Are you wondering why your Steam client won’t connect to servers? Do you see the connection error on the desktop version of the Steam app? In this handy guide, we’ll help you get rid of this problem through applicable troubleshooting steps.
Steam is the Netflix and Amazon video prime for gamers. Just like Netflix and Amazon video prime has a ton of streaming content, Steam offers the same in the gaming world. Although some Steam content is not suitable for all ages, it does offer parental control that lets adults choose what kind of titles their kids can access.
As Steam is a cloud-based storage platform, you can save a lot of games without compromising too much computer memory. However, when you get the connection error, you can’t access your game library. Well, good news for you. We have gathered some fixes that can help you sort out this serious problem.
Can’t connect to Steam servers?
A lot of Steam users are reporting that when they try to log into their account after they input the login info or right after the auto-login process starts, they get the error message that displays “Steam is having trouble connecting to the Steam servers”.
The users are also stating that once the error pops up, they couldn’t access their account for a few days. We’ve found out that in most cases, the Steam servers were down which caused the error.
Why is Steam not connecting to servers?
If your Steam client is not connecting to the Steams server, it can be due to the following reasons.
- Your internet connection settings are misconfigured
- Steam.exe needs administrative privileges to solve permission issues
- Steam using UDP protocol instead of TCP for data transmission that is causing communication error between client and Steam servers
- Registry file for the Steam client needs altering
What to do when server is not connecting?
The first thing you can do to fix the Steam client-server connection problem is to power cycle your network devices and computer. Disconnect all peripheral devices from your PC and then power on your network devices.
Next, reconnect your peripheral devices to your PC. If the error pops up again, try the following troubleshooting steps in a sequence.
Run CMD commands to fix Steam server error
You can run a bunch of commands to fix the “Steam won’t connect to servers” error. To do this:
- Right-click the Command prompt under your PC program files and select “Run as administrator
- Run the “netsh winsock reset” command on the CMD pop up window
- Wait for the confirmation message that you have successfully reset the Winsock catalog
- Next, run the “netsh winhttp reset proxy” command and hit Enter on the Keyb
- Exit the Command prompt, restart your PC, and launch the Steam client to check if the error persists
Run Steam client as administrator
Sometimes, you need to run the Steam client with administrative privileges. Most of the time, this fix is enough to get rid of plenty of Steam errors. To permanently run Steam client as administrator:
- Right-click on the Steam executable file on your desktop and click on Properties
- Locate the Compatability tab and click on it
- Check the “Run this program as an administrator” box under Privilege level
- Now run the Steam client and verify that the error is fixed
Force Steam client to use TCP
By default, Steam client uses UDP for data transmission. Sometimes, forcing it to use TCP can solve the connection issues between client and server. To do this:
- Go to the Steam main installation folder under your local disk
- Right-click the Steam.exe file and create a shortcut on the desktop
- Now, right-click the Steam desktop shortcut and click on properties to open the Shortcut tab
- Under Target area, add a space and type in “-tcp” at the end of the last quotation
- Now launch the Steam client and check if forcing the TCP data transmission helped you to fix the error
Alter Steam registry file name
A few users reported that they were able to fix the Steam server connection error by altering the name of the ClientRegistry.blob file. To do this, you need to completely exit from the Steam client. Also, end all the running Steam tasks and processes from the Task Manager and then do the following steps.
- Go to your C:/Program files and click on the Steam client app
- Next, a bunch of files will be shown. Locate the ClientRegistry.blob file
- Right-click on the ClientRegistry.blob and select Rename
- Finally, rename the file from ClientRegistry.blob to ClientRegistryold.blob
Conclusion
Steam is a nucleus for gamers to buy, download, and play digital games. However, a few errors on Steam can frustrate you in so many ways. Hopefully, you’ll find this article very helpful for fixing the “Steam won’t connect to servers” error. However, if the issue persists, try diagnosing and troubleshooting your internet connection.
