Cannot launch Steam

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1

Hello, after I saw no connection on steam I deleted steam’s download cache and after that it refuses to launch. I installed steam from rpm fusion a year ago and have been using it without this issue. I tried launching it from terminal and getting these error

steam
steam.sh[5996]: Running Steam on fedora 43 64-bit
steam.sh[5996]: STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically
setup.sh[6046]: Steam runtime environment up-to-date!
steam.sh[5996]: Log already open
steam.sh[5996]: Steam client’s requirements are satisfied
CProcessEnvironmentManager is ready, 6 preallocated environment variables.
[2026-05-14 17:35:36] Startup - updater built Sep 12 2025 03:55:50
[2026-05-14 17:35:36] Startup - Steam Client launched with: ‘/home/Promit/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam’ ‘-srt-logger-opened’
05/14 17:35:36 minidumps folder is set to /tmp/dumps
05/14 17:35:36 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(0)/tid(6088)
CProcessEnvironmentManager is ready, 6 preallocated environment variables.
[2026-05-14 17:35:36] Process started with command-line: ‘/home/Promit/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam’ ‘-child-update-ui’ ‘-child-update-ui-socket’ ‘8’ ‘-srt-logger-opened’
05/14 17:35:36 minidumps folder is set to /tmp/dumps
[2026-05-14 17:35:36] Using update UI: console
05/14 17:35:36 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(0)/tid(6089)
[2026-05-14 17:35:36] Create window
[2026-05-14 17:35:36] Failed to load cached hosts file (File ‘update_hosts_cached.vdf’ not found), using defaults
[2026-05-14 17:35:36] Using the following download hosts for Public, Realm steamglobal
[2026-05-14 17:35:36] 1. ``https://client-update.steamstatic.com``, /, Realm ‘steamglobal’, weight was 1, source = ‘baked in’
ILocalize::AddFile() failed to load file “public/steambootstrapper_english.txt”.
[2026-05-14 17:35:36] Verifying installation…
[2026-05-14 17:35:36] Verifying file sizes only
[2026-05-14 17:35:36] Unable to read and verify install manifest /home/Promit/.local/share/Steam/package/steam_client_ubuntu12.installed
[2026-05-14 17:35:36] Verification complete
[2026-05-14 17:35:36] Downloading Update…
[2026-05-14 17:35:36] Checking for available update…
[2026-05-14 17:35:36] Downloading manifest: ``https://client-update.steamstatic.com/steam_client_ubuntu12\`\`
[2026-05-14 17:35:36] Manifest download: send request
[2026-05-14 17:35:36] Set percent complete: 0
[2026-05-14 17:35:36] Set percent complete: -1
[2026-05-14 17:35:36] Set status message: Verifying installation…
[----] Verifying installation…
[2026-05-14 17:35:36] Set percent complete: 0
[2026-05-14 17:35:36] Set status message: Downloading Update…
[ 0%] Downloading Update…
[2026-05-14 17:35:36] Set status message: Checking for available update…
[ 0%] Checking for available update…
[2026-05-14 17:35:36] Set percent complete: -1
[2026-05-14 17:35:36] Manifest download: waiting for download to finish
[2026-05-14 17:35:38] Show window
[2026-05-14 17:35:44] Manifest download: finished
[2026-05-14 17:35:44] Download failed: http error 0 (``client-update.steamstatic.com/steam_client_ubuntu12``)
[2026-05-14 17:35:44] DownloadManifest - exhausted list of download hosts
[2026-05-14 17:35:44] failed to load manifest from buffer.
[2026-05-14 17:35:44] Failed to load manifest
[2026-05-14 17:35:44] Error: Download failed: http error 0
[2026-05-14 17:35:44] Saving metrics to disk (/home/Promit/.local/share/Steam/package/steam_client_metrics.bin)
[2026-05-14 17:35:44] Error: Steam needs to be online to update. Please confirm your network connection and try again.
UpdateUI: skip show logo
[2026-05-14 17:35:44] Shutdown
[2026-05-14 17:35:44] Fatal error: Steam needs to be online to update. Please confirm your network connection and try again.
[----] !!! Fatal Error: Steam needs to be online to update. Please confirm your network connection and try again.
[2026-05-14 17:35:44] ProcessNextMessage: socket disconnected
[2026-05-14 17:35:44] No more messages are expected - exiting
src/tier0/threadtools.cpp (3612) : Assertion Failed: Illegal termination of worker thread ‘Thread(0x0x57656b30/0x0xf761eb’
src/tier0/threadtools.cpp (3612) : Assertion Failed: Illegal termination of worker thread ‘Thread(0x0x57656b30/0x0xf761eb’
05/14 17:35:45 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1.0)/tid(6088)
assert_20260514173545_8.dmp[6102]: Uploading dump (out-of-process)
/tmp/dumps/assert_20260514173545_8.dmp
Promit@fedora:~$ assert_20260514173545_8.dmp[6102]: Finished uploading minidump (out-of-process): success = yes
assert_20260514173545_8.dmp[6102]: response: CrashID=bp-917b3cd6-e984-40a7-9c81-be9792260514
assert_20260514173545_8.dmp[6102]: file ‘’/tmp/dumps/assert_20260514173545_8.dmp’', upload yes: ‘‘CrashID=bp-917b3cd6-e984-40a7-9c81-be9792260514’’

