How to Disable Auto Update On Steam

When it comes to gaming, having an auto-update feature has numerous advantages. But, if you’re like me, you probably don’t want to be bothered by Steam’s frequent updates. Or perhaps you simply want more control over what happens with your storage.

However, this isn’t the only reason you’d want to disable auto-update on Steam. Maybe you’re afraid of game-breaking updates and want to control how and when your games are updated.

Whatever the reason, in this guide we will discuss how you can disable auto-update on Steam.

Preventing Steam From Auto-Updating Games

At the time of writing this article, Steam only allowed users to disable the auto-update feature one game at a time. This may present an issue for gamers with large libraries. Fortunately, there are a few ways to get around this.

Disable Steam Auto-Update for a Game

This is the most time-consuming and traditional method. This approach is for those who have fewer games in their library or prefer to be more selective.

1. Run your Steam Client.
2. Click on Library.
3. Right-click on the game you want to disable auto-updates for.
4. Select Properties from the context menu.
5. Click on UPDATES from the left side-panel.
6. Under AUTOMATIC UPDATES, click on the downward-facing arrow next to Always keep this gaming updated.
7. Click on Only update this game when I launch it.
8. Close the Properties window.

Selecting this option won’t completely disable updates for your game. It will only search and install updates when the game is launched.

If you want to view hidden remote play games on steam, we have you covered.

Editing Game Manifests

Steam saves each game’s properties on a file known as a manifest. You can manually edit these manifests without launching the Steam client. To disable auto-updates by editing the manifest, do the following: 

1. Open Windows File Explorer (or any other file browser of your choice).
2. Navigate to your Steam Apps (Steamapps) folder.
3. Right-click on the desired game’s manifest.
4. Select Open With from the context menu.
5. Select Notepad++ (or any other editor) and click OK.
6. Set the “AutoUpdateBehaviour” attribute to “1”.
7. Save and close Notepad.

As you may have noticed, it’s far easier to edit game properties using Steam. However, the method above presents an opportunity to edit multiple game properties at once. 

Nevertheless, to achieve this, you’ll need an application that allows you to edit the content of multiple text files simultaneously. A few free and open-source software (FOSS) applications have this capability. Some of the best ones include: 

We’ve included two examples using Notepad++ and FNR.

*Note: by default the Steam Apps folder is located in C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\. Steam app/game manifests are suffixed with the game’s ID (appmanifest_APPID.acf).

This is how you identify which manifest belongs to which game. If you don’t know the ID of the game, you can use SteamDB to find it. The ID is usually presented as a string of numbers.    

Editing Multiple Steam Game Manifests Using Notepad++

1. Download and install Notepad++.
2. Navigate to your steamapps folder.
3. Highlight all game manifest files (all files prefixed with appmanifest) and right-click on them. 
4. Select Edit with Notepad++ from the context menu.
5. Highlight “AutoUpdateBehaviour” “0” and copy it.
6. Open Notepad++ find and replace dialog (Ctrl+H).
7. Paste “AutoUpdateBehaviour” “0” into the Find what text field.
8. Paste “AutoUpdateBehaviour” “0” into the Replace with text field and change the “0” value to “1” (so it looks like this: “AutoUpdateBehaviour” “1”).
9. Click on the buttoned labelled Replace All in All Opened Documents. 
10. If it asks you to confirm the action,  click on the Yes button. 
11. Close the Notepad++ Search and Replace dialog.
12. Save all documents (Ctrl+Shift+S).
13. Close Notepad++

If you follow the above steps correctly, the Notepad++ Search and Replace window will display a short message near the bottom reflecting the number of replaced occurrences. 

