I forwarded this solution to them hoping that Valve will consider this in future client updates. Kudos to Cosa Nostra for posting this solution!

[bidulless]

Originally posted by loonis:

My library main page was crashing for a couple of weeks now. Removing the achievement_progress.json file finally solved the problem for me. Steam support was not able to help, however I forwarded this solution to them hoping that Valve will consider this in future client updates. Kudos to Cosa Nostra for posting this solution!

hello
Perfect, do you remember it size before you deleted it by chance ?
ps : deleting folder userdata also delete the file .So you get some issue between the 21th and now and solved it ?