Steam Client keeps crashing; Opens and closes immediately

If the Steam Client keeps crashing or opens and closes immediately, the solutions provided in this article will help you fix the problem. There can be several causes of this problem, like outdated or corrupted drivers, corrupted Steam Client files, etc.

Steam Client keeps crashing; Opens and closes immediately

Use the following solutions if the Steam Client keeps crashing or opens and closes immediately on your Windows 11/10 computer.

Roll back or reinstall your graphics card driver
Opt out of Steam Beta
Repair the Steam Service
Temporarily disable your antivirus
Delete files inside the Steam folder
Uninstall and reinstall the Steam Client

Let’s start.

1] Roll back or reinstall your graphics card driver

Based on our experience, crashing issues of games or game-related applications can sometimes be related to the graphics card driver. We suggest you check if you can roll back your graphics card driver to the previous version. Follow the steps provided below:

Open the Device Manager.
Expand the Display adapters branch.
Right-click on your graphics card driver and select Properties.
Go to the Driver tab and see if the Roll Back option is available.
If yes, roll back your graphics card driver to install its previous version.

After rolling back your graphics card driver, check if the issue persists. If the Roll Back option is greyed out, you cannot install the previous version of your graphics card driver. In this case, uninstall your graphics card driver and reinstall it.

Download the most recent version of your graphics card driver from the official website of the manufacturer.
Install the DDU application and use it to completely remove your graphics card driver.
Run the installer file you downloaded in step 1 to reinstall the graphics card driver.

2] Opt out of Steam Beta

If you have joined the Steam Beta program, leave it and then see if it helps. You can join or leave the Steam Beta Program via the Steam Client settings. Because the Steam Client closes immediately after opening, you cannot do it via Settings. Hence, first, close the Steam Client completely. To do so, open the Task Manager and end all the Steam-related processes.

Now, open File Explorer and go to the following path:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\package

If you have joined the Steam Beta program, you will find a file named beta there. Delete that file. After deleting the beta file, launch Steam and see if the issue persists. When you launch the Steam Client after deleting the beta file, it will download the required files. Let the download process be completed.

3] Repair the Steam Service

If the issue still persists, some Steam files might have been corrupted. We suggest you repair the Steam Service. This action can fix the crashing issues of the Steam Client. To repair the Steam Service, open the Run command box (Win + R keys), copy and paste the following command into the Run command box, and hit Enter.

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\bin\SteamService.exe" /repair

After execution of the above command, launch Steam and then see if the issue persists.

4] Temporarily disable your antivirus

Antivirus software can generate false positives. You can ignore such false positive flags but these flags can cause troubles as the antivirus blocks genuine applications due to these flags. This can be the case with you. You can confirm this by temporarily disabling your antivirus. If this fixes the problem, add the Steam exe file to the exclusion list of your antivirus.

5] Delete files inside the Steam folder

One more effective fix to resolve this problem is to delete all the files located inside the Steam folder. First, close the Steam Client completely. If there are any running instances of the Steam Client in the Task Manager, end those processes too.

Now, open the File Explorer and go to the following location.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam

Now, delete all the files and folders except the steamapps folder and the Steam exe file. When you are done, open Steam. It will download all the missing files. Hence, this process will take some time. This should fix the issue.

6] Uninstall and reinstall the Steam Client

If none of the above-mentioned fixes helped, uninstall and reinstall the Steam Client. After uninstalling it, download its latest version from the official website and reinstall it.

That’s it. I hope this helps.

How to clear Steam cache?

Clearing the Steam download cache can solve the problems with the games that do not download or start. To do so, open the Steam Client Settings and go to the Downloads section. Now, click on the Clear Cache button.

How do I fix my Steam Client?

You may experience different issues with the Steam Client. Hence, the troubleshooting steps are different depending on the type of problem you are experiencing with the Steam Client. For example, if Steam shows a black screen, the issue may be with your graphics card driver; uninstall and reinstall it.