Export 2FA-Secret from ASF

[LittleFreak]

I'm using ASF as m primary Steam Guard and have no backup, beneath the

ASF/config

-Folder. I've red an article at reddit, which explains how to import the SteamGuard-Secret to any 3rd-Party AuthenificationApp.

Is there any way to export the secret from ASF?
I'm aware of 2 Threats in 2017, where a similar question was asked, but I figured that it might have changed over time and maybe my question is more specific. Also ASF converts the file during the import (as stated in the wiki and done before),so there must be a way the other way around, right?

I could reset my SteamGuard for sure, but I'd like to avoid that. Like the saying goes:

Never change a running system!

[Rudokhvist]

Originally posted by LittleFreak:

I'm using ASF as m primary Steam Guard and have no backup

Such configuration is discouraged, ASF is not intended to be used as a primary authenticator.

Originally posted by LittleFreak:

Is there any way to export the secret from ASF?

ASF stores 2fa information in <botname>.db file in the config directory, you can open it with any text editor and look for the information you need. I can't guarantee that you will find all 2fa information that is usually stored in two-factor authenticators, but at least "secrets" should be there. Just make sure to not edit this file, in may make your bot inoperable.

[Archi]

Something tells me that you intentionally ignored this part of 2FA article on the wiki:

Just keep in mind that ASF 2FA is NOT a general purpose authenticator and it should never be the only one you use, since it doesn't even include all data that authenticator should have. It's not possible to convert ASF 2FA back to original authenticator, therefore always make sure that you have general-purpose authenticator in other place, such as in WinAuth/SDA, or on your phone.

And it's true, you can't make authenticator out of ASF 2FA, regardless of what some people tell you. You can extract very limited details that ASF decided to save which >might< be enough to generate tokens and accept confirmations, but this is NOT an authenticator, standard authenticator has far more fields which are not kept by ASF, such as ability to revoke it with a revocation code - something ASF doesn't keep because it's not needed for our use case.

I heavily recommend you to re-link the authenticator and add it again to ASF, as I can't guarantee you that at some point in the future Steam won't put some kind of limitation that will block you from using your Steam account. If that happens to ASF, I'll just release an update and tell people to regen their authenticators, something you won't be able to do, now being blocked from not only logging in, but revoking auth as well due to not having access to the required information.

[LittleFreak]

Originally posted by Archi:

I heavily recommend you to re-link the authenticator and add it again to ASF, as I can't guarantee you that at some point in the future Steam won't put some kind of limitation that will block you from using your Steam account. If that happens to ASF, I'll just release an update and tell people to regen their authenticators, something you won't be able to do, now being blocked from not only logging in, but revoking auth as well due to not having access to the required information.

That shouldnt be much of a problem, right? We are supposed to keep the revoke key noted down/saved somewhere, aren't we?
Then again.. You got me nacked here, since I'm not sure about my revoke code. :sadface:
Maybe i`ll can recover that later today from my notes.

Oh, youre right. I looked for Export in the Wiki and found nothing. Maybe it's worth a Word or two in the FAQ? ;)
I also forgot about the other Part with "not as primary" after I used ASF for a few weeks and took it as granted, since everything works so sweet. Especially since I am not a big fan of Windows authenticator/Alternative and an non root Android with SteamGuard cant be activated ASF duplictated 2FA in ASF.

@Archi I agree, that ASF doesnt need the revoke code, especially since malicious programs at the same Machine could revoke your 2FA.

@Ryzen thanks =) I'll Look into it, but probably try to re-enable SteamGuard first.

[Rudokhvist]

I have another option for you - I recently made changes to SDA to allow usage of steam feature of moving 2fa to another device. If you still have phone number, connected to that account, you can just use it to "move" from asf to SDA and you will have a complete maFile (that you can easily import back to ASF after that). This way you will have a trade hold for two days, instead of two weeks after removing 2fa and setting up a new one. I'm not 100% sure it will work (never tried it with primary authenticator in ASF), but can't find a reason why not.
Link to my version of SDA: https://github.com/Ryzhehvost/SteamDesktopAuthenticator/releases/tag/1.1.1

[LittleFreak]

Originally posted by Ryzhehvost:

I have another option for you - I recently made changes to SDA to allow usage of steam feature of moving 2fa to another device. If you still have phone number, connected to that account, you can just use it to "move" from asf to SDA and you will have a complete maFile (that you can easily import back to ASF after that). This way you will have a trade hold for two days, instead of two weeks after removing 2fa and setting up a new one. I'm not 100% sure it will work (never tried it with primary authenticator in ASF), but can't find a reason why not.
Link to my version of SDA: https://github.com/Ryzhehvost/SteamDesktopAuthenticator/releases/tag/1.1.1

This sounds perfect. :top:
I'll try that. I must remove LittleFreak.db later, once I'm ready to import/ replace the new *.maFile into ASF, right?

[Rudokhvist]

Originally posted by LittleFreak:

This sounds perfect. :top:
I'll try that. I must remove LittleFreak.db later, once I'm ready to import/ replace the new *.maFile into ASF, right?

Yes, after you make sure that new authenticator in SDA works - you can just remobve <botname>.db and import it again.