If you are a PC gamer, you must have built a collection of games from the Steam Store. So, if the Steam Store isn’t loading, you can neither pre-book a new game nor even get any information about your old ones. This can happen due to a one-time bug or even a wrong configuration file. If you are facing this problem, just flushing the configuration file may help you resolve the issue.
Workarounds –
1. If the Steam Store isn’t loading for the first time, just close Steam once and relaunch it.
2. Disabling the third-party antivirus may help you resolve the issue.
Fix 1 – Restart Steam completely
Restarting Steam completely should work just fine.
1. Launch Steam on your system, if it isn’t opened yet.
2. Then, close the app.
This won’t close Steam, it will just minimize it to the system tray. So, you have to manually exit it.
3. So, tap on the upward arrow icon (˄) on the taskbar and right-click on the “Steam” icon, and tap on “Exit“.
Sometimes some Steam processes can still be running in the background.
5. So, right-click on the Windows key.
6. Then, tap on the “Task Manager” to access it.
7. When the Task Manager opens up, look for any Steam process running in the background.
8. Just, right-click on the Steam process and tap on “End task“.
This way, kill all the Steam processes one by one.
Close the Task Manager. After doing all these, relaunch Steam and check whether Steam Store is loading or not.
Fix 2 – Flush the configuration
Flushing the Steam configuration may help you resolve the issue.
1. on your keyboard , press the Windows key + R key together at once from the keyboard.
2. Paste this line in Run and tap on “OK“.
steam://flushconfig
You will receive a prompt.
3. Then, tap on “OK” to confirm your action.
This will flush the current Steam Configuration.
Just, relaunch Steam and test whether the Store is loading or not.
Fix 3 – Run Steam as an administrator
Launching Steam as an administrator may solve this issue.
1. Make sure that you have logged in with an administrative account.
2. Then, type “Steam” on the search bar.
2. After that, right-click on the “Steam” app and tap on “Run as administrator” to open Steam as an administrator.
When Steam opens up with administrative privileges, check whether Store is loading or not.
Fix 4 – Force Update Steam
If there are some corrupt Steam files causing this issue, try force updating Steam.
Step 1
1. At first, close the Steam app completely.
2. Then, press the Ctrl+Shift+Esc keys together to open the Task Manager.
3. When Task Manager opens up, select the “Steam client” and tap on “End task” to kill that process.
Scroll down through the Task Manager screen and terminate all the Steam-related processes.
Once you have done that, close the Task Manager.
Step 2
1. At first, press the Windows key+R keys together.
2. Then, copy-paste this line and tap on “OK“.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam
3. When the Steam folder opens up, select everything EXCEPT these files and folders and tap on the “Delete” icon.
steamapps steam.exe ssfn files userdata
Once you have done that, close the File Explorer.
4. Then, launch Steam.
It will analyze which files/folders are missing and download-install the files.
Just wait for a while. When Steam appears, log in using your credentials. Test whether Store is working or not.
Fix 5 – Retain compatibility settings
If you are launching Steam in compatibility mode, you have to disable it.
1. At first, press the Windows key+R keys together.
2. Then, copy-paste this line and click on “OK“.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam
3. When the Steam folder opens up, right-click on the “steam” app and tap on “Properties“.
4. Now, go to the “Compatibility” section.
5. Then, uncheck all the boxes in the ‘Compatibility mode‘, ‘Settings‘.
6. Finally, tap on “Change settings for all users“.
7. Finally, tap on “Apply” and “OK” to save the changes.
Close File Explorer.
Launch Steam and test if this works.
Fix 6 – Create a Steam shortcut and launch it
Just create a Steam shortcut and launch it using the new shortcut.
1. Right-click on the Windows icon and tap on “Run“.
2. Then, type this location in the Run terminal and hit Enter.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam
3. When the Steam location opens up, right-click on the “Steam” app and tap on “Show more options“.
4. Then, tap on “Create shortcut“.
5. Now, right-click on the “steam – Shortcut” and tap on “Properties“.
6. After that, just go to the “Shortcut” tab.
7. Here, in the ‘Target:’ box, just input space at the end and paste this modifier.
-no-cef-sandbox
It will look like this –
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe"-no-cef-sandbox
8. Finally, tap on “Apply” and on “OK” to save the changes.
9. Once you have done that, double click on the “steam- Shortcut” to launch Steam.
This time Store should load without any further issues.
Fix 7 – Launch Steam in Big Picture mode
Launching Steam in Big Picture mode can resolve the empty Steam Store issue.
1. Launch Steam on your system.
2. Once you have done that, tap on “View” on the menu bar and tap on “Big Picture Mode“.
This will open Steam in Big Picture mode. When it does, test whether the Store is working or not.
If you can’t launch Steam in Big Picture mode directly from the app, you can do the same from outside the apps.
1. At first, tap on the arrow icon (˄) on your taskbar to view the hidden icons.
2. Now, right-click on the “Steam” and tap on “Big Picture“.
Test whether this works or not.
Fix 9 – Don’t save account details
Try not to store the credentials in Steam. This can solve the issue.
1. Launch Steam at the first step.
2. Then, tap on “Steam” on the menu bar and tap on “Settings“.
3. When the Settings opens up, on the left-hand side, tap on “Account“.
4. After that, check the “Don’t save the account credentials on this computer“.
5. Finally, tap on “OK” to complete this change.
After that, close the Steam app. Relaunch the app once again. You have to use your Steam credentials to sign in again.
Check if this solves the Steam Store issue on your system.
Fix 10 – Remove all browser cache
Steam browser cache is the easiest part that can be corrupted and Steam will stop loading Store correctly.
1. At first, open the Steam app.
2. Once you have opened it, click on “Steam” on the menu bar and tap on “Settings“.
3. When the Settings panel opens up, go to the “Web Browser” from the left-hand side.
4. After that, tap on “DELETE WEB BROWSER CACHE” to empty the web cache.
5. Then, click on “DELETE ALL BROWSER COOKIES“.
Once you have done that, tap on “OK“.
Close Steam. Then, relaunch it on your system.
This should solve the problem and you will have the Steam Store up and running again.
Alternative Tip –
1. If none of these fixes worked, uninstall the Steam client and reinstall the latest version of it.
2. You can access the Steam Store from any browser. Just open Steam and log in using the proper Steam credentials.