Warning: Unable to sync your saves with the Steam Cloud.

[JaCZkill]

Hi everyone. I have been using steam deck pretty much since it launched as it was my comeback to gaming after a long "adulthood break".
A few weeks ago, I got myself also a gaming laptop (not because I needed one, but because I got it ridiculously cheap through my employers benefit program so it was an offer one couldn't refuse).
Since day 1, when I installed the Steam client on it, I am getting the abovementioned error when launching any game from my library.
I did quite some searching on this topic and I seem to be one of a very few users experiencing this issue as there are hardly any mentions of it anywhere. And if there are, there are usually no solutions or none that work with those.
So I did quite some testing and investigation on my own, reviewing log files, testing steam in beta, on another computer, testing another account on my computer etcetera etcetera and it all came down to following:
- the warning is caused by Download I/O Operation Failed (Download I/O Operation Failed for file 70xxxx58/config/preferences_FC5380434Q.vdf) error I see coming back in the cloud logs.
- there are a few files I see coming back in the cloud_logs with the I/O error regularly.
- all logged files have some sort of weird character in their file name (e.g. FC5380434Q, FC538Q) so I can only suspect they got corrupted somehow.
- in total see 6 files with such weird character
- downloading the files directly from steam cloud under windows treats the weird character as a _. Linux saves/treats it as a space.
- copying the files manually to the config folder doesn't solve it no matter if _ or space is used.
- the sync issue is only happening with my account on any windows machine I tested so far (2 different PCs, even after a fresh windows install)
- the sync issue is NOT happening on the same machine with another account logged in!
- the sync issues is NOT happening on a steam deck (Linux perhaps has no problem with writing the weird characters while windows does?)
- it is not an folder access issue as other files in the same folder synchronize just fine (I deleted the content of the 70xxxx58/config/ folder, launched a random game, all but the 6 files were retrieved (Download OK for file 70xxxx58/config/preferences_45e-2e0-43005ba.vdf)
- fun fact - saves are actually being synchronized just fine.
- Steam support treats me like a noob and keeps telling me the problem is on my PC because I might be having access restrictions or running some weird apps that block the access (well, windows defender IS weird, but looking at what apps I have running in the background its as weird as it gets)
- Steam support is reluctant to delete the 6 files from cloud storage which I have specifically asked them to do, and rather than just doing that they keep suggesting other stuff (like switch to Beta or contact a local computer specialist duh)

Does anyone have any suggestion on how to get this resolved? Can I delete the files from steam cloud manually? (e.g. connect via sFTP or something?)
Has anyone been experiencing a similar issue?

any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks!

[Flapjack]

Hi mate, I'm not here with help. I'm so sorry; however, I am suffering from exactly the same error. Steam deck has no problem, but as soon as I try and play any game from my Windows machine I get the error, even though the game saves all seem to work fine and actually are updating. I hope we can keep in touch and work together to try and fix this problem. Please add me on Steam if you wish.

EDIT: The problem goes away if you delete userdata from the Steam root folder.

The problem seems to return whenever you then play a game from your steam deck.

There is something going on here between some cloud saves and their naming conventions or some kind of conflict between Steam OS and Windows.

This error also means you can't remote play any of your games without starting the game first on your pc.

[JaCZkill]

Hi man! So sorry for the super late response but for whatever reason i never got any notification! I am happy to tell you there is a solution. All you need to do is remove the files causing the error from th cloud using a little trick. I will send you a link to my post where I explain what I did to resolve.

[JaCZkill]

I couldn't figure out how to copy a link to my post. Just look a thread "Unable to sync to cloud" and read through it. Give me a buzz if that works.

[Nakid_uA.]

I have this exact issues and it started after switching between the same game on Windows then onto the Deck. Every game on Windows now has the unable to sync error despite it actually syncing the saves fine.

I couldn't find your other thread JaCZkill, what was the solution? How did you determine which games had corrupted saves as well?

[PurpleCreativeValiant]

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/601891815092692508/?tscn=1736105323#c595137339313900627

[JaCZkill]

Nakid_uA.님이 먼저 게시:

I have this exact issues and it started after switching between the same game on Windows then onto the Deck. Every game on Windows now has the unable to sync error despite it actually syncing the saves fine.

I couldn't find your other thread JaCZkill, what was the solution? How did you determine which games had corrupted saves as well?

Here is the link to the other thread, see if that helps:
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/discussions/0/600766842748846128/

In my case it wasnt any game save that got corrupted but it was a controller scheme for my steam controller that was causing the problems. You should be able to look up which file is causing the problem by reviewing the cloud_log.txt (usually located here somewhere C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\logs). Just look for entries that say "Download I/O Operation Failed" - there should be filename next to it. Those need to be removed.

[Nx Machina]

Create a new save on the other PC then exit the game. Reboot the game and Steam should then sync the cloud saves by checking what is in Steam Cloud for the other PC.

[RayoSombrio]

It's super annoying, there is a conflict between how Windows and SteamOs save the games.