BEWARE Steam Guard is buggy!!!!

Dr. Righteous

2[H]4U
Joined
Aug 1, 2007
Messages
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My Steam account was locked out for no reason.
No messages asking for verification, no nothing. Could not log in. At first I thought someone hacked my account. I check the forums at SteamPowered.com ; There are countless threads of people with the same issue. Suddenly their account won't log in and no help from Valve. I have 3 computers (1 laptop 2 gaming PCs) that have the Steam client loaded to access my account. I couldn't access it from my main PC or my laptop.
My son's computer has it also because he loves to play RTS games. He was telling me he couldn't get Supreme Commander 2 to start. I check it, wouldn't login into steam. But instead of rejecting the login, it would just sit there and do nothing. I logged in and waited several minutes. Finally steam started up. Quickly I checked the account setting and found Steam Guard turned on. I chose to disable it. Then it tells me "server was not able to process request, try again later". IT took me 5 tries before it disabled Steam Guard.
Once disable, Steam started working normally.
I realize Steam Guard is doing what it is suppose to do; keep multiple computers from logging into the account. But this crap was dropped on me without warning and without any permission from me. I was at least able to get it straightened out. There are others that have pretty much lost their account because of this crap.
 
huh, Steam guard is enabled on my computer.... funny, I don't recall enabling it, lol. I don't know if my laptop or my desktop is considered primary?
 
huh, Steam guard is enabled on my computer.... funny, I don't recall enabling it, lol. I don't know if my laptop or my desktop is considered primary?

Try to log in via your laptop; don't be surprised if it doesn't work.
I'm guessing it was the last PC that logged in when they enabled Steam Guard. :rolleyes:
 
BUT HEY NO ONE WAS ABLE TO STEAL GABE NEWELL'S ACCOUNT SO IT'S ALL OK. He just needs some more burritos.

Yes, you're autoenrolled in Steam guard. Now, I only have one PC, so my question is...how do you enable multiple PCs? There should be some authorization process.

Playing games on two different PCs IMO should even be allowed; playing the SAME GAME on two PCs shoud NOT be allowed. Is this not the case?
 
BUT HEY NO ONE WAS ABLE TO STEAL GABE NEWELL'S ACCOUNT SO IT'S ALL OK. He just needs some more burritos.

Yes, you're autoenrolled in Steam guard. Now, I only have one PC, so my question is...how do you enable multiple PCs? There should be some authorization process.

Playing games on two different PCs IMO should even be allowed; playing the SAME GAME on two PCs shoud NOT be allowed. Is this not the case?

When you try to login on another PC, Steam will send you email with code - you use that code to login and from that moment that PC is authorized for your account.

there is link to SteamGuard FAQ in Steam forum thread about this feature.

you can opt out of Steam Guard - its somewhere in client settings.

2OP: contact Steam Support
 
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BUT HEY NO ONE WAS ABLE TO STEAL GABE NEWELL'S ACCOUNT SO IT'S ALL OK. He just needs some more burritos.
LOL. Hate to say this about 'ole Gabe because Valve is my favorite game company.
BUT dude; You are going to need your own zip code soon. Take it easy! :(

Yes, you're autoenrolled in Steam guard. Now, I only have one PC, so my question is...how do you enable multiple PCs? There should be some authorization process.

Playing games on two different PCs IMO should even be allowed; playing the SAME GAME on two PCs shoud NOT be allowed. Is this not the case?

As far as I know it is a single log in at a time. Which is fine with me.
But Steam Guard turned it into a single machine one; and made Steam sluggish as hell.:mad:
 
From my end, I can't tell if SteamGuard is enabled or not. Are you guys sure its not just enabled when you sign up for Steam betas?
 
From my end, I can't tell if SteamGuard is enabled or not. Are you guys sure its not just enabled when you sign up for Steam betas?

The account tab in the steam settings menu will say if it's active or not.

"Security Status: Protected by Steam Guard"
 
Not sure what's up with yours then. Steam apparently auto-enabled it for me and I have no clue when it did it. :p Fine by me, I only game on one PC.
 
I logged in and it was enabled , i received an email with a five letter code .

I logged on my laptop , and received a second email to enable the laptop.

