How to Fix Steam Link Setup ‘No Host Computers Found’

Having trouble trying to fix Steam Link setup ‘No host computers found’ error?

Gaming on your computer can be an incredibly exhilarating experience. However, sometimes the screen you’re playing on is too small for everyone to gather around and look at. With this in mind, Steam introduced a relatively new feature called the ‘Steam Link’.

By taking advantage of your beefy computer and smart TV, you’ll be able to link your Steam game to your TV. This works by either streaming or cabling the game to the TV that also has Steam installed and linked.

Unfortunately, there can be hiccups with this technology. In this article, we’ll be going over why this happens and guide you through the solutions to try and fix this problem. Here’s how you can fix Steam Link setup ‘No host computers found’ error.

Let’s get started!

• 1. Enable Streaming Through Steam Settings.
• 2. Check Both Your Internet Connections.
• 3. Add Steam To Your Firewall Whitelist.
• 4. Disable Any Antivirus Programs On Your Computer.
• 5. Restart Your Router.

1. Enable Streaming Through Steam Settings.

First off, let’s double-check your Steam settings so we can confirm that your Steam is ready to stream your game. Setting up the Steam Link shouldn’t be too complicated, but there are a couple of steps along the way that anyone can miss.

We’ll be checking the ‘In-Home Streaming’ settings on your Steam account to see if there are settings that aren’t configured properly.

Here’s how you can enable streaming through your Steam’s settings:

1. First, open up the Steam application on your computer and navigate to the Steam button. You’ll find this at the top-left corner of the window.

2. Next, look for and go to the In-Home Streaming tab.
3. Once you’re there, locate and check the Enable Streaming box.

Checking and enabling this setting should have one of the biggest chances of fixing your problem if you found the option initially turned off.

2. Check Both Your Internet Connections.

We’re guessing that you’re having a problem with connecting your TV and computer through the Wi-Fi? This is really where most issues regarding this problem come from since using a wire is pretty straightforward and works most of the time.

Now, without being a complete ape and relying on a cable to connect your screen, let’s see if both your devices are connected to the same internet network. To link and connect to each other, both your devices have to be in the same Wi-Fi or LAN connection.

Once again, just like the previous method, TVs are produced in many various models that run different operating systems. We won’t be able to provide you with a general step-by-step process of checking your TV’s Wi-Fi network. Try to search for these steps on Google.

However, for your laptop or PC, you should be able to just hover on the LAN or Wi-Fi symbol at the bottom-right corner of your screen. The name of your internet connection should pop up, cross-reference that with the connection on your TV and make sure it’s the same.

3. Add Steam To Your Firewall Whitelist.

Now, while this feature might be a common inside joke around the internet, your firewall isn’t actually as bad as most people make it seem. The unfortunate Windows Firewall gets a bad rep for a lot of things, most of which aren’t true.

A lot of people blame the firewall for being useless when computers still get infected by viruses, even when the firewall is on. However, your firewall doesn’t actually monitor your computer for viruses, but instead for malicious network activity.

In this case, Steam might be wrongly tagged by your firewall, causing it to restrict Steam from accessing and hosting certain connections. In this method, we’ll be adding Steam to your firewall’s whitelist.

Here’s how you can whitelist Steam:

1. Start by opening up the Start menu by pressing the Windows key on your keyboard. From there, type in ‘firewall’ and open up Firewall & network protection.
2. A window should open up, scroll down and click on Allow an app through firewall.

3. You should be directed to a list of all currently installed applications on your computer. To begin reconfiguring these settings, you’ll have to click on Change Settings at the top-right corner of your screen.
4. When you have access to the programs, look for Steam by left-clicking any app and typing in ‘Steam’.
5. Lastly, check both boxes under the Public and Private columns.

The whitelist is a list of programs that are allowed to access certain parts of your computer, network-wise, without being restrained by your firewall. By doing this, Steam should be able to finally access and make a connection with your TV.

4. Disable Any Antivirus Programs On Your Computer.

While staying on the same topic as the last method, your antivirus could also be the cause of this problem. Third-party antivirus programs try to keep your computer safe from malicious or foreign connections, just like the connections initiated by the Steam Link.

In this way, you won’t be able to make, host, or connect to unsigned or foreign internet connections. Although this is a good feature to keep you safe, we’ll have to turn it off to see if it fixes the connection problem you’re having.

Unfortunately, third-party antivirus programs are all unique and interfaced differently. Due to that, we won’t be able to provide a general list of steps to help you disable your antivirus.

Luckily, most antivirus programs also have a whitelist, so you can just add Steam there instead of disabling your antivirus altogether. A quick Google search of these steps should provide you with the necessary steps.

5. Restart Your Router.

If you’ve exhausted all the methods above, you might want to try restarting your router. Having your modem or router run all the time is pretty normal for most families. In fact, some households even leave their computer and modem on for multiple days or weeks.

While you may find this normal, it’s very healthy to occasionally restart your router to flush out any software or connection issues. This will give your router the chance to reconnect to its respective servers, and refresh your LAN connections.

Although there isn’t a specific set of instructions that you can follow to restart your modem, we do have a guide here with generic instructions. Here’s a general step-by-step process to restart your router.

We understand if you don’t feel confident in touching your router. It can be quite intimidating, especially if you’re not the type to meddle with technology in the house. You can either ask a sibling for help or search for the instructions of your current router model to educate yourself instead.

Now that you’ve reached the end of this article, hopefully we’ve helped you fix Steam Link setup ‘No host computers found’ issue. If you have any questions or clarifications, leave us a comment down below or talk to our other readers.

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