Steam overlay not working - what to do?
Sometimes your Steam overlay may stop working. In this practical tip, we explain which reasons this can have and how you can correct the error.
Steam overlay does not work - steam community deactivated?
You can deactivate and activate the overlay for each game individually. So if the overlay just doesn't work for a certain game, that could be the reason.
- Right-click on the game in question in the Steam library and then click on "Properties".
- The window opens under the "General" tab. Check whether the "Activate the Steam Community in the game" is checked.
Overlay does not work in any game
If the overlay does not work in any game, you should check whether the function is generally activated.
- Click "Steam" at the top, then "Settings".
- Under "In game", the checkmark should also be ticked for "Activating the Steam Community in the game".
Applications incompatible with the overlay
It can also happen that other applications are responsible for not opening your overlay. Most of them are firewalls, capture programs or graphic tuners.
- You can find a longer list of programs including possible solutions in this Steam support thread.
If nothing helps - reinstall Steam
If none of the previous solutions help you, you should reinstall Steam. To avoid losing all games, follow these steps:
- Open your Steam installation directory.
- Now delete all files and folders except the "Steam.exe" and the "steamapps" folder. This is important because "steamapps" contains all of your games.
- Then run Steam.exe and the client will automatically download the required files from the Internet.
Did you know that you can also make a little money with Steam? Trading cards can be sold at low prices in the Steam Market - you can find out how in this practical tip.