Fix: Steam Completing Installation

Steam, one of the largest game hosting clients in the world have an estimated of 6 million players online every day. It is developed by Valve Corporation. There are thousands of games available on the client with more adding each day.

Steam may be a giant in the gaming industry, but it isn’t without its problems. There is an error in the Steam client where while installing a game, the installation process gets stuck at a certain percentage for hours. Mostly the percentage is 0% or 1%. This error can be caused by a number of technical faults. It is possible that Steam has their service or servers down due to which you may be having difficulty while installation. If their services are running perfectly, it means there is a problem at your end.

Solution 1: Checking your PC requirements

Many games demand that you have specific PC hardware and software available before you can play them. A game is designed to run on a minimum amount of hardware; if it is not provided to it, it is possible that it refuses to install.

You can easily check the game’s requirements by navigating to the Steam store page where you purchased it. Minimum requirements will be found either at the top or at the very bottom.

1. Launch the Run application (press Windows + R button) and in the dialogue box type “dxdiag”. This will launch another window in front of you.
2. This tool is called DirectX Diagnostic Tool. On the System tab, you will be able to see your processor and its specifications in detail.

3. When you press the Display button (present at the top of the window), this application will show you all the information regarding your graphic card and graphic memory.

4. You can easily compare your system specifications with that of the game requirements. If you don’t meet those requirements, it is possible that Steam is refusing to install the game because of this.

In this case, you can upgrade the specifications of your system and try installing the game.

Solution 2: Your Steam is online somewhere else

There is also the possibility that your Steam account is logged in somewhere else. If this the case, Steam sometimes cannot install the game on your computer as it doesn’t understand which computer to install it on. We can de-authorize all the other devices from your Steam account and try logging in again.

Do note that this solution will log you out of all the other devices you are logged in. Don’t follow this method if you don’t have access to all your credentials or if you don’t have these devices within your reach.

1. Open your Steam client. Click on your account name present at the top right corner of the screen. You can also open your account from your browser and follow the steps. It is the same thing.
2. Select the option of “Account Details” from the list of options in the drop-down menu.

3. Select the tab of Account details from the left side of the screen. Now scroll down the screen until you find the tab of Account Security. Click on the option which says “Manage Steam Guard”.

4. Once you enter the Steam Guard, navigate to the end of the screen. Here you will see a tab consisting of your account being logged in other devices. Click the button which says “Deauthorize all other devices”. This option will log Steam out of every other device where you may have logged it in.

We repeat the warning again, don’t follow this method if you don’t have access to Steam credentials or if the devices aren’t in your reach.

Solution 3: Steam Servers down

As a gamer, you already know this question, is Steam down? This question pops up the moment you are unable to connect to the Steam client, store, or community properly.

There are a lot of ways through which you check Steam’s server status. On the Steam site which is purely dedicated to providing this information, you can check the status of all the different servers i.e. United States, Europe, Netherlands, China etc. If the servers are healthy and up and running, the text would appear as green. If they are offline or going through a lot of loads, they may appear as red. Some servers may also appear orange to indicate their load is moderate; any more load would overload the server to its maximum capacity.

Not only this, you can also check if the Steam store is working properly as well as the Steam community. If you are experiencing the error where Steam doesn’t continue your installation and is stuck at one place, you should first check if the Steam servers are down. If they are up, it means there is a problem on your end and you can follow the solutions down below.

Check the Steam’s server status before following the other solutions listed below.

Solution 4: Disabling Firewall and adding exception to Antivirus

It is a well-known fact that Steam conflicts with the Windows Firewall. As we all know, Steam tends to download updates and games over the background while you are using Windows for something else. It tends to do so you don’t have to wait for the download to finish when you want to play your game or use the Steam client. Steam also has access to a number of system configuration and it alters it so you can get the best experience available for your gaming. Windows Firewall sometimes marks some of these processes as malicious and tends to block Steam. There may even be a conflict going where the Firewall is blocking Steam’s actions in the background. This way you won’t know it’s even happening so it’ll be hard to pinpoint it out. We can try disabling your Firewall temporarily and checking if the error dialogue goes away or not.

You can check our guide on how to disable the firewall.

Like in the case of Firewall, sometimes your antivirus can also quarantine some of Steam’s actions as potential threats. The obvious solution would be to uninstall your antivirus but it isn’t wise to do so. If you uninstall your antivirus, you will be exposing your computer to a number of different threats. The best way is to add steam to the list of applications which are exempted from scanning. The antivirus will treat Steam as if it wasn’t even there.

You can read our guide on how to add Steam as an exception to your antivirus.

Solution 5: Verify integrity of Game Files and repairing Steam Library

Most of the games available in Steam are very huge files consisting of several GB’s. It is possible that during the download/update, some of the data may have been corrupted. Steam has a feature within the client itself where you can verify the integrity of game files quite easily.

This feature compares your downloaded game with that of the latest version present in the Steam servers. Once it is done cross-checking, it removes any unwanted files or updates them if needed. There are manifests present in each computer where a game is installed. Instead of checking the files one by one (which take hours), Steam compares the manifest present on your PC with the one in the servers. This way the process takes place much more quickly and efficiently.

