Steam – Can’t access many parts of Steam

steam

For some reason, I am now unable to access much of the Steam site. When I click to go to the Store or my profile, it will just load for quite a while and then give me the "Error Code: -7" page. The only things I can access on Steam now seem to be my Library and other people's profiles page.

Best Answer

Turns out it was the fault of my modem. It was broken somehow and I had to buy a new one.

Some ways to fix Steam

Rebuild your ClientRegistry.blob

This is pulled off the Steam KB

Completely exit from the Steam client.
Go to C:\Program Files\Steam (or the Steam directory that was specified during  installation).
Locate ClientRegistry.blob and rename this file to ClientRegistryOld.blob.
Restart Steam to allow the file to be recreated.
Test the issue once more.

Watch out for other programs!

It is known that programs such as Airfoil and F-Secure may cause problems with steam. Valve lists many of them here. Try toggling your virus protection, firewall, etc. to see what is causing steam to be unhappy. Try starting your computer in safe mode by pushing f8 before the windows logo comes up.

Try out the Steam Fix Program

This program claims to fix a wide variety of issues. Simply run it and follow the directions. The downloads are on various KB articles such as this one.

Validate game cache

If a game is having problems, rather than mess around with installs, try validating your cache! Cache validation is accomplished by right clicking the game in library and clicking the Local Files tab on top. Now, click the button that says Verify integrity of game cache. Be patient as this takes a long time

If all of this fails...

First, try a restart of your computer. Give steam another shot and if it doesn't work, it's time to reinstall. In this steam KB, it is outlined how to do a complete reinstall. ALL OF YOUR STEAM FILES WILL BE GONE. Please, make sure you know your password and you are willing to wait for games to re-download. If you want, move your steamapps ( C:\Program Files\Steam or C:\Program Files(x86) )

Make sure steam is closed
Open Control Panel
Select Add or Remove Programs
Scroll down to Steam
Double click Steam
Use the automated uninstall process

FOR ADVANCED USERS: If you really want to wipe out your old install, head over to your Program Files or Program Files(x86) folder. Find the Steam directory and delete it. And, with regedit:

For 32-bit operating systems:
In the left-hand column of your registry editor, navigate to:           HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Valve\. 

Right-click on Valve and select Delete.

For 64-bit operating systems:
In the left-hand column of your registry editor, navigate to:     HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Valve\. 

Right-click on Valve and select Delete.
In the left-hand column of your registry editor, navigate to:     HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Valve\Steam.
Right-click on Valve select Delete.

Don't do this if you don't know what you are doing, and please, make backups.

Steam won’t work

In recent versions of Windows, the 'Program Files' and 'Program Files (x86)' have restricted write access.

The most straightforward fix is to uninstall and reinstall Steam using the default installation settings.

This should write the Steam files in a "VirtualStore" folder than can be accessed as if it were actually in the 'Program Files' folder. It's probably more than you want to know, but you can see more details in the answers to this question on SuperUser.