its something like steam can’t connect to internet right? but my internet is just fine. my system is fedora kde plasma and version is 43.

2

on another note I tried the steam mirrors with curl and they worked fine there

3

This line

Download failed: http error 0 (client-update.steamstatic.com/steam_client_ubuntu12)

makes it look like when you cleared the cache, Steam deleted its local client files and needs to re-download them on first launch, but something is blocking outbound connections.

First thing you probably want to do is check basic connectivity with

ping -c 3 client-update.steamstatic.com
curl -v https://client-update.steamstatic.com/steam_client_ubuntu12

and if the curl command hangs or doesn’t return anything, you’ve confirmed there’s some kind of block happening.

4

I ran the command and no it didn’t hang. it returned whole lot of data regarding steam and ubuntu12. here’s a portion of the output

PING client-update.steamstatic.com (2a04:4e42:9::850) 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 2a04:4e42:9::850: icmp_seq=1 ttl=49 time=258 ms
64 bytes from 2a04:4e42:9::850: icmp_seq=2 ttl=49 time=251 ms
64 bytes from 2a04:4e42:9::850: icmp_seq=3 ttl=49 time=243 ms

-– client-update.steamstatic.com ping statistics —
3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2001ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 243.057/250.588/258.142/6.158 ms
* Host client-update.steamstatic.com:443 was resolved.
* IPv6: 2a04:4e42:9::850
* IPv4: 151.101.39.82
* Trying [2a04:4e42:9::850]:443…
* Trying 151.101.39.82:443…
* ALPN: curl offers h2,http/1.1
* TLSv1.3 (OUT), TLS handshake, Client hello (1):
* CAfile: /etc/pki/ca-trust/extracted/pem/tls-ca-bundle.pem
* CApath: none
* TLSv1.3 (IN), TLS handshake, Server hello (2):
* TLSv1.3 (IN), TLS change cipher, Change cipher spec (1):
* TLSv1.3 (IN), TLS handshake, Encrypted Extensions (8):
* TLSv1.3 (IN), TLS handshake, Certificate (11):
* TLSv1.3 (IN), TLS handshake, CERT verify (15):
* TLSv1.3 (IN), TLS handshake, Finished (20):
* TLSv1.3 (OUT), TLS change cipher, Change cipher spec (1):
* TLSv1.3 (OUT), TLS handshake, Finished (20):
* SSL connection using TLSv1.3 / TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 / X25519MLKEM768 / RSASSA-PSS
* ALPN: server accepted http/1.1
* Server certificate:
* subject: CN=client-update.fastly.steamstatic.com
* start date: Apr 15 10:33:30 2026 GMT
* expire date: Jul 14 10:33:29 2026 GMT
* subjectAltName: host “client-update.steamstatic.com” matched cert’s “client-update.steamstatic.com”
* issuer: C=US; O=Let’s Encrypt; CN=R12
* SSL certificate verify ok.
* Certificate level 0: Public key type RSA (2048/112 Bits/secBits), signed using sha256WithRSAEncryption
* Certificate level 1: Public key type RSA (2048/112 Bits/secBits), signed using sha256WithRSAEncryption
* Certificate level 2: Public key type RSA (4096/152 Bits/secBits), signed using sha256WithRSAEncryption
* Connected to client-update.steamstatic.com (2a04:4e42:9::850) port 443
* using HTTP/1.x

GET /steam_client_ubuntu12 HTTP/1.1
Host: client-update.steamstatic.com
User-Agent: curl/8.15.0
Accept: */*