Editing Multiple Steam Game Manifests Using FNR

1. Download FNR
2. Extract and run it
3. Point the directory (Dir.) towards your steamapps folder
4. Untick Include sub-directories.
5. Type appmanifest”.”acf into the file mask.
6. Type “AutoUpdateBehavior” “0” into the Find field, ensuring that the attribute and value is separated by two tab spaces – alternatively, you can copy them from one of the manifest files.
7. Type “AutoUpdateBehavior” “1” into the Replace field, again ensuring that the attribute and value is separated by two tab spaces. 
8. Click on the Replace button.

If you follow the above steps correctly, the application should display a result of all the altered manifest files under its Results section. 

Other Ways to Manage Your Steam Auto-Downloads

If you feel that some of the methods in this guide are a little too complex for you, there are other ways to limit and restrict Steam auto-downloads. For instance, you can change the auto-update schedule, disable Steam’s auto start-up process, or throttle your bandwidth. We will explore each of these solutions in this section.  

Applying Steam Download Restrictions

In the same way, you can increase and optimize download speeds on Steam, you can also control when Steam performs its updates using the following steps:

1. Run Steam.
2. Click on the Steam menu item from the top menu bar.
3. Select Settings.
4. Select Downloads from the left panel.
5. Tick the option labeled Only auto-update games between.
6. Pick a time frame most suitable for you.
7. Click on the OK button 

Additionally, if you have a slow internet connection and you don’t want Steam feeding on precious bandwidth, you can throttle it by ticking the Limit bandwidth to option. You can decide how excessive the restriction should be. 

*Note: Setting the time frame between 0:00 and 0:00 is basically the same as having the Only auto-update games between options unticked. If you’re unsure what time frame you’d like to pick, we suggest 0:00 (AM) and 1:00 (AM) or during a time frame when you’re not playing games or have the Steam client closed. 

Using Steam in Offline Mode

If you want to prevent Steam from initiating auto-updates temporarily, you can use it in Offline mode. While it will prevent Steam from downloading games, it will also block you from accessing some of Steam’s online features. It will also restrict you from playing some of the games in your Library. 

The easiest way to use Steam in offline mode is by disconnecting from the internet completely or using a firewall to block the Steam client. 

If the Steam client can’t connect to the internet, it will display a correction error dialog with a message reading: Could not connect to the Steam network.

To run the Steam client in offline mode, click on the button marked START IN OFFLINE MODE. 

If you already have Steam opened in its online mode, you can switch to the offline mode by doing the following: 

1. Click on the Steam menu item from the top menu bar.
2. Click on Go Offline
3. Click on the RESTART IN OFFLINE MODE button.

Preventing the Steam Client From Running On Windows Start-Up

If you want to stop the Steam client from running and updating when Windows starts up, do the following: 

1. Click on the Steam menu item from the top menu bar.
2. Select Settings.
3. Select Interface from the left menu panel.
4. Untick Run Steam when my computer starts
5. Click on the OK button

How to Stop the Steam Client From Auto-Updating

1. Ensure that Steam is closed completely.
2. Right-click on the Steam icon on your desktop.
3. Select Properties from the context menu.
4. Select the Shortcut tab (if it isn’t selected already).
5. Click on the Target field and add the following flags: -noverifyfiles -nobootstrapupdate -skipinitialbootstrap -norepairfiles -overridepackageurl
6. Click on the OK button.

Adding a Steam Configuration File

You can also prevent the Steam client from updating itself by adding a configuration file. To accomplish this, do the following:

1. Close Steam completely.
2. Run a text editor (such as Windows Notepad or Notepad++).
3. Add the following line: BootStrapperInhibitAll=Enable
4. Save the file as Steam.cfg and place it in your Steam installation folder (by default: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam or C:\Program Files\Steam)
5. Run Steam.

Summary

In the above guide, we explored various ways you can disable auto-updates in Steam. We also discussed a few ways in which you could control how and when Steam initiates auto-updates for both its client and the games it hosts.

Nevertheless, we hope that you’ve found this guide to be helpful. If you have any corrections, critiques, or complaints, please leave them down in the comment section. As always, thank you for reading.