We can also try repairing Steam Library files. Steam Library is the place where all your games are present and you can only access them through it. It is possible that your Steam library isn’t in the correct configuration. There may also be a case where you have installed Steam on one drive and your games are on another one. In that case, you have to repair both the libraries before launching your game again.

Do note that this process takes some time as a lot of computation is going on. Don’t cancel the process in between to avoid any further errors. Furthermore, Steam may ask you to enter your credentials once it is done with the process. Don’t follow this solution if you don’t have your account information at hand.

You can check our detailed guide on how to verify integrity of games and repair your Steam library.

Solution 6: Disabling Beta participation

Steam, like many other giants in the gaming industry, also constantly improve their client. This improvement includes new added features and bug fixes etc. Valve has an option in Steam where you can get your hands on the latest developments by participating in the Beta program.

In the Beta program, you get all the features first hand before the official release, but, you may experience a lot of bugs and even crashes. As we all know, a beta version isn’t the official version and the developers are constantly tweaking and making changes by gathering data through your usage.

Whenever you experience a problem, it gets reported to Steam who in turn release an update to the beta version to fix it. Normally the updates come within two to three days but it can also be longer. We can try disabling your beta participation and checking if the problem gets fixed.

Note: If you are using a feature which is only available in the beta version, it may be deactivated as we will be shifting to the stable version. Don’t follow this method if you don’t want to lose access to those functions.

Solution 7: Disabling Cortana (Windows 10)

Many users reported that disabling Microsoft’s digital assistant (Cortana) solved their issue. Cortana has administrator privileges and monitors your actions and gathers data so it can serve you well. In many cases, this can conflict with your software (in this case Steam) and cause unexpected errors.

Disabling Cortana isn’t as simple as it used to be. When Windows 10 was launched, you could easily disable Cortana by just a flip of an option. However, after the upgrades, Microsoft removed the option completely. However, there is still a way. We can edit the registry after creating a system restore point in case anything goes wrong.

1. Press Windows + R button to open the Run application. In the dialogue box type “regedit”. This is a command to bring up the Registry Editor in front of you. You may be asked to grant permission to run the program. If you are prompted, press Yes.
2. Once you are in the Registry Editor, navigate to the following.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

Software

Policies

Microsoft

Windows

Windows Search

3. Here is a twister; you might not find a folder named Windows Search. If so, you can create one by right clicking on Windows and select the option New.

4. When you are in the Windows Search, right click on the blank space and select “DWORD (32 bit)” from the list of options.

5. After selecting the option, a new listing will appear which will be ready to be named. You should name “AllowCortana”. After you have named it, double click on it so we can ensure that the Value Data is labeled as “0”.

6. That’s it. Close the Registry Editor, restart your computer. Cortana will be long gone and you can check starting Steam using “Run as administrator”.

If this solution doesn’t work and you want Cortana to come back, you can enter the Registry Editor the way described and delete the folder we just made. After restarting your PC, Cortana should be available again.

Solution 8: Disabling In-home Streaming

Steam has a feature named in-home Streaming. It allows you play a game on one computer while the actual process is happening somewhere else (some other computer in your home). Through Steam, the game audio and video is captured on your remote computer and transferred to the computer where you want to play it. The game input (mouse, keyboard, and controller) information is sent from your computer to the remote computer.

This feature has gained lots of popularity as you can basically run the Steam from any remote computer which has very high specifications while you can play on a more comfortable one present in your bedroom. This feature promises ease of access and accessibility at its best; something that other gaming clients have failed to provide.

Similar to all other gaming features, this feature is also known to cause problems with Steam. In this case, your download can be stuck at installing because you have enabled in-home streaming. The streaming may be conflicting with the installing; thus stopping its process and preventing it from moving forward. We can try disabling your in-home streaming and check if the problem gets solved.

1. Open your Steam client. Open the client’s Settings after selecting it from the options after clicking the Steam icon present at the top left side of the screen.
2. Navigate to the In-Home Streaming tab (present at the left side of the screen).
3. Here all the PC’s will be listed where you are streaming your Steam client. You can either remove all the other PC’s or you can uncheck the line which says “Enable Streaming”.

4. Save changes and restart Steam. Start your installation process again and check if the problem at hand got fixed.

Solution 9: Restarting again and again

This solution is not a proper method and isn’t permanent. You should notice if you restart your computer, a little percentage of the installation process happens before halting again. We can try restarting your computer again and again IF you want. Otherwise, we can directly proceed in refreshing/reinstalling your Steam.

We at Appuals, advice that you don’t resort to this method and proceed directly to the final solution. But for those people who have no option to reinstall Steam, they can follow this method if they feel like it. Do note that you will be performing this at your own risk and you will be responsible for any damage that happens.

Final Solution: Refreshing Steam files

Now there is nothing left except to reinstall Steam and see if that does the trick. When we refresh your Steam files, we will preserve your downloaded games so you won’t have to download them again. Furthermore, your user data will also be preserved. What refreshing Steam files actually do is delete all the configuration files of the Steam client and then forces it to install them again. So if there were any bad files/corrupt files, they will get replaced accordingly. Do note that after this method, you would need to log in again using your credentials. Don’t follow this solution if you don’t have that information at hand. The process may take a while so avoid canceling once you start the installing process.

You can read our article on how to refresh your Steam files.

Note: You can read our guide if you are having a connection error where your entire Steam client refuses to connect to the internet.