* TLSv1.3 (IN), TLS handshake, Newsession Ticket (4):
* Request completely sent off
< HTTP/1.1 200 OK
< Connection: keep-alive
< Content-Length: 9863
< Server: nginx
< Content-Type: application/octet-stream
< Last-Modified: Fri, 08 May 2026 23:53:15 GMT
< ETag: “69fe776b-2687”
< Expires: Tue, 12 May 2026 04:32:12 GMT
< Cache-Control: max-age=600, public, max-age=600
< Edge-Control: !no-store,!bypass-cache,cache-maxage=600
< Accept-Ranges: bytes
< Date: Thu, 14 May 2026 11:53:07 GMT
< Via: 1.1 varnish
< Age: 45
< X-Served-By: cache-ams2100097-AMS
< X-Cache: HIT
< X-Cache-Hits: 1
< X-Timer: S1778759588.976870,VS0,VE1
<
“ubuntu12”
{
“version” “1778281814”
“tenfoot_images_all”
{
“file” “tenfoot_images_all.zip.86419c7a56c12dd107b5e0d46f50c8a9b121f3cc”
“size” “6582204”
“sha2” “990676bc29d01736477c6b571b5048258a6156284ef242503112fc68567cbf01”
“zipvz” “tenfoot_images_all.zip.vz.193cb8c4eb4446698ea2c0a9e8c4e6b6a623dac7_5572671”
“sha2vz” “e1fee3beffa9d08a415a35ddc7d3141af6c44269c67e67aa0a3eea6e56889bd7”
}
“steamui_websrc_all”
{
“file” “steamui_websrc_all.zip.3c3fc6b9ce05591b583a4c7c36182ba0b92ff557”
“size” “31844877”
“sha2” “48c6ee684ce0b62d41ddbe8cbc133066c9c05b8097d17e59db4128200bfea2f5”
“zipvz” “steamui_websrc_all.zip.vz.73651ed3fb312db7d930229c79a2c97b928c24bf_25817303”
“sha2vz” “22bbcdf3328cdbebcae8acb5d819d47fd4f6cdaaa3d6ffe5af33c8a639506e2c”
}

and in the end there was this line

Connection #0 to host client-update.steamstatic.com left intact

5

Okay, well, that’s a little weird. This might sound basic, but have you tried simply reinstalling Steam with sudo dnf reinstall steam?

6

no. does it have any chance of wiping out the local non steam games?

7

okay. I tried and it doesn’t do anything. still seeing the download fail error from earlier. Also I tried resetting steam with steam --reset as well.

8

Hmm… I wonder if deleting the download cache removed Steam’s package directory contents. Could you check that with ls -la ~/.local/share/Steam/package/?

9

sure. this was the output

total 4
drwxr-xr-x. 1 Promit Promit 48 May 14 18:12 .
drwx------. 1 Promit Promit 156 May 14 18:12 ..
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 Promit Promit 151 May 14 18:12 steam_client_metrics.bin

10

From what my magical Google powers tell me, there seems to be at least one missing file in that directory. :wink:

Seems like the reinstall didn’t fix the issue, so let’s take a more direct route; run these commands to get the missing file:

cd ~/.local/share/Steam/package/
curl -o steam_client_ubuntu12 https://client-update.steamstatic.com/steam_client_ubuntu12

Then, try launching Steam again.

11

Thanks for your time. Power just went down. I’ll let you know what happens after doing the steps once electricity is restored. Thank you very much :+1:.

12

Oh, no! I hope it doesn’t stay down for too long…

Happy to help. :slight_smile:

13

it didn’t work. first when I try to launch steam it tries to launch it and find’s something missing

create window
[2026-05-14 20:27:33] Loading cached metrics from disk (/home/Promit/.local/share/Steam/package/steam_client_metrics.bin)
[2026-05-14 20:27:33] Failed to load cached hosts file (File 'update_hosts_cached.vdf' not found), using defaults

then a whole bunch of missing or incorrect files are detected

[2026-05-14 20:27:33] Using the following download hosts for Public, Realm steamglobal
[2026-05-14 20:27:33] 1. ``https://client-update.steamstatic.com``, /, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 1, source = 'baked in'
[2026-05-14 20:27:33] uninstalled manifest found in /home/Promit/.local/share/Steam/package/steam_client_ubuntu12 (1).
[2026-05-14 20:27:33] Package file tenfoot_images_all.zip.vz.193cb8c4eb4446698ea2c0a9e8c4e6b6a623dac7_5572671 missing or incorrect size
[2026-05-14 20:27:33] Package file steamui_websrc_all.zip.vz.73651ed3fb312db7d930229c79a2c97b928c24bf_25817303 missing or incorrect size
[2026-05-14 20:27:33] Package file resources_misc_all.zip.vz.e86a975545f3ab21a77373870cb311ef93934b8c_2224876 missing or incorrect size
[2026-05-14 20:27:33] Package file resources_hidpi_all.zip.vz.3de815c3117712cb9eeb7ea4c8b275faf481dcfd_56342 missing or incorrect size

