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Kaspersky blocks the Steam app

Slayni
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Slayni

Slayni

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Posted (edited)

Today, I ran into a rather frustrating issue. After turning on my computer on March 30, I noticed that Steam didn’t launch automatically as it normally does.

At first, I thought it might just be an autostart glitch, so I tried opening it manually — but nothing happened. The app simply wouldn’t start. I went through all possible fixes: reinstalling Steam, deleting leftover files, and checking system settings, but no luck. Finally, as a last resort, I decided to temporarily disable Kaspersky. To my surprise, Steam launched immediately.

However, the problem persists — every time I restart my PC, I have to turn off Kaspersky to open Steam. This has never happened before, and I have no idea what’s causing it.

You might wonder if I changed anything on March 29 that could have triggered this. The answer is no — I barely used my computer that day. There were no updates for Steam or Windows, and I didn’t tweak any settings, either in my system or in the antivirus software.

One more detail: Poland switched to daylight saving time overnight, from March 29 to 30. Could that have somehow caused a conflict between Kaspersky and Steam? Honestly, I doubt it — but something is definitely wrong, and I don’t know how to fix it.

Additionally, I’m using Kaspersky Plus with active protection and Windows 11 24H2 with the latest updates installed.

If you need more information, screenshots, or video recordings, I’m happy to provide them. This issue is quite frustrating, and I’d really like to solve it — especially since I’ve never encountered anything like this before. I’m also worried that Kaspersky might be blocking more applications than just Steam. For now, everything else seems to be working fine.

Edited by Slayni
D1G1TAL

D1G1TAL

Posted
Posted

I have same issue, It has nothing to do with Windows 11 24H2 update as I didn't have it installed before the issue started happening, updated my Windows cause I thought that might be the issue but I didn't do anything. Pausing protection will does not allow to launch Steam, only by completely Exiting Kaspersky does Steam start. Started happening around 29th/30th not sure when exactly. 

Slayni

Slayni

Posted
  • Author
Posted
33 minutes ago, D1G1TAL said:

I have same issue, It has nothing to do with Windows 11 24H2 update as I didn't have it installed before the issue started happening, updated my Windows cause I thought that might be the issue but I didn't do anything. Pausing protection will does not allow to launch Steam, only by completely Exiting Kaspersky does Steam start. Started happening around 29th/30th not sure when exactly. 

Thank you. Good to know I’m not the only one experiencing this. I hope someone from the Kaspersky team sees this and fixes the issue soon.

Flood and Flood's wife

Flood and Flood's wife

Posted
Posted (edited)

Hello @Slayni & @D1G1TAL, 

Welcome!

Steam is working perfectly (for us). 

  1. *Uninstall* Steam.
  2. *Uninstall* Kaspersky. 
  3. Shutdown the computer using SHUTDOWN, not Restart, power ON by pressing the power button, login.
  4. Download a *new* Kaspersky installer: https://www.kaspersky.com/downloads#update-product. 
  5. Install Kaspersky, at the end of the install make sure (you're) signed into Kaspersky *application* with the same email address used for (your) MyKaspersky account, so the app & the license/subscription synchronise. 
  6. Run a Database update.  
  7. Download & Install Steam. 
  8. *Again* -> shutdown the computer using SHUTDOWN, not Restart, power ON by pressing the power button, login.
  9. Check the original issue, IF it persists log a request with Kaspersky Customer Service, https://support.kaspersky.com/b2c#contacts - select Email OR Chat then fill in the template as shown; include a *detailed history*; Support may request logs, GSI, read: How to generate a report using Get System Info & other data; they will guide you. *Also* @D1G1TAL- select (your) Kaspersky application, from the drop-down-list                                                                image.thumb.png.e67928732c17ecd595d1f579182699cc.png

Please share the outcome with the Community, when it's available?

Thank you?
Flood?+?

Edited by Flood and Flood's wife
formatting
Sat_rn

Sat_rn

Posted
Posted

Hey there, I'm having a very similar issue myself. The apparent cause listed in the problem solver is showing as ntdll.dll crashing.
But the issue started for me around the 26th of March. I assumed it was an OS issue myself, so I reinstalled windows 11, the issue returned a day later. Did another reinstall, but this time blocking windows updates via setting and it was perfectly fine for 4 days.
But then sadly the exact same issue returned last night, found this thread just a bit ago and removed kaspersky and steam immediately started to update and run upon restart.
I can only imagine it's some sort of driver or update kaspersky is pushing breaking something and ntdll.dll is being blamed for it, as I did notice there was a kaspersky update listed in the recent applications via the software.
Not as major perhaps, but I was also throwing the exact same ntdll.dll crash with microsoft common language runtime native compiler around the same time in problem reports, it could be related, but it could also not be.

