How to Fix Steam Wont Download Games or Stuck at 0 Bytes/sec

If the download speed of a Steam user who is downloading a game suddenly drops to zero bytes per second, that means the download is on hold for the time being. Not due to a slow internet connection or faulty network settings, but because of local storage or some processing delay. Most often, this issue takes place because of the write cache on the installation drive.

The most common culprit when Steam download speeds go poorly is "drive throttling," where the CPU or hard drive slows down while processing data, especially on older or overloaded drives. Other potential causes might include issues with the Steam server itself, a download zone, or the network in general.

Added to this, delays due to the download cache, and the writing cache that stores data for speeding up the writing process, may reduce the download speeds to zero. In this article, we will discuss a few of the methods that can fix such problems and lead to better Steam downloads for you.

1. Check Your Disk Usage

When your drive is full of processing data, Steam download speeds suddenly stop. The drive needs continuous processing, unpacking, and inscription of data during Steam downloads, especially for large games. If you notice a lot of disc usage in the Task Manager, then it means something is going wrong with your drive and it is freezing the download or making it go at the pace of a snail.

Now, the issue with 0 bytes per second arises from time to time when Steam is done downloading the data and is unpacking and organizing it. This is a normal part of how Steam does its game installations to ensure that everything goes right. This may be improved by minimizing other background disk activity or by moving to a faster drive.

2.Turn Off Device Write Caching

By disabling the write caching feature of the device, the operating system bypasses the cache and writes data directly onto the drive. This resolves the lag where Steam's download speed goes to zero.

Press Win + E simultaneously in order to open up Windows Explorer.

Right-click on the disk to go into its properties.

Under the Hardware menu, select Properties.

At the top, click Volumes to populate it.

Go to Policies and uncheck the box that says The device's write caching should be enabled.

Afterwards, check if it resolves the issue.

3. Clear Your Download Cache and Change Your Download Region

This may not always be the fastest if there is heavy traffic or any type of server problem. When you switch download region in Steam, it switches to a different server that may allow downloads to run faster and reduce congestion if the previous server is busy.

Open Steam and click on the upper left where it says Steam. A drop-down menu will appear, and from there, click on Settings.

Click on the Downloads section.

Change the Download Region to one that is more geographically closer to you.

Watch to see if the issue persists. It may be beneficial to observe if removing the Download Cache resolves the problem.

While you are downloading an update or a game, Steam will save the files to your cache. Steam utilizes the data stored in the cache to efficiently handle the installation process while you download games or updates. However, from time to time, cache corruption contributes to download rates being slow. Therefore, so as to see whether or not this fixes the problem, empty the download cache.

To clear your cache, click Downloads on the top left.

Then, make sure the problem is gone.

4. Enable Automatic Proxy Settings

Steam can optimize download speeds and even prevent connectivity issues by automatically setting your proxy to make use of the fastest network route.

Press Windows + R to open a Run dialog.

Type "inetcpl.cpl" and then Enter to open Internet Options.

After clicking "Connections," click the "LAN Settings" tab.

Before clicking OK, make sure to tick "Automatically detect settings."

If the issue persists, try restarting your computer.

5. Use a Google DNS

Using Google DNS reduces the chances of interruption when Steam accesses its servers due to the faster DNS resolution and added stability and reliability. Also, routing in Google DNS is more enhanced and secure; hence, it might solve problems of server connection.

Opening the Run application via pressing of Windows key and R keyboard shortcut.

Type Control and press Enter for opening Control Panel.

To change settings on your adapter, open the Network and Sharing Center via the Network and Internet menu.

Next, right-click on the network adapter to view its properties.

In the Properties window, click on Properties next to Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4).

Select one: Enter the Google DNS server addresses in the following format:8.8.8.8 and onwards Over 8.8.4.4,

Click OK to close the window and check if the download speed has stabilized.

6. Clear Your Network Settings

Steam downloads that stopped working because of some issue with the network can be fixed by resetting the network settings. So, most of the connectivity and performance issues are fixed by doing a network reset to factory settings since it erases the old and broken configurations.

Press X by holding the Windows Key. Now, for Windows, select Terminal (Admin).

Following are the commands, one after another, to restore winsock and other factory settings to your network:Reset winsock using netsh use the following command netsh int ip reset /release/renew/flushdns ipconfig

Restart your computer.

First thing, check whether the issue is still occurring.

Also, you may want to consider trying a different DNS server.

7. Allow Steam Through Firewall

The downloads may be blocked by certain security settings running in the background. Removing these and adding Steam through the firewall ensures smooth downloads, and prevents them from stopping due to restricted access.

For the Run prompt, use "Windows" + "R" on your keyboard.

Open Windows Defender Firewall, by typing in "firewall.cpl" and press the "Enter" key.

The "Allow an App or Feature through Firewall" option can be found within the left pane; click on it.

Locate the "Change Settings" in Steam and flip the switch between "Private" and "Public".

Once you have saved your settings, launch Steam.

Log in to see if the issue persists.

If the problem persists even after you have seen that the internet is working fine, then a problem exists with your drive, and Steam is unable to write the data on it. So, downloading your game to some other drive may be the solution to this issue. If that works, then the flaw may exist in the hardware of your drive. Diagnosing problems in your drive is as straightforward as running diagnostics.

We hope this will definitely help you in finding an easy and effective solution to solve your problem of Steam not downloading games or being stuck at 0 bytes/sec.