Steam.exe (main exception): Unable to load library Steam.dll

[Onlyyoshi]

I cant seem to find out what to do and I tried going to support on the steam website but I cannot understand what to do. so if you would kindly simplify this guide I would very much appreciate it:
I've even aloud steam through firefall but I do not know how to :

Close the Steam client application and remove all instances of the following executables from your firewall's permissions list:

steaminstall.exe
steam.exe
hl.exe
hl2.exe
steamTmp.exe
Permissions for these executables will need to be re-learned by your firewall.

Open Steam to allow your firewall to re-learn permissions for the Steam executables. If your firewall does not prompt you to set new permissions, the security settings may be too strict - you will need to change these settings so you will be prompted to set permissions.

Give the Steam executables permission for all TCP and UDP ports when prompted


I'm having trouble understanding how to do this

[cstrikefan]

i had that before, i just went into steam directory and made a new shortcut to steam.exe

[Shogun]

You might need to open up some ports.

TCP Ports : 27020-27050
UDP Ports : 1200, 27000-27015

Forwarding your ports will be done based on what kind of router you have. Visit this site for detailed instructions on port forwarding.

[Luvdnyyz]

Or just reinstall.

[blub]

the easiest way for you is turning of your firewall if its a windows firewall just go to control panel->windows firewall and in general turn it off

if you don't want to do that just go (in the same window) exceptions and delete all the exceptions that they listed (all those steam.exe files)
after you can run the steam and when prompted by windows firewall click yes

[Lt_Gazley]

Ive had this problem before, steam not able to load the library.dll. Luckily enough I had a working version of steam on my laptop and compressed all nessacary files from steam into three zip files and uploaded them on rapidshare .com. Once I transferred those files from my laptop and pasted them onto my pc in the steam folder everything worked fine. If you guys are interested please let me know and I would be happy to post the links to the files.

[Mr.Bob]

Why not just load the files thru your network?