Slayni

Slayni

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
22 minutes ago, Sat_rn said:

Hey there, I'm having a very similar issue myself. The apparent cause listed in the problem solver is showing as ntdll.dll crashing.
But the issue started for me around the 26th of March. I assumed it was an OS issue myself, so I reinstalled windows 11, the issue returned a day later. Did another reinstall, but this time blocking windows updates via setting and it was perfectly fine for 4 days.
But then sadly the exact same issue returned last night, found this thread just a bit ago and removed kaspersky and steam immediately started to update and run upon restart.
I can only imagine it's some sort of driver or update kaspersky is pushing breaking something and ntdll.dll is being blamed for it, as I did notice there was a kaspersky update listed in the recent applications via the software.
Not as major perhaps, but I was also throwing the exact same ntdll.dll crash with microsoft common language runtime native compiler around the same time in problem reports, it could be related, but it could also not be.

Good to know, @Sat_rn.

I tried uninstalling both Steam and Kaspersky, as @Flood and Flood's wife suggested earlier, but it didn’t make a difference. The only way to launch Steam is by temporarily disabling Kaspersky’s protection.

Strangely enough, once Steam is running, I can reactivate the antivirus without any issues — the only thing being blocked is the startup process.

PS: I’ve created a ticket and am currently in contact with one of the support agents. I recommend you do the same. Hopefully, we can get this issue resolved quickly.

Edited by Slayni
  • Thanks 1
Sat_rn

Sat_rn

Posted
Posted

That's good to know, as soon I saw this post I immediately unistalled kaspersky and restarted my PC to see steam finally back working, but if all it takes is pausing the protection to launch steam than reactivating it that's a much better solution to unistalling and reinstalling every time the issue pops up. But hopefully they fix this issue that very few seem to be encountering, as it's been a stressful few days since encountering this to say the least.

Sat_rn

Sat_rn

Posted
Posted

Good news perhaps? Turning my computer on today steam opened up perfectly fine as it would before these issues started happening even with kaspersky present. Even upon exiting steam completely, it would then open as it would normally even with kaspersky there as well.
So perhaps this issue has now been resolved? At least it seemingly has for me.

Xzz123

Xzz123

Posted
Posted

If I am right this is same bug I have discovered before.

It is a known bug and wait for a fix by bases update.

Please try below workaround.

Quote

 try add key to registry
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\klflt.K4W-21-20\Parameters\OptionData]
"EnableFeatureCustomization"=dword:00000001
"UmheDataForceUseLowAddresses"=dword:00000001

If it works than it means my guess is right. It is BUG ID: 8413133

Xzz123

Xzz123

Posted
Posted
54 minutes ago, Xzz123 said:

If I am right this is same bug I have discovered before.

It is a known bug and wait for a fix by bases update.

Please try below workaround.

If it works than it means my guess is right. It is BUG ID: 8413133

The bug should have been fixed by a update of new module.

klhkum.{71.0.1.0}.{88ABEDF1-1F8B-4EC1-99F7-336D301DF1A4}

Slayni

Slayni

Posted
  • Author
Posted
2 hours ago, Sat_rn said:

Good news perhaps? Turning my computer on today steam opened up perfectly fine as it would before these issues started happening even with kaspersky present. Even upon exiting steam completely, it would then open as it would normally even with kaspersky there as well.
So perhaps this issue has now been resolved? At least it seemingly has for me.

It still doesn’t work for me. I have to completely disable the antivirus to launch the Steam application.

I tried continuing the conversation with support, but I ran out of patience. I feel like they're either avoiding confrontation or trying to brush me off.

  • Solution
Slayni

Slayni

Posted
  • Author
  • Solution
Posted

I started my computer this afternoon, and Steam launched automatically as it normally would. So, I believe the issue has been fixed.

  • Thanks 1
  • 2 weeks later...
samsularif

samsularif

Posted
Posted
On 3/31/2025 at 3:34 PM, Flood and Flood's wife said:

Hello @Slayni & @D1G1TAL, 

Welcome!

Steam is working perfectly (for us). 

  1. *Uninstall* Steam.
  2. *Uninstall* Kaspersky. 
  3. Shutdown the computer using SHUTDOWN, not Restart, power ON by pressing the power button, login.
  4. Download a *new* Kaspersky installer: https://www.kaspersky.com/downloadstubidy#update-product. 
  5. Install Kaspersky, at the end of the install make sure (you're) signed into Kaspersky *application* with the same email address used for (your) MyKaspersky account, so the app & the license/subscription synchronise. 
  6. Run a Database update.  
  7. Download & Install Steam. 
  8. *Again* -> shutdown the computer using SHUTDOWN, not Restart, power ON by pressing the power button, login.
  9. Check the original issue, IF it persists log a request with Kaspersky Customer Service, https://support.kaspersky.com/b2c#contacts - select Email OR Chat then fill in the template as shown; include a *detailed history*; Support may request logs, GSI, read: How to generate a report using Get System Info & other data; they will guide you. *Also* @D1G1TAL- select (your) Kaspersky application, from the drop-down-list                                                                image.thumb.png.e67928732c17ecd595d1f579182699cc.png

Please share the outcome with the Community, when it's available?

Thank you?
Flood?+?

Thanks for the detailed steps! Very helpful and clear, I'll give this a try and report back with the results.

  • Thanks 1

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