Reliable And Smart Ways To Solve Steam Not Downloading Issue

Steam is like a paradise for any people who love spending hour after hour playing games. It is a huge gaming platform which has many amazing features for passionate gamers from all around the world. Even though Steam is able to keep their top position in the gaming market year after year but it’s not completely flawless. Now and then, the users often face various types of error issue in the Steam application while using them. It undoubtedly gives them some hard time while using the platform. Here we will talk about one of the most common issues of the Steam application which is Steam not downloading problem.

If you are one of the victims of this issue and looking for a guide to fix the problem, then you are in the right place. In this article, we are going to talk about a few tips and tricks which can help you to resolve the problem without using any third-party application. So, follow the rest of the article carefully.

Probable Methods to Get Rid of Steam Not Downloading Problem:

Even though Steam not downloading issue won’t stop you from using other functions of the Steam but sometimes this problem can get in the nerve if it occurs again and again. It generally occurs when you are trying to download the latest edition of your favorite game. Fixing this particular issue can be a little bit trickier for you if this is the first time that you are fixing an error. But we assure you that if you follow our guide carefully, then you will be able to solve it without any difficulty. So now, without wasting any more time, let’s check out the solutions to fix this issue.

Method #1: Grant Administrator Access to your Steam

When you face the Steam not downloading issue in your device, the first thing that you should do is to check if you are running the Steam client from an administrative account or not. If you are not using one, then it’s no surprise that you are getting this error notification. In most of the system, the Steam application automatically gets the Administrative privileges when you install it. But, for some reason, it does not happen with every system that you use. Under such circumstances, follow the below guide to grant Steam application the permission to an administrator:

• At first, find the Steam directory from its default location (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam). If you install Steam in another directory, then browse to that directory and then locate the Steam.exe file.
• Once you find it, right-click on the file and then select Properties.
• Now, from the current window, select the Compatibility tab (look at the top section of the window).
• Next, look at the bottom section of the window and find the checkbox which is labeled as Run this program as an Administrator. If it’s not already checked, then check it right now and save the changes.
• After saving the above changes, exit the properties window and locate the file named GameOverlayUI.exe from Steam directory.
• Now, once again open its Properties window and select the Compatibility tab in the same way you have done in the above section. But this time, you have to locate the “Run this program as an administrator” checkbox from the current window.
• When you find it, check the box, save the changes and exit from the current window
• After completing all the above steps, restart Steam and check the status of the issue.

Method #2: Enable Automatic Detect Settings and Disable LAN Settings

If the above method does not work for you, then the next thing that you should try is to disable the LAN Settings and enable the Automatic Detect Settings of your device. According to the many user’s reviews, applying such changes in the device can solve the issue permanently.

There are two ways to disable the LAN Settings and enable the Automatic Detect Settings. The first one is by using a web browser and the second one is through Network Settings. We provide a guide for both of them below.

Process 1: Through Web Browser (Chrome)

• At first, launch the Chrome browser and then click on the Menu (3 dots) from the top-right corner of the window.
• Once you click on it, a drop-down menu will come up. From the list, select the Settings menu. After that, type “proxy” in the search dialog bar present at the top of the window.
• Next, from search results, locate and select the “Open proxy settings”.
• From the current window, click on the Connections tab and then select the LAN Settings button from the bottom of the screen.
• A new window will pop up where you have to check the box labeled as Automatically detect settings and uncheck the box which labels as Use a proxy server for your LAN.

After completing the above steps, save the changes that you have made. Then, restart the Steam to check the status of the problem.

Process 2: Through Network Settings

• First, open your device and then press Windows key + R key to open the Run dialog box.
• After that, type “inetcpl.cpl” in the Run dialog box to open the Internet Properties window.
• Here, you will see lots of tabs at the top of the table. Select the Connection tab and then click on the LAN Settings.
• Now, just like before, you have to check the box labeled as Automatically detect settings and uncheck the box which is labeled as Use a proxy server for your LAN. After that, relaunch the Steam application.

