How to Fix “Steam Overlay Not Working”

Have you ever tried to run the Steam Overlay interface while playing, and you found out that it’s not working?

Steam is the best first choice app that a myriad of gamers uses every day to play with their friends and compete with others.

In fact, when you are playing a stressful match, and you need to chat with your friends quickly, you may definitely need the Steam Overlay.

But what if you hit the Shift + Tab buttons, yet the Overlay window doesn’t show up?

The issue is most likely caused by the app process on you or 3rd party apps that you’re running in the background.

So today I will break down six applicable methods that might fix your Steam Overlay when it’s not working.

How to Fix Steam Overlay Not Working

To fix the Steam Overlay when it’s not working, quit the game you’re playing, then navigate to the task manager to end the “Gameroverlayui.exe” process.

As a sequence, close any 3rd party apps that you were using recently while playing the game.

So there are a lot of In-game apps like FRAPS and FPS Monitor, and more, that block your Steam Overlay from showing.

Therefore, the Overlay window won’t show, unless you close these 3rd party apps.

However, there are multiple different factors that bring this situation.

We will teach you below the methods that you can follow in order to solve this issue.

1.End The Gameroverlayui.exe Process

To start first, open the game you’re playing then hit the Shift + Tab button.

So you will most likely see nothing as the Steam Overlay is not working.

However, it will be running in the PC processes.

Now to force close it, in your game click on “Ctrl + Alt + Delete”.

Then a new blue page will show up.

On that page select the last option which is the “Task Manager”.

Therefore, the task manager will show up, so click on “More details” to open all the running processes.

When the Processes’ menu opens, click on the “G” button on your keyboard to search for the “Gameroverlayui.exe” faster.

Therefore, when you find it click on it and click on “End task” and try to relaunch the game to try it.

2.Close In-game 3rd party apps

If you are running 3rd party monitoring gaming apps like “Fraps” and other apps, this may affect other functionalities in other apps processes, such as the Overlay.

So to fix your Steam Overlay not working, quit your game.

Then uncheck all the checkboxes on Fraps and close the app completely.

If you don’t close the Fraps app, it may keep blocking the Steam Overlay interface as well.

Now relaunch your game and hit the “Shift + Tab” again to check.

So the Steam Overlay should occur in your game now.

3.Take a look at the Keybind of Steam Overlay

One of the issues that you may not be aware of is that the Overlay shortcut is not “Shift + Tab” or it has been replaced recently.

This is why when you click on the Shift + Tab the Steam Overlay will still not be working.

So to check the Overlay shortcut keys, open your Steam app.

Then go to “Steam > Settings > In-Game”.

Now on the In-Game menu, check at the “Overlay shortcut keys” to check whether it was replaced by other shortcuts.

4.Enable the Steam Overlay

If still, the Steam Overlay is not working on your game, you may have been disabled.

To enable it, go to your Steam app, then click on the “Steam” word at the top left.

When the popup opens click on “Settings”.

A new window will show up, so on that window navigate to the In-Game menu.

Then check the first checkbox which is “Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game”.

However, if you see that it’s already checked, it’s better to check if the Overlay is enabled on the game settings.

So close the settings tab.

Then click on the “Library”, and find your desired game.

After finding your game, right-click on the game name and click “Properties”.

A new tab will show up, so make sure that the “Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game” is also enabled here.

5.Run Steam files as Admin

This is a common issue that most users may face, as they are using a non Administrator windows account, or it’s simply not turned ON.

So go to the Steam file location on Windows, which is by default “C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam”.

However, if you don’t find your Steam app there, get back to your Desktop.

Then right-click on your Steam app icon, and click on “Open file location”.

When the folder opens, find the Steam app icon and right-click on it.

Then click on “Properties”.

Now when the Steam properties tab opens, click on the “Compatibility” menu.

Therefore, check the “Run this program as an administrator” checkbox.

After that find and do the same thing with “Gameoverlay.exe”, then try the game again.

6.Do not run the Gameoverlay.exe as Administrator

Some users have faced the same issue when Steam Overlay is not working.

So they disabled the administrator privilege on the Gameoverlay.exe app.

You can try to uncheck the “Run this program as an administrator” checkbox.

Then open your game and try to check if the overlay interface is showing up. 

Conclusion

There are a lot of solutions to fix the Steam Overlay when it’s not working, although the 6 solutions above are most likely enough to fix this issue.

So when you can get back to your game as quickly as possible and get the most out of the Overlay window.

The two reported most useful solutions among all the solutions above, are closing the 3rd party apps like FRAPS, and ending the Gameroverlayui.exe process on the task manager.

Today you’ve learned how to fix the Steam Overlay not working issue.

Further Reading

How To Disable Steam Overlay in (4 Steps)

Steam Won’t Launch? 6 Ways To Fix

Hacked Steam Account? Here’s How To Recover It