Steam update broke "login" command line argument

[Adfinite]

A recent update seems to have broken the ability to launch Steam using the "login" command line argument.

I have multiple users logging into my PC to use Steam and to avoid having to type passwords I wrote a script that launches Steam with the login credentials passed as a command line argument. I took this a step further and using IFTTT, created a method to trigger an account swap using Google Assistant. This has been working flawlessly until a recent update which enabled saving the passwords for each account.

Whenever I trigger the account swap now (which kills all Steam processes first) none of the accounts will login. I get stuck at "Connecting Steam Account" and it just hangs forever. I can kill this and load up Steam without using the "login" argument and it works fine.

Anyone have any ideas why this is happening? Is the login argument going to be depreciated or is there an undocumented bug at this point? I appreciate that they are allowing saving account passwords now but I'd like to keep my trigger intact and not have to touch the PC at all to swap accounts.

[Adfinite]

And when I say I have multiple users "logging in" I actually mean streaming. We have a Steam link connected to the TV so before this update I would never have to touch the PC running Steam.

I have tried most of the troubleshooting steps I found searching this error including completely un-installing and re-installing Steam.

[pike]

i have to ask , i'm a simple guy ,
why do you need to login to multiple steam accounts on one pc at the same time ?
not like several people can use the one pc to play multiple games on multiple accounts at the same time .
are you farming something ?
do you have bot accounts searching for ?
just courious
you dont even play games on this account , i reported , you're up to something shady

[999999999]

So, Steam Link issue?

[Adfinite]

Hmm well I'm sorry you misunderstood but no, not up to anything shady and certainly not trying to run multiple games at one time. I share a household with my boyfriend and son, we all have our own accounts and use a Steam Link to play on the TV. Throughout the day we need to swap Steam accounts based on who wants to play. Sure, we could all play on the same account but then we would have to share saves and achievements which is not optimal. I'm simply trying to use the "login" command line argument to launch Steam as a specific user without having to interact with the host PC but I believe the functionality is broken based on the fact that it will not log in. I believe this to be a bug with a recent Steam update. It used to work without issue.

This is not related to the Steam Link itself. My testing has been directly on the PC. The Steam link doesn't have the ability to swap the Steam account on the host PC (afaik.)

[Silicon Vampire]

I’ve been using the command line to switch accounts for years

It still works fine

It’s possible the problem lies in the method you are using

[Adfinite]

At this point I've tried to execute running steam using CMD with the login argument and also tried saved windows shortcuts with the login argument (set to run as Admin) and both have the same result. Steam loads up to the account selection screen (while before I do not recall it doing so, it would just log in) and hangs at "Connecting Steam Account" until I get tired of waiting and end task on it. But thanks for confirming it's working for you Silicon Vampire, that could indicate I'm facing an environment vs Steam issue.

[wuddih]

can also be account specific. tested every account with login parameter?

rather then killing Steam tasks use the -shutdown parameter, killing steam tasks can corrupt the local config and other files and result in what you see.

[Adfinite]

I did test all 3 accounts and all were affected by the issue when using the login parameter. All login sucessfully when launching Steam minus the login parameter. Trying to shutdown vs kill sounds like a good idea to try, will test tomorrow and report back.

[Adfinite]

I'm glad I tested the shutdown parameter, it works much better then killing the processes but unfortunately it didn't change any results. The issue persists and it's consumed all my patience, my POA is just going to be dealing with having to click on the account when launching Steam without the login parameter until I have time to script reading the account names on the screen to find the correct one to click on. If I ever figure out the issue or a good workaround I'll report back in case someone else runs into this.

[Adfinite]

Well I did happen to find something interesting. In the log directory there is a connection_log.txt. When I launch Steam with the login parameter I'm getting this log message:
[2018-04-09 16:35:19] [3,3] LogOn() called, but user already logging on.

I'm thinking that Steam is not supposed to be bringing up the Account Selection screen when a login parameter is passed so back to thinking there is a bug in the Steam client at this time. Perhaps an update will fix it eventually.

[Silicon Vampire]

Well, my (simple) scripting is still working fine on all my family's accounts...

[Adfinite]

Silicon Vampire님이 먼저 게시:

Well, my (simple) scripting is still working fine on all my family's accounts...

When you launch Steam with your scripts does Steam completely log you in or does it force you to select an account now?

[Silicon Vampire]

Very simple scripting

I log out manually before opening a different account

If I can find the time, I’ll see if I can duplicate the issue

[Adfinite]

Oh my goodness, that's exactly it! I don't have a method to log the users out of Steam when they are done playing. If I log out of account through Steam first then run it with the login parameter it logs in fine, just tested several times in a row successfully. I'm not sure how I missed this but it makes perfect sense.

No need to replicate on your end, I just need to amend my scripting, perhaps just keep one user logged in all the time and when another wants to play it will be a true swap vs re-logging into the account that was previously logged in. Exactly how it was supposed to work but I got so caught up in testing I didn't see it.

I cannot thank you enough SiliconVampire, I wasn't sure I'd have any hair left to pull out by the end of this :)

Yes, I'm using some pretty simple scripting myself with AutoHotKey watching a dropbox directory that I throw a file in with an IFTTT trigger based on a Google Assistant command. So glad I'll be able to continue to use this!

[Silicon Vampire]

glad I could help. Shouldn't be hard to fix... but that sounds over-complicated. Willing to bet you could do all of that with a fairly simple batch file, without all the other stuff...