Setting Steam Launch Options

Article ID: 5623-QOSV-5250

Steam launch options can be used to change game settings, enable features, and even create a shortcut to bypass the Steam login window.

Set Launch Options

1. Create a copy of your regular Steam shortcut to experiment with by right-clicking on your Steam shortcut and selecting Create Shortcut from menu
2. Right-click on the new shortcut and go to Properties
3. Select the Shortcut tab
4. In the Target: field add the launch options which you would like to use after the Steam.exe location (make sure to separate all launch options with a space - For example, " -launchoption1 -launchoption2")
5. Click Apply and then OK to close the Properties window

Options to Use

Here are some of the more useful launch options:

• -applaunch (game's AppID) (game's Launch Options) - Launch a specific game directly through Steam (best if used in combination with the login launch options listed below)
• -login (your username) (your Steam account password) - Bypass the Steam login window by entering your login information

Please be sure to take adequate precautions to ensure that no one else has access to view your password when it is saved in a shortcut.

Examples

Log in automatically and launch Counter-Strike:

 steam.exe -applaunch 10 -login username password

Log in automatically and launch Counter-Strike: Source:

 steam.exe -applaunch 240 -login username password