Using a Firewall with Steam (Unable to load library Steam.dll)

Categories: Topics | Steam | Connection Issues

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Article ID: 2198-AGHC-7226 FAQ ID: 234

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Important Note

If you are installing Steam for the first time - or if there has been a recent Steam update - a firewall may be preventing Steam from connecting to the Steam Network.

Please remember to update your firewall permission settings for Steam with every Steam update and for Steam games every time a game update is released. Steam updates and game updates are announced on the Steam News page.

Close the Steam client application and remove all instances of the following executables from your firewall's permissions list:
- steaminstall.exe
- steam.exe
- hl.exe
- hl2.exe
- steamTmp.exe
  Permissions for these executables will need to be re-learned by your firewall.
Open Steam to allow your firewall to re-learn permissions for the Steam executables. If your firewall does not prompt you to set new permissions, the security settings may be too strict - you will need to change these settings so you will be prompted to set permissions.
Give the Steam executables permission for all TCP and UDP ports when prompted.
Restart your computer and load Steam.
If the issue persists, please see the Troubleshooting Network Connectivity topic for further troubleshooting recommendations.

Firewall Provider Resources

If you are using a firewall program listed above and have questions about setting permissions, please take the opportunity to open the program and use its Help feature or review the support site for the software:

Microsoft provides support for the Windows XP firewall (included with Windows XP Service Pack 2, enabled by default)
Norton provides support for Norton Personal Firewall
McAfee provides support for McAfee Personal Firewall and the McAfee Internet Security Suite
Zone Labs provides support for ZoneAlarm
nVidia - nVidia's Network Access Manager is bundled with some nVidia products. Unfortunately, this product is not compatible with Steam - please see the Nothing appears on the Storefront screen in Steam topic for more information.

If allowing permissions does not seem to affect the connection to Steam, please try disabling your firewall completely before launching Steam to test this issue.

Retrieved from "http://supportwiki.steampowered.com/wiki/Using_a_Firewall_with_Steam_%28Unable_to_load_library_Steam.dll%29"

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Using a Firewall with Steam (Unable to load library Steam.dll)

Firewall Provider Resources

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