Fix: Steam Not Downloading

To enjoy games on Steam, you first need to add them to your library or purchase them if the title isn’t free to play. You then need to download the software and install it onto your system.

However, the download process on Steam doesn’t always go smoothly. This can be quite frustrating if you’re eager to play your latest game. But don’t worry, we’re here to assist!

If Steam is not downloading games correctly, the methods listed in this guide should help you overcome the issue.

Fix 1: Restart Steam With Administrator Privileges

Steam needs administrator privileges to make specific changes to your PC, such as writing new data on your storage which occurs when installing or updating games.

As this is one of the faster fixes, you can save a lot of time by trying it before the other methods.

Here’s what you need to do.

1. If the Steam client is already open, go to the top-left corner and click “Steam” and then “Exit” to close it.
   
2. Find the shortcut you use to launch Steam on your PC. Right-click it and choose Run as administrator to start the app with administrator privileges.
   
   
3. Open your Steam library and continue the installation if it doesn’t resume automatically. It should now work as intended.

If this doesn’t solve your issue, try the other methods in this guide.

Fix 2: Execute The “wpr-cancel” Command In Command Prompt

This handy solution is another community fix and was discovered by a Reddit user. If you want to know more, you can find the original thread here.

This is considered a slightly more complex solution. However, even if you aren’t tech-savvy, following the steps below will make the process easy for you.

1. Open the search bar in Windows and type “CMD” or “Command Prompt.” Right-click the result and run it as administrator, as shown in the image below.
   
2. In Command Prompt, type the following: sc config” DiagTrack” start= disabled, then press “Enter” on your keyboard.
3. Then type the following: sc stop “DiagTrack” and press “Enter” again.

This method should fix the problem, but you will need to redo it each time you launch Steam. Hopefully, you won’t encounter this issue often, and you can avoid repeating this process.  

Fix 3: Change Your Download Region

Changing your download region can help solve the problem of Steam not downloading. This method is a simple fix that you can easily try from within the Steam application!

This Reddit thread will give you some idea of how old this Steam issue is. Even now, changing your download region can be an effective fix.

Here’s what you need to do.

1. Open Steam on your PC and log into your account.
2. In the top-left corner, click Steam and then Settings.
   
3. Once the panel opens, select Downloads on the left side.
4. Change your download region to a different one near your location and resume the download. See the image below for more information.
   

Steam automatically chooses the nearest download server location for optimal speeds. However, switching can sometimes improve your ability to download data.

Your issue is potentially only fleeting, so you can revert to your initial download server afterwards.

Fix 4: Disable Anti-Virus Software

Some anti-virus software can interfere with Steam and cause problems while installing or updating games. This issue only occurs with certain anti-virus but, to be sure, turn off the real-time protection feature while downloading on Steam.

If the download is successful, you may enable your anti-virus again once it finishes.

Fix 5: Restart Your PC

While this is probably the most basic solution for any computer problem, restarting your PC is sometimes the only fix you need.

Reddit users have reported that restarting their systems and then resuming the download on Steam solved their problem. It’s well worth trying!

Conclusion

The reason that Steam sometimes becomes stuck at zero bytes per second while downloading is unknown. Fortunately, there are multiple solutions for this problem, with most of them coming from members of the community.

If you applied the above methods, you should no longer be affected by the problem. Keep in mind that Steam servers have to deal with an enormous amount of traffic, so the problem won’t always be on your end.