Method #3: Check your Disk Usage

If your disk is busy at copying or moving other stuff in the background, at that time Steam not downloading problem can also occur for your Steam client. If you don’t know how to check if copying or moving stuff actually going on in the background of your device, then learn the techniques from the below steps:

• At first, turn on your device and then press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to launch the Task Manager.
• After that, look for the Process tab from the current window and then check the percentage of Disk usage. If it showing 100%, then it means that your process is at his max limit and can’t carry out the further request of the users.
• To sort out the issue, you can check which program is causing this outrage.
• Once you find the cause, you can disable it from the Services option menu to lower the consumption rate.
• To do that, press Windows key + R key to open the Run dialog box and then type services.msc in it.
• When you press the Enter button, the service window of your device will open.
• Now, from the list of active services of your device, check which one is taking unnecessarily huge resource.
• Once you find it, click on the Service to redirect to its Properties window.
• Now, simply select the Stop button to terminate the service and then click on the Startup Type Disabled option from the drop-down menu.
• After completing the above changes, exit from the page and restart both computer and Steam so that all the effects take place.

Once you complete the above steps, problem like Steam workshop not downloading mods will get resolved without a trace.

Method #4: Disable Diagnostics Tracking Service

Diagnostics Tracking Service is well known for conflicting with the Steam’s function which includes downloading through Steam. So if you have this service active in your device, then skip the above methods and try these hacks at first. To disable the service, perform the cited below steps carefully:

• At first, open the Run dialog box and then type cmd in it to launch the command prompt. Make sure that you open it with administrative privilege.
• Once the black window opens, type sc stop DiagTrack in it. If command prompt didn’t show any error code or something like Access is denied message, then type sc delete DiagTrack to delete the Diagnostics Tracking Service.
• Now, to completely remove its traces from your device, you have to open the Task Scheduler and delete some entries from it.
• To open the Task Scheduler, open the Run dialog box and type taskschd.msc in it.
• When the Task Scheduler opens, click on the Microsoft and then select Windows from it.
• Here you will get a long list of folders. Now, simply search for Application Experience, Autochk and Custom Experience Improvement Program folder from the list and then delete everything from these folders.
• Next, from the same Windows folder, look for the Disk Diagnostic. But in this folder, you only have to delete the Microsoft-Windows-DiskDiagnosticDataCollector file from it.

Once the above changes are done, simply reboot your device to download your games without any further issue.

Method #5: Clear the Download Cache and Change the Download Region

Sometimes, simple tricks like clearing the download cache or making some tweaks in the settings can solve the issue instantly. Inside all the Steam files, you will find a temporary folder which is created during the installation of the game. These files are not important and you can clear them out anytime to recover some installation space. The only downside of the method is that you will be automatically logged out from the Steam account after using the method. If you don’t have a problem with it, then follow the guide below:

• First, launch the Steam client from your device and then press the Steam button from the top-left corner of the home screen.
• When you do that, a drop-down window will open. Now, select Settings and then click on the Downloads options from the left pane of the current window.
• After that, you have to locate the Clear download cache button from the right side of the window. Then hit the button completely remove the download cache from the device.

If deleting the cache is not enough, then you can change the region of the download to get rid of the issue. Sometimes, the Steam server of your local area gets shut down due to some technical issue from the end of the developer which prevents you from downloading anything. So, simply changing the Download region will be more than enough to solve this kind of problem. To change the region, you have to open the Downloads setting window in the same way as above. Then just select a different region from the drop-down menu of Download Region. After making the changes, exit from the window and check if the problem is solved or not.

Wrapping Up

We hope that after applying the above methods, you will be able to fix the Steam not downloading issue. If you have some other effective methods to solve this problem, then you can also share it with us. Somehow if the above methods are not able to resolve the problem, then we will highly recommend contacting a professional for better guidance.