Pretty simple
 
LOL. Hate to say this about 'ole Gabe because Valve is my favorite game company.
BUT dude; You are going to need your own zip code soon. Take it easy! :(



As far as I know it is a single log in at a time. Which is fine with me.
But Steam Guard turned it into a single machine one; and made Steam sluggish as hell.:mad:

I used to like Valve as well; recent actions they have been taken have dropped them down to Activision's level. But that's for another thread.


My problem with one-login is...if I buy physical media, even if it has DRM per game, I can install games A and B on PCs Y and Z. Now, I can play A on PC Y and B on PC Z.

With Steam...I can play A or B on PC Y but cannot play either A or B on PC Z. You people are really ok with this? It's BS. On license = one user in my book. If that means I share a copy at home with my family...that should be fine.
 
I used to like Valve as well; recent actions they have been taken have dropped them down to Activision's level. But that's for another thread.


My problem with one-login is...if I buy physical media, even if it has DRM per game, I can install games A and B on PCs Y and Z. Now, I can play A on PC Y and B on PC Z.

With Steam...I can play A or B on PC Y but cannot play either A or B on PC Z. You people are really ok with this? It's BS. On license = one user in my book. If that means I share a copy at home with my family...that should be fine.

Steam has always been one login at a time. This doesn't change that.
 
Exited and restarted Steam and it automatically enabled Steam Guard. Promptly disabled it with no issue.
 
So I've noticed. I've disabled it for now until it's ready for primetime.
 
Meh, Steam is a necessary evil in my opinion. The "expansions" for Fallout 3 was the DLC missions. You have to download them; no physical media. As far as buying games now I prefer to get disc copy from Amazon. Must of the time they are the same price or cheaper than downloading it on Steam.
I really wish they would release a "kick Ass Pack" that has all the DLCs on a disc. Would rather buy that then download them one at a time.
 
Steam has always been one login at a time. This doesn't change that.

No it hasn't, it used to be 1 game per account at a time, because I used to share an account with someone and the only time we had problems was when we both wanted to play the same game.
 
I used to like Valve as well; recent actions they have been taken have dropped them down to Activision's level. But that's for another thread.


My problem with one-login is...if I buy physical media, even if it has DRM per game, I can install games A and B on PCs Y and Z. Now, I can play A on PC Y and B on PC Z.

With Steam...I can play A or B on PC Y but cannot play either A or B on PC Z. You people are really ok with this? It's BS. On license = one user in my book. If that means I share a copy at home with my family...that should be fine.

Steam's business model is based on selling you a single user license. This is why they are able to the offer the prices they do, and to convince the content owners to allow them to do so.

Allowing users to buy $5-$15 big budget games that they can freely pass along to friends/family like Physical Media traditionally could would not be in Valve or the content owners interests.

But this does have a drawbacks, and one good example would be to households with two or more gamers. Say both gamers have similar interests in many single player games. You would either have to buy two copies of each game or go through the hassle of making a new steam account for each single game. Otherwise you run into say User A wanting to play Fallout New Vegas, while USER B then cannot play Mass Effect 2, because it is on the same account.
 
Steam's business model is based on selling you a single user license. This is why they are able to the offer the prices they do, and to convince the content owners to allow them to do so.

Allowing users to buy $5-$15 big budget games that they can freely pass along to friends/family like Physical Media traditionally could would not be in Valve or the content owners interests.

But this does have a drawbacks, and one good example would be to households with two or more gamers. Say both gamers have similar interests in many single player games. You would either have to buy two copies of each game or go through the hassle of making a new steam account for each single game. Otherwise you run into say User A wanting to play Fallout New Vegas, while USER B then cannot play Mass Effect 2, because it is on the same account.
Actually, there's a way around that. Just start up the game alt-tab out, exit steam then have the other person start it up. My friends play like that.
 
its blank for me.

I believe Steamguard is limited to Sandybridge platforms only? At least this is what I read when it was first mentioned, as it had to use Intel IPT functionality of those CPUs.

Maybe the current issue is with people having IPT enabled systems and non IPT systems.

