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

By Sky

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.

Award

Created by

Sky
Offline

Category: Modding or Configuration

Languages: English

Posted

Updated

4 Feb @ 7:24am

11 May @ 6:48am

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Guide Index

Overview

Requirements

How to launch two (or more) Steam accounts

Saves from Fallout 4 if using f4se_loader may break

Limitations

Closing words

Comments

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.

Prepare your setup
1. Install Steam
2. Have at least two Steam accounts
3. Close your Steam client
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
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
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
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.

65 Comments

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NickxieSkyler 14 hours ago

thank you EkREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEzem

doggo 7 Nov @ 8:21am

You are lifesaver EkREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEzem !!!!

acemage 7 Nov @ 1:57am

Thanks EkREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEzem. Downgraded steam works at the moment. Hopely it lasts for long.. I worried about archive.org and it turns out to be ok site.

EkREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEzem 6 Nov @ 11:57pm

Nevermind I found another workaround to this. Just downgrade your steam version and disable auto update

Follow this guide (2 links, same thing)
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2967855237
https://blog.lightwo.net/steam-client-downgrades-survival-kit.html#the-downgrade-table-steamcmd_1

For mine its something like the following
"D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe" -forcesteamupdate -forcepackagedownload -overridepackageurl http://web.archive.org/web/20240918110225if_/media.steampowered.com/client -exitsteam

Run it once, add the steam.cfg to disable update, do the usual thing from the guide here, voila.
Enjoy bros and sis'
(I don't play Fallout, I just use this for other games)

I welcome gifts but not necessary as I posted this in the public in the first place.

EkREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEzem 6 Nov @ 11:32pm

Do you happen to have guides for any alternatives? Didn't know it was because of an update (I thought it was because my laptop crashed, but reinstalling didn't fix it)

Also, where did you find the set VPROJECT=steammulti from? I would like to read the documentation if there's any, in case there's any change.

Grimalackt 6 Nov @ 8:19pm

@227steam's workaround doesn't work for any game that checks steam auth regularly (aka, probably literally everything that isn't fo76) - and even in that game it causes issues.

󠀡󠀡 6 Nov @ 7:17pm

New method works, thanks @227steam. Unfortunately, you can't hop worlds with the first steam account, an inconvenience, but oh well.

Leyda 6 Nov @ 6:14pm

@227steam are you hopping worlds just fine on the account with steam closed?

227steam 6 Nov @ 6:00pm

@leyda It works for Fallout 76, an online game.

@lolifoxing make a batch file like above, but with the structure of mine.

Leyda 6 Nov @ 5:40pm

@227steam this work-around wont work for online games. they require steam open for auth it seems

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