Steam 'Access Denied' error

[praz]

Every other week when I boot up steam the processs will start in task manager but steam wont actually start. When I try to close steam in task manager I get an error message saying 'access denied'. I've been able to work around this by deleting everything in my steam folder except for steamapps and reinstalling steam, but then the error just comes back a week later. How do I stop this from happening?

[The Giving One]

Sounds like you don't have the proper disk permissions in Windows to kill it as you describe.

What we should focus on is why you have the problem of Steam not actually starting in the first place.

Boot your PC into safe mode WITH networking and try to log into your account from there. I suspect that you perhaps have problematic software that is maybe affecting Steam in a normal boot.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9828-SFLZ-9289

It can often be antivirus software, but also you need to make sure your firewall is configured properly to allow Steam and games access through.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Install Steam to another folder; such as C:\Steam or C:\Games\Steam
while under an Admin Windows User Account.
That should solve this issue.

[swag]

+

[The Giving One]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Bad-Motha:

Install Steam to another folder; such as C:\Steam or C:\Games\Steam
while under an Admin Windows User Account.
That should solve this issue.

I wish you could have posted that when others here bashed me for saying the same thing in an older thread. I always do that, too.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย The Giving One:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Bad-Motha:

Install Steam to another folder; such as C:\Steam or C:\Games\Steam
while under an Admin Windows User Account.
That should solve this issue.

I wish you could have posted that when others here bashed me for saying the same thing in an older thread. I always do that, too.

It is pretty much a must that do this under Win8, 8.1, 10; as by default UAC will get in the way of locking folder permissions (even to an Admin user) whenever apps are installed to a "system folder" such as "Program Files"

[The Giving One]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Bad-Motha:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย The Giving One:

I wish you could have posted that when others here bashed me for saying the same thing in an older thread. I always do that, too.

It is pretty much a must that do this under Win8, 8.1, 10; as by default UAC will get in the way of locking folder permissions (even to an Admin user) whenever apps are installed to a "system folder" such as "Program Files"

Wow...pretty much EXACTLY what I posted back then, and I totally agree. I got owned here for it, but I am really glad to see you do the same thing. UAC gets in the way so don't install Steam in any program files folders. Cannot agree more.

EDIT..If any of those users see this, then please don't think I am being rude or disrespectful of your opinions back then, as that is not at all my intention here.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Folks from Steam still love to chime in and say "Windows UAC doesn't interfere with Steam" but in fact it does. For example when u launch a game for the first time after an install, due to lack of folder security rights, the game fails to auto install DX or Visual C++ (and other 3rd party addons the a game might need). Aside from that, UAC is the reason behind most Steam and Game related issues. Simply installing Steam (or other Games or Game Clients) into a non-System folder is the answer, as UAC has no control over those folders.

And it's a users best bet rather than mess with or otherwise make system-wide changes regarding UAC. Which u can't fully disable under Win8/10 OS' anyways; because if you do that, you lose the ability to use Microsoft Store.

[The Giving One]

Your comments just get better and better here, Bad-Motha. Since that older thread it has been hard for me not to suggest the same thing here without fear of getting unwanted attention, but again I cannot agree more. I highly suggest the same, and you are right about what you said concerning most of these issues we see. Great point, and thanks.

[BlackM]

lol

[Gru.Orbinu]

Did u fix it ?

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Well overall it seems to more having to do with the fact that people tend to install Steam Client into their Program Files or Program Files (x86) folder; when you do that, that is why you get those inherent security rights, which do not give you Full Control of the folder structure. If you just install Steam to say C:\Steam, then this won't happen.

[DarthSandpaper]

Restart your computer. After the restart the file will somehow (the restart uses magic) be accessable. If your having any problems with any access denied errors just restart and use magic and demonic rituals. (just restart on error)

[newtonx3x]

My steam is installed into a separate folder - a separate drive, even, and I have issues updating my games due to missing permissions. I have limited internet downloads, so reinstalling everything simply isn't an option. What do I do?

[The Giving One]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย newtonx3x:

My steam is installed into a separate folder - a separate drive, even, and I have issues updating my games due to missing permissions.

Describe this drive configuration in your system ? And the folder Steam is installed in on that drive ?

Is it internal or external ? Thumb or other (external) ?

What is the exact error message you see, word for word please ?

Reinstalling is not necessary usually. The files can simply be verified if already downloaded, and usually the problem is not with the games or Steam anyway...the problem is almost always elsewhere so correcting that first is the right course of action.

[newtonx3x]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย The Giving One:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย newtonx3x:

My steam is installed into a separate folder - a separate drive, even, and I have issues updating my games due to missing permissions.

Describe this drive configuration in your system ? And the folder Steam is installed in on that drive ?

Is it internal or external ? Thumb or other (external) ?

What is the exact error message you see, word for word please ?

Reinstalling is not necessary usually. The files can simply be verified if already downloaded, and usually the problem is not with the games or Steam anyway...the problem is almost always elsewhere so correcting that first is the right course of action.

I've been fiddling with Steam since it updated last and the problem seems to have resolved... mostly. Going to have to check a few things, but everything is, more of less, working fine. Thanks for the timely reply though.