Client stuck in opening loop

[Bones Malone]

I've been having some issues trying to open steam suddenly, with no idea what caused it.
When I open steam, it goes into the loading screen you usually see right before the store appears, but after a few seconds it closes and opens back to that same loading screen again, repeating in an indefinite loop.

Some things I have tried include:
- ending it in task manager
- restarting computer
- deleting the appcache folder
- reinstalling steam (via installing in the same location)

The only option I can see left is to completely uninstall steam and reinstall it, redownloading my games manually, but I want to see if anyone else knows anything that could help. All suggestions are appreciated

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

Do you use any app on background that hooks into the client, or mess with it file & permissions? If yes ensure it stop doing that.

Another thing I can suggest is checking for errors. Open CMD as administrator by right clicking on it then click run as administrator, after that type "sfc /scannow" without quotes, then if it say it fixes anything you have to restart, click start menu, power option, and click restart.


Now if you're using HDD try defrag it, SSD don't need to do this.

If you by chance mess with windows settings for permissions levels, or such want to undo those changes.

[Iceira]

make steam.exe and steam steamwebhelper.exe on white in av app, to make sure its no a blocking issue.

also try the steam.exe run one time as admin.

[Phénomènes Mystiques]

The Fixer is Here, Amico!

I call this fix the Fatal Four-way Solution as it remedies quite a few issues within this one fix.

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.

→ Also OP, make sure to turn off the default for "Start Steam at PC Startup" because that can break the registry keys as well: Steam Client settings < Interface tab

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

[Pasta Viking]

Settings -> Interface -> Disable "Enable GPU accelerated web rendering in web views (requires restart)"
New client update isn't playing nice with Nvidia drivers if you have this enabled

[Bones Malone]

Originally posted by Cosa Nostra:

The Fixer is Here, Amico!

I call this fix the Fatal Four-way Solution as it remedies quite a few issues within this one fix.

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.

→ Also OP, make sure to turn off the default for "Start Steam at PC Startup" because that can break the registry keys as well: Steam Client settings < Interface tab

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

This worked! Thank you so much! It wasn't over 400kb, only about 90kb, but I still tried deleting it and it worked perfectly!

[Muppet among Puppets]

I have seen this happen to someone. A serious bug. It drives the pc crazy.
The file was way larger than any of yours. So there is maybe another trigger than the size.

[TNTQc]

Originally posted by Cosa Nostra:

The Fixer is Here, Amico!

I call this fix the Fatal Four-way Solution as it remedies quite a few issues within this one fix.

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.

→ Also OP, make sure to turn off the default for "Start Steam at PC Startup" because that can break the registry keys as well: Steam Client settings < Interface tab

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

Thank you very much for this incredible tip.
My Steam client was running very slow since a couple of days. And today, the loop happened. I had no clue what was going on.

My achivement_progress.json file was 84266KB!
I don't know why my file was bigger that yours.... you seem to have way more achievements in your profile than mine. My file was also located in a different folder (different number).

I deleted it and then open Steam right away. It worked like a charm (I never notice Steam opening that fast).
I thank you again!
My achievement progress is still there, intact. I don't know how all this works? If this file is so harmful in a mid-long term, and that the achievement progress is saved somewhere else in a virtual cloud, why do we need this file? I should delete it once in a while, right?

[Phénomènes Mystiques]

Originally posted by TNTQc:

Originally posted by Cosa Nostra:

The Fixer is Here, Amico!

I call this fix the Fatal Four-way Solution as it remedies quite a few issues within this one fix.

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.

→ Also OP, make sure to turn off the default for "Start Steam at PC Startup" because that can break the registry keys as well: Steam Client settings < Interface tab

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

Thank you very much for this incredible tip.
My Steam client was running very slow since a couple of days. And today, the loop happened. I had no clue what was going on.

My achivement_progress.json file was 84266KB!
I don't know why my file was bigger that yours.... you seem to have way more achievements in your profile than mine. My file was also located in a different folder (different number).

I deleted it and then open Steam right away. It worked like a charm (I never notice Steam opening that fast).
I thank you again!
My achievement progress is still there, intact. I don't know how all this works? If this file is so harmful in a mid-long term, and that the achievement progress is saved somewhere else in a virtual cloud, why do we need this file? I should delete it once in a while, right?

I had issues when the file was small and big. I am suspecting that it should be erased every time Steam shuts down. Some say the Beta has the intended fix, but others say otherwise.

I made an executable program to recycle that file after every Steam shut down regardless.

Why does it happen? One can only speculate...

I thought the numbers would be different as I think it corresponds to the Steam ID - more or less the folder was underneath that "0" labeled folder, correct?

The other .JSON files are null - there are 3 - 4 more of them in the other folders.

I have not really looked at the data within the file but speculate that it is a temporary triggering file.

Glad it helped so many people fix their issues! That is the intention of the posted fix.

[fuqqaduck]

Had the same issue yesterday. The harddrive went to 100% memory and windows explorer would stop responding. Ended up uninstalling steam and reinstalling it. Fixed the issue for.. 12hours? Only game I got to play in that time was V Rising. Started verifying files again on next startup, same issues presented with memory usage etc.

Ended up deleting the achievement progress json file and it loaded perfectly after that with no issues that was presenting before.
File is 156 bytes.

{"nVersion":3,"mapCache":[[1604030,{"appid":1604030,"unlocked":36,"total":49,"percentage":73.46939086914062,"all_unlocked":false,"cache_time":1718464600}]]}

Hoping this post might help solve this problem.

[dylonmurphy100]

I'm having the inf loading startup and deleted that file (only 1 kb) and the problem still persists.

[fuqqaduck]

I have since found out one of my hard drives were failing, and as a result affecting the performance of games and computer functions. Replacing the hard drive solved the issue for me. Getting a free program like HD Tune to check the health of your drive/s might be a good step to rule it out.