then the old error

ILocalize::AddFile() failed to load file "public/steambootstrapper_english.txt".
[2026-05-14 20:27:33] Verifying installation...
[2026-05-14 20:27:33] Verifying file sizes only
[2026-05-14 20:27:33] Unable to read and verify install manifest /home/Promit/.local/share/Steam/package/steam_client_ubuntu12.installed
[2026-05-14 20:27:33] Verification complete
[2026-05-14 20:27:33] Downloading Update...
[2026-05-14 20:27:33] Checking for available update...
[2026-05-14 20:27:33] Downloading manifest: ``https://client-update.steamstatic.com/steam_client_ubuntu12``
[2026-05-14 20:27:33] Manifest download: send request
[2026-05-14 20:27:33] Set percent complete: -1
[2026-05-14 20:27:33] Set status message: Verifying installation...
[----] Verifying installation...
[2026-05-14 20:27:33] Set percent complete: 0
[2026-05-14 20:27:33] Set status message: Downloading Update...
[ 0%] Downloading Update...
[2026-05-14 20:27:33] Set status message: Checking for available update...
[ 0%] Checking for available update...
[2026-05-14 20:27:33] Set percent complete: -1
[2026-05-14 20:27:33] Manifest download: waiting for download to finish
[2026-05-14 20:27:35] Show window
[2026-05-14 20:27:41] Manifest download: finished
[2026-05-14 20:27:41] Download failed: http error 0 (``client-update.steamstatic.com/steam_client_ubuntu12``)
[2026-05-14 20:27:41] DownloadManifest - exhausted list of download hosts
[2026-05-14 20:27:41] failed to load manifest from buffer.
[2026-05-14 20:27:41] Failed to load manifest
[2026-05-14 20:27:41] Error: Download failed: http error 0
[2026-05-14 20:27:41] Saving metrics to disk (/home/Promit/.local/share/Steam/package/steam_client_metrics.bin)
[2026-05-14 20:27:41] Error: Steam needs to be online to update. Please confirm your network connection and try again.
UpdateUI: skip show logo
[2026-05-14 20:27:41] Shutdown
[2026-05-14 20:27:41] Fatal error: Steam needs to be online to update. Please confirm your network connection and try again.
[----] !!! Fatal Error: Steam needs to be online to update. Please confirm your network connection and try again.
[2026-05-14 20:27:42] ProcessNextMessage: socket disconnected
[2026-05-14 20:27:42] No more messages are expected - exiting
src/tier0/threadtools.cpp (3612) : Assertion Failed: Illegal termination of worker thread 'Thread(0x0x58a3fb30/0x0xf75f1b'
src/tier0/threadtools.cpp (3612) : Assertion Failed: Illegal termination of worker thread 'Thread(0x0x58a3fb30/0x0xf75f1b'
05/14 20:27:43 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1.0)/tid(3498)
assert_20260514202743_8.dmp[3543]: Uploading dump (out-of-process)
/tmp/dumps/assert_20260514202743_8.dmp

14

So, this line

uninstalled manifest found in /home/Promit/.local/share/Steam/package/steam_client_ubuntu12 (1).

suggests Steam now sees the manually downloaded file, but immediately tries to re-download the manifest again and that’s where it fails. I think that points to Steam’s internal TLS/SSL library conflicting with your install for some reason.

There are three “quick” things to try and if the first one doesn’t work, try the second and (obviously) if that doesn’t work, try the last one. Run this command first: SSL_CERT_FILE=/etc/pki/ca-trust/extracted/pem/tls-ca-bundle.pem steam. If that fails, try this one: OPENSSL_CONF=/etc/pki/tls/openssl.cnf steam. If neither of those work, try and make Steam use the system libraries instead of its own: steam --runtime=none.

15

sorry. they didn’t work either. now it’s getting really confusing. I still don’t know why steam can’t see internet

16

No apology needed; this is starting to stump me, too.

I just searched the internet a bit and it seems like Steam’s bundled OpenSSL is considered “old,” so there’s a chance Fedora’s crytpo policies are too tight; although, and I might be assuming this, was Steam working flawlessly before on this install? And it’s Fedora 43, right?

17

Yes. it’s fedora 43 and it was working just fine yesterday. but from last night steam was launching but no online game was launching and I saw no internet at the bottom. so, cleared the download cache in hope of fixing the no internet issue. but that kicked back really bad

18

Got it… And, just so I’m absolutely certain, your internet is working fine outside of Steam and you haven’t run any router updates?

Let’s see what crypto Steam is actually using:

ls ~/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/usr/lib/
ldd ~/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam | grep -i ssl
ldd ~/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam | grep -i crypto
19

its using:
i386-linux-gnu x86_64-linux-gnu

and currently I’m not using broadband internet. I’m using mobile date with usb tethering

20

and yes internet is working just fine outside steam.