Steam Password Issue

ZXSpectrum

ZXSpectrum

ZXSpectrum

Soldato
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
11,755
Location
Derby
I have just got a PC back up and running for a bit of gaming after being out of the loop for a while. Unfortunately I have an issue that I cannot remember my Steam Password. There does not seem to be a password recovery any more and I have contacted Steam support and they want the code from the original game I used to install Steam. I setup Steam when it first became available so that was over 15 years ago and for them to expect me to still have the case/code is just silly and they said without that they cannot help any more. So I am stuck not being able to use my Steam account or purchases because of this.

Has anyone had the same issue and have you managed to find a resolution?
 
I've just gone on Steam website on my phone and when I click Log in there is a bit below saying Forgot password?

Hope that's some help bud
 
Yeah, I have been through that. Most other places when you go through that section ask for your email address and then resend verification to that address to confirm you are the account holder and to recover/reset your password. When you do it on Steam it asks you for your email address as well as a few other things and then creates a support log then they ask you for the original code on the game you setup the account with. I can understand having good security but its completely ridiculous to expect someone to have that code 15 years on. Surely if I have never changed the email associated to the account then it would be reasonable to expect that the verification/reset information would go to there.
 
I think it's just them being extra vigilant. Some accounts will have thousands of £ worth of games on it and to recover a password with a simple email check might be asking for trouble.

Did you have a verified email address? Did you have Steamguard on? I'm not 100% sure but I would hope you could reset your password if you could input the 2FA code from the Steam app.
 
I did have a verified email address but not sure about Steamguard as it has been quite a while since I have used the account. I cant install the Steam app as the first requirement is to log in.
 
Do you have a lot on there? Might just be worth starting again if not.

If they asked me I couldn't tell them the first game that made me have to install steam. Would that have been half-life?
 
Well I was able to tell them what game I used to install Steam and that was HL Orange Box but they said they needed a photo of the code I used with the ticket number written on next to the code. :( I told them I could probably tell them most of the games on my account as well as what the last game I "think" I played was but still no joy.
 
i have been sitting here for the past 5 minutes or so racking my brain trying to think of what my first game was and i honestly have no clue. really hope i never need to go through this with them. pretty silly thing to use imo, i bet most get caught out by this and its a win for steam as would need to buy games again.
 
This topic just made me hunt out my disc box and code of HL2 from 2004, sure enough I still have it with the code. I remember being paranoid that Steam was some kind of scam and really annoyed I couldn't have a game disc or even more than a 1 page manual leaflet so I obviously kept it safe just in case.

I would really hope Steam could be more helpful with this, if you paid for stuff on credit/debit card surely they can verify it somehow with proof of your account or address, etc. It's worth complaining on Twitter and trying to escalate this.
 
I’d be screwed as well then because I have no idea what the code was for my ATi Radeon X800XT Half Life 2 freebie.
 
Well finally, I managed to find my copy of Half-Life 2 that I activated my original Steam account with and have managed to recover my account. Woo hoo! wow what a pain that was and I was VERY lucky that I managed to find my copy! :eek:
 
That's ridiculous. I have no idea what game I first purchased on Steam, let alone what code was associated with it. I doubt if I could even find out the number of the card I used to purchase it - I must have had at least a couple expire since then. I can't remember if I had any code - was my first Steam game a boxed code or was it straight from Steam? I don't know. Why would I? It was I don't know how many years ago. "In order to confirm your identity, state what you had for breakfast on the 5th of January 2006" would be only slightly less reasonable.

Also, come to think of it, I can't remember my Steam password. I haven't used it for months. I play in offline mode, so I only need it when I buy something and recently I've been looking more at playing some of the far too many games I have bought and never played rather than buying more.
 
I know, it was a complete nightmare and a complete fluke that I found my 16 year old copy of Half-Life2. I don't have much on my Steam account and I understand that they need to be doubly secure but surely this is a step beyond. Oh well, I will make sure I keep my password noted and now I can play Doom and Destiny 2.
 
ZXSpectrum said:
Well finally, I managed to find my copy of Half-Life 2 that I activated my original Steam account with and have managed to recover my account. Woo hoo! wow what a pain that was and I was VERY lucky that I managed to find my copy! :eek:
Click to expand...
Nice 1, but there is being cautious and then there is taking it to a nightmare level.
I had loads of issues when I lost my steam guard code, had to jump through loads of hoops to get it removed and my password changed.
Glad you are back rocking though :)
 
When I click on forgot password it asks for my Steam Guard number and then sends me a reset link. When I did my sons it sent the code to my email address I then typed the code into Steam and it sent me the reset password email.

I think ZX you were asked to jump through hoops because you probably havent use your account for ages so you get asked the extra questions as your account was inactive for a long time. Its understandable security if you asked me considering how much account hacking goes on with the Steam platform.

I used to get foreign friends I've never heard of added to my friends list if by magic till I blocked it. So did my son until I blocked that too. That used to be one way your account got hacked.
 
Thinking about it when I say I hadn't used my Steam account in ages I am only talking about a few months (Maybe 6) as I actually have a system that I built up for emulation and installed Steam onto that. So not really talking about a couple of years.
 
ZXSpectrum said:
Well finally, I managed to find my copy of Half-Life 2 that I activated my original Steam account with and have managed to recover my account. Woo hoo! wow what a pain that was and I was VERY lucky that I managed to find my copy! :eek:
Click to expand...

Well that's good news.

Half Life 2 was also my first game when I first installed Steam and created an account. I don't have my copy any more though. Probably got rid of it thinking it would never be needed again due to HL2 already having been added to my account and digital downloads.

Goes to show it can pay to keep PC game cases, even if you don't really need them any more!

I've still got my Orange Box case though. I would have thought any physical Steam game with a key that was activated on the account would be sufficient.

I wonder what would happen for anyone who has only ever bought digital downloaded games from the Steam store?
 
If its only been 6 months then you would have had steam guard enabled by default for you at some point, or gone through the massive hoops to disable it.
They instruct you to print out a small list of 1 time use keycodes to be used in exactly this scenario.
 
Glad you got this sorted out, though it's extremely ironic that the game that was intended to bring about an end to physical media, is the one game that it is absolutely essential to keep the physical copy of.

Not long till it'll be a 20 year old game too. Absolutely ridiculous that they would require that, but it suddenly makes that old game extremely valuable depending on Steam account value and likely an item worth putting in a safe for many.
 
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