When you play a game and want to access Steam for some minute task is Steam Overlay. You can find and communicate with your Steam friends, look for guides, and do other things. However, a lot of users are deprived of this luxury. According to them, Steam Overlay is not working on their Windows 11/10 PC. In this article, we are going to see what you need to do if this issue is degrading your Steam using experience.
Steam Overlay not working in Windows 11
If Steam Overlay is not working in Windows 11/10, check the following solutions to resolve the issue.
- Restart the game and Steam and try
- Make sure Steam is enabled
- Run Steam as an administrator
- Allow Steam through Firewall
- Verify Game Files
- Troubleshoot in Clean Boot
- Reinstall Steam
Let us talk about them in detail.
1] Restart the game and Steam and try
Steam Overlay may not work on your system because of some kind of glitch. We should restart the game that you were playing and see if that helps. When closing the game, make sure to close it via Task Manager as well, also in Task Manager, right-click on Steam and select End Task. Now, reopen Steam and the game that you were playing and see if that works.
2] Make sure Steam is enabled
To use Steam Overlay, you need to enable it. When you install Steam on your system, the Overlay gets enabled by default. But still, we need to check if the feature is enabled. To do that, follow the prescribed steps.
- Open Steam.
- Click Steam > Settings.
- Click on In-Game.
- Tick Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game and Ok.
This way you can enable Steam Overlay. Also, check the Overlay Shortcut keys field and make sure that it’s set as per your preference.
You can also try enabling Steam Overlay for a particular game. Follow the prescribed steps to enable in-game overlay.
- Open Steam and go to your Library.
- Right-click on your game and select Properties.
- Be on the GENERAL and tick Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game.
- Click Ok.
If the feature is not enabled, then enabling it will do the trick for you.
3] Run Steam as an administrator
Since Steam is running over other applications, you should try opening the game with administrative privileges. To do that, right-click on Steam and select Run as administrator. You can also make the game always run with administrative privileges by configuring its properties. Follow the given steps to do the same.
- Right-click on Steam and select Properties.
- Go to the Compatibility tab.
- Tick Run this program as an administrator.
- Click Apply > Ok.
Now, open the game and see if you can access Steam using the Overlay.
4] Allow Steam through Firewall
Because Steam is running alongside your game, the antivirus or Windows Firewall can mistake it for a virus or malware. You need to allow the game through the Firewall or whitelist it in the third-party antivirus that you are using and see if it works.
5] Verify Game Files
If there is a particular game that is giving you trouble, try fixing corrupted game files using the Steam launcher. This solution will only work if the files of that game are corrupted. The following are the steps to scan and verify game files.
- Open Steam and click on Library.
- Right-click on the game you want to fix and select Properties.
- Click on Local Files > Verify Integrity of Game Files.
Hopefully, this will do the trick for you.
6] Troubleshoot in Clean Boot
A third-party app can interfere with your game and cause trouble. We need to troubleshoot in Clean Boot and enable processes one by one manually until you find the culprit. Then, you can remove that app to fix the problem. Hopefully, this will resolve the issue for you.
7] Reinstall Steam
If nothing works, then you need to reinstall Steam and see if that helps. Before uninstalling the app, we need to delete GameOverlayUI.exe. Open File Explorer and go to the following location.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam
Then, right-click GameOverlayUI.exe and select Delete. Now, uninstall Steam and download a fresh copy from store.steampowered.com. Now, install the app, and hopefully, this will do the trick for you.
We hope that these solutions will do the job for you.
How do I get my Steam Overlay to work?
After enabling Steam Overlay from the app itself, you can just use the default shortcut Alt + Tab when you are in the game and trigger the Overlay. If Steam Overlay is not working, you can check the solutions mentioned here to resolve the issue.
Why can’t I turn on Steam Overlay?
Usually, you will be able to turn on Steam Overlay from the app itself. However, there are a lot of developers who forbid Steam Overlay to work over their game. In that case, you will see that the Overlay option is greyed out or blacked out. They do this because according to them, the Overlay can hinder their game’s stability.
