Steam not opening or launching

[GordTheDestroyer]

Steam refuses to launch and games won't either. I've tried everything and everything is there! I try to launch it and bootstrapper tasks show up in Task Manager but nothing is actually happening no matter how long i wait. I can't launch games manually either, no clue why. PLEASE HELP. This has been troubling me for days!!

[nishanthmnsvg]

Hannah Chimes님이 먼저 게시:

Another thing that will help:
Sometimes applications don't shut down completely, so when you try to open them later, your computer starts opening it, but then reaches the point that the unclosed version is at, stopping there, because it thinks they were the same process.
This is actually the most common problem.
If that was too confusing, or just tl;dr just skip to the next paragraph.

This problem can be instantly solved by simply opening task manager, finding the steambootstrapper, and closing it.

Many thanks! This worked .

[Hamakei]

Something in the latest update has stopped the Steam client working for me. It updated itself, but now immediately crashes whenever I try and start it...

Something about:

Assert( Fatal Assertion Failed: PlatformSocketsInit failed, error [no name available] (1) )

[Republic]

Hannah Chimes님이 먼저 게시:

Another thing that will help:
Sometimes applications don't shut down completely, so when you try to open them later, your computer starts opening it, but then reaches the point that the unclosed version is at, stopping there, because it thinks they were the same process.
This is actually the most common problem.
If that was too confusing, or just tl;dr just skip to the next paragraph.

This problem can be instantly solved by simply opening task manager, finding the steambootstrapper, and closing it.

THANK YOU MY SAVIOUR

[デスティニー]

Emerald Acid님이 먼저 게시:

So, nothing here is helping out on my end sadly. Normally when Steam gives me trouble, closing the Bootstrapper or anything related to Steam from the task manager is my first step, and normally that works. Except this time when I try to run it, nothing Steam related lingers or sticks around in the task manager.

What happens is that when clocked on, a small window pops up doing the whole "Checking for Steam Client Updates" (then changes to "Verifying Installation") thing that it has always done. In the task manager now, the Bootstrapper is at the top of my usage list like Steam is trying to work. About 2-5 minutes after clicking Steam, the pop up of "Connecting to account: (my account) shows up as normal, but then after a few seconds it vanishes (like normal) but Steam never opens.

I've done the blob rename, but that didn't fit it, and attempting to run the reporter.exe thing failed as it also did nothing on double-click. My anti-virus doesn't have a problem with it, and I even did a full reboot just in case it had loaded wrong on boot-up, but nothing.

! was playing my stuff just fine yesterday, and now I can't even get close. I need more suggestions beyond just what was in the OP please.

Edit: I just looked into my Event Logs, and it seems that Steam is crashing every time it tries to open itself. I get this error message in the Event Log:

https://i.gyazo.com/70ee313e6c7f6c6b022c93a8762af703.png

I believe I may be having the same issue. I've actually had this happen once before a few months ago, where it tried to update and initiate but failed without an error message, but simply restarting my laptop fixed it right away. This time, however, nothing seems to be helping.

My story is, yesterday, I was planning to host a co-op game with some friends, so I wanted to restart my laptop before I did that. Windows also wanted to update, so I let it do its thing. When it restarted, I ran my routine cleans with CCleaner and Registry Mechanic (I do this every time I restart my laptop) Then I clicked to start up Steam (which I do not have set to automatically do at startup) and it would do the same as Emerald Acid said---seem like it tried to update and initiate itself, but to no avail.
(And this probably isn't significant, but CCleaner wanted to update and I didn't let it this time. But I did update it and ran it again after Steam didn't work, just to see whether it would make a difference---it didn't seem to.)

Also as Emerald Acid said, nothing shows up in the task bar processes list for more than a moment (for me, it's a mere seconds before disappearing). So there's nothing to force-close. I get no error message or anything of that nature---it just does not work. (The error message reporting is one of the tasks that does temporarily show up under processes, but it goes away on its own too after a few seconds.)
I do not have a .blob in my Steam folder, nor do I have a localconfig.vdf anywhere (my config folder /does/ have a DialogConfig.vdf but I don't want to mess with that without having an idea it'd work).
I've noticed, however, every time I try to launch the program, I get a .crash file immediately in the Steam folder. When I "Exit Steam" through my Windows menu, the .crash disappears. It comes back whenever I try to restart Steam through any means, however. (Also, "Exit Steam" is always an option for me there, even though it's not running as per task manager---I've never noticed whether that's there irregardless of whether I have Steam running or not under normal circumstances.)

I've tried moving SteamApps to my desktop and uninstalling Steam, then reinstalling and moving SteamApps back into the folder. It installed over 200,000 updates, but did not start.
I've tried running it as administrator multiple times. It will not start.
I'm running Windows 7, so I've tried forcing it to run the Windows XP Service Pack. I got the popup with Steam telling me some aspects of Steam will not be compatible. I've tried clicking continue, clicking closing Steam, and even force-ending the process on the task bar and trying again (since it shows up for more than 2-3 seconds when I do this). It does not help.
I've tried running Steam through another user login on my laptop. Even when combining this with the two above methods, it would not launch.
I've tried to start several different games (Don't Starve and DST, Amnesia 2, and Hatoful Boyfriend and HB:HS) directly from their program files on my computer. It tries to launch Steam to no avail and the games do not initiate.
I've tried changing my password, so I wouldn't be automatically logged onto Steam client when I started it up. It made no difference---I never get to the login screen.
I've even tried a system restoration point to the day before Windows updated. It did not start even then.
And yes, I restarted between each thing I did, and my antivirus was disabled throughout this process.

