Steam, developed by Valve Corporation, is a premier platform for digital distribution, management, and social networking in the gaming community. Recently, gamers have been getting black screen while trying to access the Steam library.
As soon as the user clicks on Library, Steam library showing black screen, and no games are available to play in the library. Some users have said that the issue occurred after the recent Steam update.
Steam library showing black screen is a well-known issue and the Steam community is also actively working on it. Steam disk write error is another known bug for the Steam community.
In this article, I will guide you through these various effective solutions, to ensure that you can return to your gaming sessions with minimal downtime. By the end of this article, your Steam library black screen issue will be completely fixed.
Causes of Steam Library Showing Black Screen
Below are some major causes behind the issue of the game not showing in the Steam Library:
- Graphics card settings
- Steam settings are not properly configured
- Corrupted Steam cache
- Outrage in Steam servers
Each of these factors can disrupt the normal operation of your Steam library, resulting in the Steam library black screen issue.
Fix Steam Library Showing Black Screen
To fix the black screen in the Steam library, you need to proceed with the solutions as shown below and in the end, you will surely get the resolution for your error with Steam. Here are the proven solutions to fix the issue of games not showing up in the Steam library:
Disable V Sync
V sync is a feature of NVIDIA graphics card, that synchronizes the frame rate of the game with the refresh rate of the monitor. However, V-sync can also be the major cause of the issue of the Steam library black screen. So you need to disable the functionality of V-sync in the NVIDIA control panel. To proceed:
- Right-click on the desktop and choose NVIDIA control panel
- In the left lane, click on Manage 3D settings
- Select global settings and find Vertical sync
- From the drop-down menu, choose the option “Off”
Save the changes and restart your Steam to fix Steam library black screen issues.
Unplug Controller
Sometimes controllers conflict with Steam and don’t load the library. So if you have attached any Xbox controller or PS controller to your system, go ahead and unplug them. After you unplugged the controller, relaunch the steam and hit the library option. The games will started to show in your Steam library.
Once the library starts to show, you can replug your controller and play your game.
Using Task Manager
Another method to fix the Steam library showing black screen is by taking the help of the task manager to properly close the Steam exe files. To do so:
- Right-click on the taskbar and choose the option Task manager
- In the processes tab, find Steam Client Webhelper
- Right-click on Steam Client Webhelper and choose the option end task
- After choosing the option “end task” Steam will launch automatically.
- Click on the library tab and all your games will start to show here.
Using Friends and Chat Option
This method is a tip for you to solve the black screen issue with the Steam library.
- Launch your Steam app
- Click on the Library tab to open the library
- When the library shows a black screen, click on the option “Friends and chat” in the bottom left corner of the Steam
Once you hit the option “Friends & Chat” your Steam library will start to show and you will be able to play the game.
Disable Hardware Acceleration
To perform the tasks smoothly, Steam uses your system’s GPU to perform certain tasks such as video decoding and rendering. Sometimes this option doesn’t let you play your favorite games because that game is not showing in the Steam library.
So you need to disable the hardware acceleration of the Steam. To do so:
- Launch Steam and click on the Steam icon present in the top left corner of the interface.
- Choose the option “settings” to open Steam settings
- From the left pane, click on the option “Interface”
- Scroll down and disable two options “Enable GPU accelerated rendering in web views” and “Enable hardware video decoding if supported”
After disabling both options, restart the Steam and this will fix the issue of the Steam library showing black screen after launch.
Use Big Picture Mode
Another way of showing the games in the Steam library is by opening the Steam in the big picture mode. You can enable the big picture mode in the Steam settings.
Open Steam and at the top of the interface, click on the option “View”. From here enable “Big picture mode” and this will help you resolve the Steam game not showing in the library.
Power Reset Router
There may be a glitch in the router which doesn’t let you properly use your Internet. So do a power reset of your router to fix the Steam library showing black screen issue. To do so:
- Turn off your router
- Unplug all the cables as well as the power supply
- Wait for 30 to 40 seconds
- Replug all the cables and power supply
- Connect with your system
- Once connected click on the start menu and type cmd
- Choose the option run as administrator
- Type in ipconfig /flushdns and hit the enter key
Now start the Steam. This simple fix helps you black screen issues with your Steam library.
Using Steam Local Files by Clearing Cache
Steam caches stored in your system can also be another cause for the issue of the Steam library showing black screen. So you need to clear those web caches to fix the issue.
- Right-click on the Start menu and choose the option Run
- Type in %localappdata% and hit the enter key
- Open the location Steam\html cache
- Now, close the Steam and verify that Steam is closed from the system tray also
- Now, delete this folder with the name “HTML cache“
- After deleting the folder, re-launch the Steam
Steam will automatically build this folder when it restarts and, in turn, help you fix the issue of the Steam library showing black screen.
Contact Steam Support
If you are still getting a black screen in the Steam library, it is better to contact Steam support and submit a ticket so that a Steam agent will contact you over your email ID and provide you with the instructions to resolve the error.
Conclusion: Steam Library Showing Black Screen
In this article, I have given you proven solutions to fix black screen issues after launching Steam so that you can play your games. I hope one of the methods given above will help you resolve your error. If you have any queries or questions, feel free to comment below. I will be more than happy to assist you.
Read More
- Steam Disk Write Error Fix
- Steam No License Error
- Games not Showing up in Steam Library
- Steam Disk Usage Slow Fix
FAQ: Steam Library Showing Black Screen
Below are answers to some queries people found searching on different websites. So I try to give the appropriate answers to all those queries so that you will get the answers on a single platform.
How to fix Steam deck black screen?
On Steam deck, click on the option Friends and Chat, and as soon as you click on it, it will instantly resolve the issue of Steam deck showing black screen in library.
Nextly, you can try disabling the hardware acceleration by going to Steam settings, from left pane click on Interface and toggle of hardware acceleration.
Another method to fix Steam deck black screen by doing a hard reset. Press and hold the power button for 10 seconds and once restarted it will verify the installation to fix the issue.
How to fix Steam low disk usage?
Steam low disk usage usually occurred due to write cache policy of your hard disk, which is enabled by default. Write cache is a Windows process where Windows temporary store the data before writing on the disk. So you need to disable it by going to device manager.
In device manager expand disk driver, right-click on your disk and select Properties
Click on the policies tab and uncheck the option Write cache to fix the Steam low disk usage.
How to fix Steam client library showing black screen on desktop mode?
The best way to fix Steam deck library showing black screen on desktop mode is by changing the built channel. To do so:
Go to Steam settings, scroll down and choose developer settings.
Here, click on Enable advanced update channels options.
Now go back to system settings and change the OS update channel.
I am an engineer by profession and a blogger by passion.
Founder of FixGamingError.com as well as TheLotusGeek.com
I have more than 10 years of expertise in the field of gaming as well as in Windows Support.
