"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!

[loonis]

Originally posted by 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 ?

Do you mean the achievement_progress.jso file? Mine was 103.855KB.

Even though my library main page is loading again without crashing, I realized that the achievement_progress.jso is getting larger again with every restart of Steam. Currently it's at 5.895KB. I wonder what the critical file size will be causing the library to crash again...

[bidulless]

Originally posted by loonis:

Originally posted by bidulless:

hello
Perfect, do you remember it size before you deleted it by chance ?

Do you mean the achievement_progress.jso file? Mine was 103.855KB.

Even though my library main page is loading again without crashing, I realized that the achievement_progress.jso is getting larger again with every restart of Steam. Currently it's at 5.895KB. I wonder what the critical file size will be causing the library to crash again...

hello
100 k does not seems hugh...i have json file with more than 120k in this folder

[loonis]

Originally posted by bidulless:

Originally posted by loonis:

Do you mean the achievement_progress.jso file? Mine was 103.855KB.

Even though my library main page is loading again without crashing, I realized that the achievement_progress.jso is getting larger again with every restart of Steam. Currently it's at 5.895KB. I wonder what the critical file size will be causing the library to crash again...

hello
100 k does not seems hugh...

You're right. But as Cosa Nostra pointed out there seems to be linkage between that file and the RAM that Steam or Steam WebHelper are consuming. Before removing achievement_progress.json it was using 4GB, now it is down to 500-600MB.

[bidulless]

Originally posted by loonis:

Originally posted by bidulless:

hello
100 k does not seems hugh...

You're right. But as Cosa Nostra pointed out there seems to be linkage between that file and the RAM that Steam or Steam WebHelper are consuming. Before removing achievement_progress.json it was using 4GB, now it is down to 500-600MB.

hello

if it happen again , use this tool https://mitec.cz/jsonv.html , it will help you to check if the file is corrupted.
if the file is corrupted , it won't be able to open or it will open but you will see a lot of garbage inside ...
This file (achievement_progress.json) save the achievment progression of the recent game you played ( number.json - recent played game ), may be one game is the root of the problem, now which one...
Or some form of lock on the number.json game achievment while steam is saving the summarize of it into the achievement_progress.json
i guess it'ss more a lock ...

[Vedian]

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?

Thanks, this is the only thing that worked for me. My file was over 85 MB.

[ETO]

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?

I love you... I couldn't figure out why my Steam kept crashing when loading my Library. Went to reddit which sent me here and now everything is back to normal

[FusionBunny]

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?

Your file was at around 9000kb
I went and checked mine, it stood at an extremely nasty 45,300-ish kb!!!
File deleted...and HOLY CRAP it actually works! As my library finally re-appears!

Cosa Nostra you have a friend for life here, and I'm a 20 year steam veteran so you got a very solid connection with me :)
Been stuck with that webhelper issue the last 2 hours, THANKYOU!!!

[pinecoffin]

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?

Daaaaammmn.

My file was 80 MB and it was using over 4 gig of RAM.

Thanks much for solution! Have some points!

[Yewbacca]

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?

I became stuck in a reboot loop after a couple of hours of renaming Cites Skylines saves (start game, start save, save the game and exit, repeat).

Had it once before, but I could restart then. Eventually Steam client locked up for me, and even PC reboot did not help.

This solution actually helped! Thanks for that!

[Symmortal TTV]

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 memory usage was over 3,000MB according to taskmanager until I did this, now its back at 600-700mb. This fix was a godsend thank you The achievement file was almost 70 mb so I think it hadn't been refreshed for a while lol

[loonis]

Today my library started crashing again. Achievement_progress.json was 100.000KB. Steam memory usage was around 4GB. It took pretty much 1 month since I deleted achievement_progress.json the last time and until it grew to a critical size again. Deleting achievement_progress.json still fixes the problem. But I wonder how long it will take until Valve provides an official fix.

Hello Valve, are you reading this? Please solve this problem - it gets really annoying.

[almond-110]

Originally posted by valve:

steam web helper (a critical component of Steam) is not responding. The Steam interface will be unavailable. Find out more here.

After reinstalling Windows, the steam client does not start at all. generally. I have already tried absolutely all possible tips and NOTHING helps. What should I do? This is absolute ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ madness.

[Rastapouet]

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?

It worked for me, thanks !!!

[VOID]

I'm glad to report that the fix removing the achievements file also seems to have worked for me.
For reference, the location of the achievements json file is:

<Steam Install Path>\userdata\<Your Steam Id>\config\librarycache\achievement_progress.json

My file was sitting at around 91Mb, but, oddly enough, attempting to open the json file (which should be plain text) caused Notepad++ to crash.

In my case, I recently had an unresponsive game library, with ocasional crashes, but since yesterday the client would enter a restart-crash loop, even while playing a game.
The webhelper log found at <Steam Install Path>\logs\webhelper.txt had this to say:

SP Shared JS Context-'SharedJSCo': ERROR: https://steamloopback.host/chunk~***.js?contenthash=***:1: Uncaught (in promise) TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'steamid')

I will add this information to my support ticket, and report back with any updates.

Thanks!

[loonis]

Originally posted by VOID:

I'm glad to report that the fix removing the achievements file also seems to have worked for me.
For reference, the location of the achievements json file is:

<Steam Install Path>\userdata\<Your Steam Id>\config\librarycache\achievement_progress.json

My file was sitting at around 91Mb, but, oddly enough, attempting to open the json file (which should be plain text) caused Notepad++ to crash.

In my case, I recently had an unresponsive game library, with ocasional crashes, but since yesterday the client would enter a restart-crash loop, even while playing a game.
The webhelper log found at <Steam Install Path>\logs\webhelper.txt had this to say:

SP Shared JS Context-'SharedJSCo': ERROR: https://steamloopback.host/chunk~***.js?contenthash=*** Uncaught (in promise) TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'steamid')

I will add this information to my support ticket, and report back with any updates.

Thanks!

Good luck with that ticket. I already linked this thread to my ticket a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately Steam support was not even considering it and stubbornly giving me advices like resetting my PC. I really hope someone from Valve's tech team will sooner or later stumble upon this thread and start working on an official fix.