How to Repair “Unable to Initialize Steam API” Error on Windows PC

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The “Unable to Initialize Steam API” error message can appear after launching a game in the Steam library, preventing the user from launching the game and causing inconvenience.

But don’t worry! In this article, we provide several effective solutions to this Steam error. If you don’t know how to solve the “Unable to Initialize Steam API” error on your computer, you can try the solutions mentioned in this article.

What causes “Unable to Initialize Steam API”?

• Maybe your firewall is blocking the connection of the game’s executable to the Internet, which causes this error.
• Steam beta clients are known to cause this problem in some builds, so sometimes it’s better to use a regular public client.
• Comodo Internet Security may have put the game on the autodetect list, which has caused problems for almost all players who have tried to run Steam games with this antivirus.

How to fix the ‘Unable to initialize Steam API’ error message?



Start Steam with administrator rights

1. Locate the Steam executable on your Windows computer, right-click it and select ‘Properties.
2. In this window, select the ‘Compatibility’ tab and check the ‘Run this program as administrator’ box.
3. Click OK and accept any pop-ups that appear about granting administrator rights.

Changing the Windows Firewall and Anti-Virus settings

1. Click Start -> then select the gear button to access the settings.
2. Select Update and Security -> Windows Security -> Firewall and Network Protection -> Allow application through the firewall.
3. After selecting this option, all you need to do is find Steam (or the game causing the problem) in the list and allow it to pass through the firewall by checking the In and Out boxes.
4. Click OK, your computer will reboot, and these settings will take effect.

Disable the Steam Beta program

1. Go to the Steam settings at the top left of the screen.
2. Select the Account tab -> then change the Beta Participation settings to NONE.
3. Click on the Steam option in the upper left corner of the screen, and then select Exit.
4. You should now close all processes on your system that interact with Steam.
5. Right-click on the taskbar and select Task Manager.
6. Click the Details button at the bottom of the window.
7. Next, find all the processes related to Steam – Steam.exe, Steam Client Bootstrapper, or GameOverlayUI.exe. ,
8. For each of these processes, click End Process -> Yes.
9. You can now restart the Steam platform.

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