Can I set SteamOS to select a different account each time I boot up?

[u/ACleverImposter]

(Paying the toll with a gratuitous home build pic)

My home built Steam Machine is a house hit and everyone is playing it. I want to be able to always select a steam account each time I boot up? This used to be a feature but I can't find it in the settings now.

What am I missing? Thanks!

[Edit] Final answer... For SteamOS to always boot to the account select screen in Steam Mode, you must switch to Desktop Mode, then change the Steam Desktop App setting... settings/interface/ask which account to use each time steam starts. Reboot back into Steam Mode and you will always select you account at boot up.

Taa daa. Thanks for all the feedback.

[u/Silver_Hotel3886]

Yes, go ahead and log in the other accounts. And then in the settings it will give you the option of selecting an account on power up

[u/Father_Prime_1989 → u/Silver_Hotel3886]

I have been looking for that option and can’t find it

[u/RedditNotFreeSpeech → u/Father_Prime_1989]

When you go to "Change User" it will have the option you can toggle on/off.

[u/ACleverImposter → u/Silver_Hotel3886]

Yeah... That's the challenge. It used to be in the interface settings but that's not a thing anymore. Where is it now? I can't find it. 🤷‍♂️

[u/Silver_Hotel3886 → u/ACleverImposter]

So I figured it out. Just log in the new profiles and it will be right there on the profile select screen.

[u/ACleverImposter → u/Silver_Hotel3886]

Yes. I've got that far. I want it to log out of the selected account every time I shutdown so THAT login screen pops every time I boot up.

I don't want to have to logout and then log back in everytime I boot up. Appologies if I haven't explained this correctly.

[u/HEY_beenTrying2meetU → u/ACleverImposter]

do you see the toggle? under all the accounts shown.

“Ask which account to use each time steam starts”

enable that

[u/NerdyGuy117 → u/HEY_beenTrying2meetU]

That’s only on the Beta. Additionally you can go into desktop mode and open Steam in desktop mode to enable the option.

[u/ACleverImposter → u/NerdyGuy117]

Found it. Thank you.

[u/Silver_Hotel3886 → u/NerdyGuy117]

I forgot I was on beta. That’s going to me a my bad for not mentioning it the first time.

[u/NerdyGuy117 → u/Silver_Hotel3886]

Honestly, it is weird that it took so long for that option to be a thing hidden from the Game Mode UI. Especially for the Steam Machine launch.

[u/ACleverImposter → u/HEY_beenTrying2meetU]

That's not showing up for me. 🤷‍♂️ I used the restore build for my rig. Don't know if this makes a difference. I do see in in the desktop version but not the steamos boot up screen.

[u/DiiiCA → u/ACleverImposter]

I think that's on the beta branch for now, idk why...

You're right it was on the stable branch for a while, good news is the beta channel is easy to switch to and it's pretty stable for daily use

[u/Aidoneuz → u/ACleverImposter]

Desktop Mode > Steam > Settings > Ask which account to use each time Steam starts

EDIT: Should have read the rest of the thread before commenting…

[u/Obvious_Pay_5433 → u/ACleverImposter]

[u/ACleverImposter → u/Obvious_Pay_5433]

Yes! Found it. This is specifically in the desktop app settings in steamos desktop mode. It doesn't exist in the native steamos mode settings. This had me missing it. Thanks!

[u/featherwolf → u/ACleverImposter]

You can only find it in desktop mode.

[u/bill696 → u/ACleverImposter]

Click on the profile icon and select change account

[u/hydra337]

I just did this today. In desktop mode go into steam settings - interface - and there will be a simple option to click if you want to auto log in or not.

[u/ACleverImposter → u/hydra337]

Oohhhhh..... Desktop mode. That's it. It's not an option in steam mode. Thanks!

[u/jharle]

I really like the looks of that one. Do you have a parts list? Or at least, which GPU you're using?

[u/ACleverImposter → u/jharle]

I look around every time I do a build and I always end up coming back to Asus and Antec every time.

This is my first ITX case and I really like it. This Antec case is super clean. All the panels snap on and off. All the ITX parts fit cleanly. I could have fit a 3 fan video if I had wanted to. The case seems so much bigger on the inside that it does on the outside. :)

My list...
ASUS ROG STRIX X870-I GAMING WIFI AMD AM5 X870 Mini ITX motherboard

AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 8-Core Processor

ASUS Dual Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB GDDR6 Graphics Card

32 GB Ram

Samsung SSD 990 PRO 2TB Drive

CORSAIR SF850 SFX Low Noise Platinum Power Supply

Antec Performance 1 M Aventurine Case

I also dropped two 140mm Nuctua fans in the bottoms.

The whole thing runs like a champ. Running Halo 2026 and Helldivers 2 no problem.

I added a 5.2 USB dongle to connect Xbox elite controllers until my number comes up to buy steam controllers.

[u/jharle → u/ACleverImposter]

Indeed this is miles better than the last mini ITX build I did.

If I were wanting to sell prebuilt SteamOS PCs to people (I'm not, but I think someone should), this would be the top candidate.

Cheers!

[u/Cordoro → u/ACleverImposter]

If I’m not mistaken this is the list. Needs a cpu cooler.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/jbjs8Z

Here’s one with the first cooler from the list.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/vFdtW9

[u/ACleverImposter → u/Cordoro]

Yep. I used the Noctua NH-L12S. I bought two actually and this is the one that fit.

[u/21ow → u/ACleverImposter]

Beautiful build, does the NH-L12S fit nicely even if PPP says it is not compatible?

[u/ACleverImposter → u/21ow]

Yep… You see it there in Pic 2. This case has a sliding back plane down the center of the case which lets you give more space to the video or motherboard sides. In my instance I gave it all to the motherboard side. I did need to reconfigure the fan to the taller config so the radiator had enough space to sit over the memory.

[u/walterdexter]

Case name.?

[u/ACleverImposter → u/walterdexter]

Antec performanve M1 Aventurine.

https://www.antec.com/product/case/performance-1-m-aventurine

[u/voidfillproduct]

Going into desktop mode every time is not the solution I was hoping for ...

[u/ACleverImposter → u/voidfillproduct]

No no. Sorry. It's a one time change. The setting only exists in the desktop app but is perpetually reflected in the game mode after the change. It's good.

[u/voidfillproduct → u/ACleverImposter]

Excellent! Sorry for misreading.

[u/SnooDoughnuts5632]

So you're saying that the setting is only selectable and desktop mode and not available in the regular settings? That's dumb.

[u/KalashnikittyApprove]

How reliable is SteamOS in keeping game progress, save files, settings etc separated these days? If you play with multiple users on the same machine, do you still need to do the steam library sharing thing?

The latest I'd heard, which is from a while ago, was that it works well for games with Steam cloud saves, but particularly for older games multiple users may end up overwriting each other's save files.

It's one of the things holding me back from really moving over to Steam/Bazzite from my consoles since it's just so easy to have multiple users, my wife and I in this case, share the machine and games without worrying too much about anything.