I have a 2500k for instance, and it was automatically enabled. I do not have Steam installed on any of my other 2 computers however, which do no have IPT.

Actually, there's a way around that. Just start up the game alt-tab out, exit steam then have the other person start it up. My friends play like that.

Interesting to know, but I wonder if they will eventually want to remove that type of option. Currently I'm basically a single gamer on my account, so I haven't run into that issue. However I am somewhat interested how the more "license" based media approach we are using will impact families, which would have several users.
 
Is it an Intel/AMD issue then?

I notice the only other user with an AMD machine, Azureth, said the option was not available for him.

The OP also has an AMD machine. Dr. Righteous, are your other systems using Intel?
 
my system is an intel xeon x3440 (i7 860s, effectively). It was enabled for me and I didn't know it until I just checked today after reading the OP. I do have the beta client, however...
 
I believe Steamguard is limited to Sandybridge platforms only? At least this is what I read when it was first mentioned, as it had to use Intel IPT functionality of those CPUs.
Steam Guard does not use IPT, although that is planned for some time in the future.
 
Looks like steam guard is on my sig without me knowing. So, what happens when lightning fries my computer?
 
I dont see steam guard anywhere in my options.

but I was reading the FAQ's and this is interesting:

Is there a limit to the number of machines that can be authorized at once?

No, there's no limit. Steam Guard is aimed to protect the value that is yours, not limit your access to your stuff. As always, you can access your Steam account and library from as many machines as you'd like.
 
Looks like steam guard is on my sig without me knowing. So, what happens when lightning fries my computer?
When you log in from an unauthorized machine, Steam will send a code to your account e-mail address, and when you put in that code, the machine will become authorized.
 
If it wasn't for this thread, I wouldn't have known steam guard was enable on two of my accounts. It's retarded, They should have prompted us if we wanted steam guard enabled or not.
 
Are you expecting lightening to fry your computer? You could just disable it if you're worried.

Not tonight at least, just wondering if there is a backup plan.

When you log in from an unauthorized machine, Steam will send a code to your account e-mail address, and when you put in that code, the machine will become authorized.

Thanks, that's good to know. Though it seems to (somewhat) defeat the purpose of steamguard. Just new angles to bypass for the thief.
 
Thanks, that's good to know. Though it seems to (somewhat) defeat the purpose of steamguard. Just new angles to bypass for the thief.
Well, if they don't have access to your e-mail account, they won't be able to access your Steam account. Obviously it's not completely impervious, but it's an extra layer of security which can be pretty strong if you have it set up properly.
 
No it hasn't, it used to be 1 game per account at a time, because I used to share an account with someone and the only time we had problems was when we both wanted to play the same game.

That's what I thought...shitty. Really, really shitty. Licenses should be ONE user at a time. Not ONE user per steam account.

Steam's business model is based on selling you a single user license. This is why they are able to the offer the prices they do, and to convince the content owners to allow them to do so.

Allowing users to buy $5-$15 big budget games that they can freely pass along to friends/family like Physical Media traditionally could would not be in Valve or the content owners interests.

But this does have a drawbacks, and one good example would be to households with two or more gamers. Say both gamers have similar interests in many single player games. You would either have to buy two copies of each game or go through the hassle of making a new steam account for each single game. Otherwise you run into say User A wanting to play Fallout New Vegas, while USER B then cannot play Mass Effect 2, because it is on the same account.


Huh? I'm sorry, but "one user online at a time" should be sufficient. That way it isn't "hey copy my CD!" or "hey pirate my game!" It's still ONE user. They won't lose sales over that - but by this current rule, they artificially cause people to buy MORE than one copy...or more likely, buy a physical copy or just pirate. Sad, really.
 
Well It's blank on my account. I had to restart Steam though to even see the security thing, but it was blank.

Weird though cause i thought this was supposed to be an opt in kinda thing?
 
Yep, everyone is auto enrolled to steam guard it seems although it looks like you have to activate at least 1 computer or lock out others specifically before it starts working?

Anyway I've disabled that, I'm perfectly capable of keeping my password secret :rolleyes:
 
Probably going to stop buying from Steam now, unless it's ridiculous sale prices. I don't want to be locked in when they decide to force it on us.
 
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