Mac Steam In-Home Streaming doesn't work after client update

[LoveAndBeer]

Note, I posted this in the Mac forum last week but haven't heard anything back. Though I might try here.

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After the update this morning (08/24) my Mac client did not auto connect to my gaming PC for in-home streaming. I checked the settings and 'Enable In-Home Streaming' was unchecked. I checked it and still nothing came up so I reset the (Mac) client. Still no connection. Checked the (updated) PC Steam client and everything was checked and seemed to be working there.

Seems whenever the Mac client is restarted it unchecks in-home streaming and even which checked it won't connect.

All of this was working just fine last night -- prior to applying the most recent update.

This is on 10.11.6 (El Capitan) not the new beta OS.

[RowdyRoddyPipeSmoker]

Yeah I'm having the same problem, ever since steam updated my pc and my mac don't see each other and every time I open steam on the mac the home streaming box in unchecked. Very annoying and there is nothing I can do to get in home streaming to work. Tried installing the beta client too on both machines, but it didn't help at all.

[brennonx]

I currently have the same issue

[Sofarso / chenbaras]

I'm also having the same issue. Rebooting the computer seems to get the pc and mac to see each other again but I havent had luck getting streaming to work yet since the update (though I was able to start a game on the pc from my mac, but I couldn't see the game or interact with it from my mac once the game had launched)

[Bill Brasky]

Same here. The device list is empty on both PC and Mac. Both are connected to Ethernet on the same switch, so it's definitely not a networking issue.

[Bill Brasky]

Aha! I updated OSX with the latest security update, rebooted, and it works. When I launched Steam it re-prompted me to allow Steam to accept incoming network connections.

[nulldepict]

Just chiming in to say thanks to Bill Brasky for the tip. I was having a similar problem where I could see the Windows computer on the network, but none of the games installed there could be played on my Macbook (this had been working fine for a while and suddenly stopped earlier this week). Tried restarting the computer, Steam flush, and reinstalling Steam to no improvement. Intalling the latest Apple security update (dated Sept 1st) seems to have fixed this for me.

[UUMickey]

I am having the same issue as well. And it looks like the timing is roughly the same. I have no pending OSX updates but whenever I start Steam on the Mac I am prompted to allow Steam to accept connections. I allow it each time however the Mac cannot see the Windows 7 PC via steam any more.

I can see it via the network and as well as file shares. The PC connects to the Steam Link just fine so I know streaming is working. Whatever is wrong is isolated to the Mac and it was working a week ago. I've disabled the Firewall as well to see if that makes a difference. It did not. A reboot has also not cleared things up.

Does anyone have advice?

[jonp]

I did some investigation on this. I did find one case where a firewall issue seemed to get "stuck" - I don't quite have a handle on it yet; maybe you can help us collect some data?

In my testing, I was able to reproduce the finding that after restarting the Mac client, the "In-home streaming" checkbox is unchecked. This happens when the client is unable to bind the listener socket it needs to continue.

Once in this state, I found that the following command (in a Terminal window):

netstat -an | grep 27036

shows a UDP listener with packets in the receive queue. Once it is in the state, it seems to be difficult to shake - Steam can't get a listener on the port, and firewall settings don't make a difference.

At this point, a workaround may be the following:

• temporarily disable the firewall (in System Preferences, under Security & Privacy, take a look at the Firewall tab. You may need to click the Unlock button and enter your password)
  
• reboot the Mac (I know!)
  
• re-enable the firewall
  
• start Steam. The network permissions Allow/Deny dialog should pop up; choose Allow.
  
  Can you try the above, and let me know what you find? Also I'm interested in hearing how many of you are still affected by this.

[Bill Brasky]

Actually, I'm not sure anymore it had anything to do with the OSX update. If I quit steam, I have to reboot so it can prompt me to accept connections again.

Anyone else here running McAfee endpoint protection?

[UUMickey]

I've rebooted and restarted Steam and this time it decided to connect to streaming without any intervention on my part. It did, however, again ask if Steam could accept incoming connections. I think it knows Valve commented on this thread.

I do not run McAfee EPP.

Let me reboot a few more times and see if I can force the issue.

[jonp]

We are still investigating. I find that the Steam client is able to get the networking set up correctly the first time Steam runs after a boot. If you exit and restart Steam, it is likely to come up broken.

Disabling the app firewall works around the problem, but I strongly do not recommend doing so.

Curious to hear from any users observing this problem on a release other than El Cap.

[UUMickey]

I'm on Mavericks, 10.9.5.

[Taliesin]

After restarting my Mac, I can access In-Home streaming. However, my PS3 controller is not working. Anyone having the same issue?

EDIT: Nevermind, controller works fine. Don't know what was the issue.

[UUMickey]

As Jonp thought, exiting and restarting Steam WITHOUT a reboot results in the non-streaming state. Again, this is on Mavericks.

It did NOT prompt me to allow incoming connections to Steam.

Netstat output:

mickeys-mbp-2:~ mickey$ netstat -an | grep 27036
udp4     107      0  *.27036                *.*

The Enable Streaming option is unchecked in Preferences. I exited Steam, disabled the firewall, and restarted Steam. This time, streaming still does not connect. I am unable to force it to connect even with the firewall disabled.

How else can I help?

[jonp]

Thanks, confirming that it exists on Mavericks helps too. Once the UDP listener winds up in that 'stuck' state, changing the firewall will not affect it without a reboot. Again, I do not recommend this as an approach - but it does confirm something is wonky with our interaction with the app firewall service.