How to run two Steam accounts at once on the same computer

Sometimes you need to run multiple Steam accounts on the same computer, for example when having a second account as a mule.

Read this guide to learn how to set this up without using virtualization or any third party tools.

You only need Steam installed for this guide to work.

Requirements

• Windows
  
• Steam installed
  
• two Steam accounts

You DO NOT need any virtualization or sandbox software.
The setup may work on Linux, I have not tried.

How to launch two (or more) Steam accounts

Follow the steps below to launch two separate Steam accounts on the same computer without any virtualization.



This will allow you to launch two separate instances of games when you need to log in with multiple accounts. Instances will share configuration and mods, but will use separate online accounts.

1. Prepare your setup
   
   1. Install Steam
      
   2. Have at least two Steam accounts
      
   3. Close your Steam client
2. Launch two Steam instances
   
   1. Launch the Windows Command Prompt
      
      1. Open your Start menu
         
      2. Type "cmd" and click "Command Prompt"
         
      3. Wait until the command prompt appears
   2. Launch your primary Steam account
      
      1. Type

         set VPROJECT=steammulti

      2. Confirm with enter
         
      3. Type

         start "Steam1" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe" -master_ipc_name_override steam1

      4. Confirm with enter and keep the command prompt window opened
         
      5. Wait until your primary Steam account launches
   3. Launch your secondary Steam account
      
      1. In the same command prompt window, type

         start "Steam2" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe" -master_ipc_name_override steam2 -userchooser

      2. Confirm with enter
         
      3. Wait until a popup with account selection appears
         
      4. Add or select your secondary account
         
      5. Confirm, type your credentials if needed and launch
         
      6. Wait until your secondary Steam account launches
3. Verify results
   
   1. Open your taskbar
      
   2. You should see two separate Steam client icons
      
   3. On your desktop, you should see two separate Steam client windows
4. Launch your games
   
   1. In your primary and secondary Steam clients, click the game you want to run
      
   2. You will not need to redownload the game, as the games will share the data folder
      
   3. If it is Fallout 76, the games will share mods and ini configuration, but each Steam account will use a separate 76 account
5. Enjoy 76 muling
   
   1. You can now visit your main character with a secondary mule and stash items to it. Have fun!
      
   2. If you have more than one mule account, repeat the secondary account steps with as many as you need

These are the three cmd commands, you can also create a bash script if you are familiar with bash.

set VPROJECT=steammulti
start "Steam1" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe" -master_ipc_name_override steam1
start "Steam2" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe" -master_ipc_name_override steam2 -userchooser

Saves from Fallout 4 if using f4se_loader may break

It has been reported to me that running two Steam instances might affect save files from games like Fallout 4.

My save games for Fallout 4 are left intact (I never launched Fallout 4 on either profile), but keep in mind that some games may keep save files in the same location, and running one such single player game may affect the other.

So avoid running stuff that is set up like this, ideally use this method to only run online games that don't have local saves and Steam cloud sync.

The person that reported this shared details:

if you try to use f4se_loader while two copies of steam are open at the same time, it will bring up the regular fallout 4 launcher instead of starting fallout 4, so you have to go under steam and add a non steam game to your library and map it to f4se_loader and then running that shortcut got fallout 4 to work and resulted in my saves being deleted
i set up steam family sharing for my second account on this pc, and after doing that it has not deleted my saves

Limitations

• If you launch multiple instances and one is closed, you can't start it back up until all other instances are also closed, as all Steam accounts still think their client is running.
  
• If you launch multiple Steam clients, close them and start only one, the last one you launched will be used. You can always switch back to the primary one.
  
• I have not tested this with more than two clients, but had people confirm they were able to run more than two.

Closing words

If you reference this guide or make a video about it, please link to this guide in your video description or a pinned commend.

If you have questions or suggestions, please leave a comment.

If you found this guide useful, give it five stars.

[Megara]

I don't work with my computer
When I try to lauch the second steam account, in place of account choose i have a message : "steamwebhelper is not responding, it will not be possible to use the Steam interface" :'(

[rillo.ex]

of course I get here too late

[PaleDumbAss]

I loved this method so much, but alas, eveything has it end... thank you for making this at the first place

[[☗]Cypher]

this doesn't work anymore

[Noctis Lucis Caelum]

I used to only use 2 accounts, it was really good, but after Steam updated, unfortunately this is no longer possible, when it was possible, it was really good, anyway, it's over.

[Talion]

very disappointing steam patched this. It was so helpful for many games

[Auttaja]

broken still

[Holf]

Is this working still? got a game that wont log in now.

[Nomi]

This used to work but now it wont. steam must have patched it. anyone get a workaround?

[Hedgehodge]

I had to "set VPROJECT=" line for some reason to get steam to open back up