What is Error E20 - should I be worried?

[Xzall]

Hello,

I'm abit paranoid when it comes to these kind of things so I've decided to make a post about it.

Tried logging in 1h ago to steam and I was stuck in a infinite loop with Error E20 with a message saying I need to retry to connect or go in Offline Mode (neither options worked).

Every time I typed the password (either the valid password or a random one) I still got the same message.

Finally I was able to connect via my phone auth app by scanning the code.

Does anyone know what this error is? Scanned my PC with a AV and nothing pops up...hope it's not related to malware is it?

[RasaNova]

First result from Google:
Error code E20 prevents you from logging into your Steam account and can happen anytime. The error is generally caused by your Internet connection or your PC's firewall protection. To fix it, try the following solutions: Reboot your network router, as it can greatly increase the performance of your internet connection.

Other search results seem to indicate internet connection issues.

[big bulky red robot]

Idk bro

[George Chrimson]

Same problem happened but seem no explanation...

[Fungizs]

It just happens apparently? Sometimes it even lock an entire steam account from even being able to play games that require connecting to steam, that or blocking you from downloading/adding anything to your library

[EliteEndermanzz]

Originally posted by Fungizs:

It just happens apparently? Sometimes it even lock an entire steam account from even being able to play games that require connecting to steam, that or blocking you from downloading/adding anything to your library

Turn off your firewall

[Sabrine]

This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.