If anyone has anymore advice for me, I would be very grateful!

[The Giving One]

デスティニー님이 먼저 게시:

(And this probably isn't significant, but CCleaner wanted to update and I didn't let it this time. But I did update it and ran it again after Steam didn't work, just to see whether it would make a difference---it didn't seem to.)

It is significant. By default, when one installs CCleaner, the monitoring modes are set as active in CCleaner settings menu. That is what causes issues with Steam and/or games, from what we have seen.

There can be cookie issues related to other problems such as trading, but that is not relevant to Steam not opening or launching. The monitoring modes set as active is a problem. Uncheck them, and CCleaner can usually be used with Steam after that without issues.

[dorosha]

Thats not a Program Problem!

So mass on Peoples have this feature ad the Moment!!

But thx for your many many helps here "The Giving One" !!!

[デスティニー]

The Giving One님이 먼저 게시:

デスティニー님이 먼저 게시:

(And this probably isn't significant, but CCleaner wanted to update and I didn't let it this time. But I did update it and ran it again after Steam didn't work, just to see whether it would make a difference---it didn't seem to.)

It is significant. By default, when one installs CCleaner, the monitoring modes are set as active in CCleaner settings menu. That is what causes issues with Steam and/or games, from what we have seen.

There can be cookie issues related to other problems such as trading, but that is not relevant to Steam not opening or launching. The monitoring modes set as active is a problem. Uncheck them, and CCleaner can usually be used with Steam after that without issues.

Gotcha! It was indeed checked and I unchecked it and am about to restart my laptop and see how things go. Would it make a difference still even when I'm not running CCleaner at all? I generally have it exited completely when I'm not actively running its cleaner. I only get update popups and things when I manually launch the program because of this.

[Vincent]

Thanks it worked

[M☢RE]

thx

[The Giving One]

デスティニー님이 먼저 게시:

Gotcha! It was indeed checked and I unchecked it and am about to restart my laptop and see how things go. Would it make a difference still even when I'm not running CCleaner at all? I generally have it exited completely when I'm not actively running its cleaner. I only get update popups and things when I manually launch the program because of this.

By default, CCleaner is added to the computers startup programs and processes, as far as I remember. So yes, it can still be a problem.

You can disable that in msconfig, but when you actually launch CCleaner, the monitoring can then still become a problem. Make sure all those boxes are unchecked and CCleaner is not monitoring your computer. I have mine set to not run in msconfig on boot, because you don't really need it to automatically launch on boot anyway.

[Mike Litoris]

)

[デスティニー]

The Giving One님이 먼저 게시:

デスティニー님이 먼저 게시:

Gotcha! It was indeed checked and I unchecked it and am about to restart my laptop and see how things go. Would it make a difference still even when I'm not running CCleaner at all? I generally have it exited completely when I'm not actively running its cleaner. I only get update popups and things when I manually launch the program because of this.

By default, CCleaner is added to the computers startup programs and processes, as far as I remember. So yes, it can still be a problem.

You can disable that in msconfig, but when you actually launch CCleaner, the monitoring can then still become a problem. Make sure all those boxes are unchecked and CCleaner is not monitoring your computer. I have mine set to not run in msconfig on boot, because you don't really need it to automatically launch on boot anyway.

I have mine set such that it doesn't restart on boot anymore. Aside from my basic computer functions, the only program I have set to initiate upon startup is Kingsoft PC Doctor. I have been immediately disabling Kingsoft for all of the fixes I've been attempting, though.

Unfortunately, disabling the active monitoring for CCleaner and restarting didn't seem to help with my Steam issue. But what I found extremely odd is that Steam tried to initiate itself upon startup? I have it set where it shouldn't be doing that and it's never done that before.

Also, I went through all my options to doublecheck and make sure CCleaner shouldn't be interfering with anything, just in case. There wasn't anything checked off that should keep it running, but just to be safe, I set it to automatically exit itself after cleaning, which I've been doing manually for years anyway lol

Windows seems to want to update again, so I'm letting it go ahead and install its update now and I'll see where that goes, too.

[The Giving One]

@デスティニー

As far as your Steam being set to not launch on boot but it strangely was as you seem to mention above, I had a problem twice here with my Steam settings from that same settings menu changing themselves after a Steam update.

It was my URL setting. That box became unchecked all by itself, so my URLs for Steam in the top left were no longer being seen. I just had to recheck the box. I would think this may also be possible for the "Run Steam when my computer starts" box there.

Get Windows up to date for sure and we can continue to try to help you out, if you still have the problem. I am assuming your issue is Steam not launching then ?

If I missed that, excuse me please. Try to launch into safe mode with networking and try Steam there. If it works there, post again as there are other steps to correct it in a normal boot.

[йа Игорь ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.com]

gg

[デスティニー]

@The Giving One

I checked msconfig upon you mentioning it only to find Steam actually /is/ set to start on boot now, along with iTunes. I definitely did disable both, so they must have re-enabled it during an update, like you'd mentioned. I will leave it alone for now, unless you recommend otherwise.

Yes, Steam simply will not start for me, despite all the fixes I attempted before. It will "check for available updates" and then "verify installation" before the window closes and nothing else happens, also disappearing from taskbar processes and creating a .crash file in the Steam folder.

I will let the update install and everything, and if it still doesn't work, I'll attempt a safe mode with networking run and let you know the results!

Thank you very much for all of your help so far!