Steam -no-browser after patch

README.md

Steam -no-browser after patch (Working June 2023)

• Disregard the original steam shortcut and only use the batch scripts below to launch steam

• There is a slight CPU utilization penalty which can be circumvented by suspending the problematic thread

  • See this comment

steam-no-browser.bat:

@echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

set "steam_path=C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam"

:: kill steam if is running
tasklist | findstr /i "steam.exe" && taskkill /f /im "steam.exe"

:: rename binary back to .exe as steam requires it to initialize
for %%a in ("cef.win7", "cef.win7x64") do (
    set "bin=!steam_path!\bin\cef\%%~a\steamwebhelper.exee"
    if exist "!bin!" (
        ren "!bin!" "steamwebhelper.exe"
    )
)

:: open steam
start "" "!steam_path!\steam.exe" +open steam://open/minigameslist -vgui

:: only continue if steamwebhelper is running in case steam is updating
:query_steamwebhelper
tasklist | findstr /i "steamwebhelper.exe" || goto :query_steamwebhelper

:: allow a few seconds for steam to initialize/login
timeout /t 5 /nobreak

:: rename binary and kill the process
for %%a in ("cef.win7", "cef.win7x64") do (
    set "bin=!steam_path!\bin\cef\%%~a\steamwebhelper.exe"
    if exist "!bin!" (
        ren "!bin!" "steamwebhelper.exee"
    )
)

taskkill /f /im "steamwebhelper.exe"

steam-normal.bat:

@echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

set "steam_path=C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam"

:: kill steam if is running
tasklist | findstr /i "steam.exe" && taskkill /f /im "steam.exe"

:: rename binary back to .exe as steam requires it to initialize
for %%a in ("cef.win7", "cef.win7x64") do (
    set "bin=!steam_path!\bin\cef\%%~a\steamwebhelper.exee"
    if exist "!bin!" (
        ren "!bin!" "steamwebhelper.exe"
    )
)

:: open steam
start "" "!steam_path!\steam.exe"

guys, I did absolutely everything according to the guides, it just doesn't work, no matter how hard I try to repeat the same steps 100 times

guys, I did absolutely everything according to the guides, it just doesn't work, no matter how hard I try to repeat the same steps 100 times

repeat the same steps expecting different result for 💯
maybe try different steps then? like the ones I've posted above (it's stupidly simple, just paste code in a powershell window and press enter)
and if it fails, maybe give actual info, starting with the path where you have Steam installed (probably your main issue if it's localized) and ending with output from scripts if any

I did absolutely everything according to the guides

There is multiple advices and code snippets in this conversation. What steps did you follow exactly?
You mean, you have pasted the 2 snippets in the top of this gist to 2 separate .bat files, then ran the one which contains the taskkill command?

@Glastis Very unrelated, but how did you get a dark mode for the Task Manager?

Theme tool: https://github.com/namazso/SecureUxTheme
Theme I'm using: https://www.deviantart.com/kdr3w/art/Dev-825722799

after today update this method is not working anymore for me

start "" "!steam_path!\steam.exe" -vgui +open steam://open/minigameslist

Latest update seems to have broken this specifically, not sure about others.

start "" "!steam_path!\steam.exe" -vgui +open steam://open/minigameslist

Latest update seems to have broken this specifically, not sure about others.

They removed the VGUI entirely.

anyone has fix ?

you can only setup an older version of steam and use that without updating - be warned that long term it will become exploitable

my alternative steamwebhelper_min.bat script from above won't revert the ui, but will limit the cpu & ram usage (and it works for old client too)

isnt there something like legendary alternate client for steam ?

guys, seriously @Luckz's comment. I've been doing that for a long ass time with no interruptions, and thank fucking god for it. Who needs flare? I just my custom message sound and minimal game's list. Using that method, even logging in with all the stupid flash to remove games doesn't auto update. Do it and be marry.

To be honest, I don’t understand who downloads games on a poppy beech. It was only when I bought a poppy that I decided to check if it would run games? I decided to download steam games for mac, since there are official games and without viruses. Yes, many games will show themselves well on a MacBook, but it was not created for this. To me, this looks like violence against a laptop.

alternative steamwebhelper_min.bat

What it does:

• creates a Steam_min shortcut on desktop with a few launch options
• hijacks steamwebhelper via IFEO and inserts couple CEF launch options that steam does not expose
  mainly --single-process and --enable-low-end-device-mode but doing it this way it works when steam asks for self-restarting to apply an update
• default preset uses -vgui mode i.e. the old interface, but there's an OVERLAY variable at the top of the script to easily switch to the new interface (if you want to use the improved in-game overlay at the expanse of extra ram usage)
• default preset uses --disable-background-networking and it generally helps, but you can fully disable networking for steamwebhelper (via fake localhost proxy) with the OFFLINE variable at the top of the script (then Friends, Store won't launch)
• code can be copy-pasted in a batch script but also works in ps1 and directly in powershell console, each time you run it it will install or remove itself

-no-browser will surely be missed, there's no easy way to replicate it now without multiple downsides to killing and physically deleting the files on disk or forcefully suspending threads & etc. My alternative is a bit more graceful at it, and managed to reduce idle ram usage to under 100MB, but it's certainly not a killer.

Your script breaks steam. Steam Client WebHelper now consumes 100 MB less memory. But when you start steam normally, the program windows are black. When I reinstalled steam, it stopped working at all. Luckily I had a restore point.

@sandr1x, the script has built-in undo - just had to run it again

@amitxv So, I just run the no browser bat and then run steam exe?

@refriedfood what was @Luckz's comment? could you please share your current working method?

Guys original "steam-no-browser.bat" still works, you just have to increase timeout /t 5 /nobreak to something like timeout /t 30 /nobreak

With the current 5 seconds steamwebhelper process gets killed and renamed too quickly and you get the "steamwebhelper is not responding" error. Increasing timeout will allow steam to properly initialize/login and you have a few seconds left to launch the game you want to play. After you're done playing and want to launch different game, you will have to kill steam.exe process(or right click tray icon and wait for error to appear, then select close steam) and launch it again with steam-no-browser.bat and start your game.

You don't even have to run "steam-normal.bat" anymore, as steam automatically restores steamwebhelper.exe on each launch if it detects that's missing(renamed).

If it worked at first and doesnt now, goto directory Steam\bin\cef and delete steamwebhelper.exee from both cef.win7 and cef.win7x64 folder and try again

Thanks to distino and Satyam838 for sharing this information, it actually works

Guys original "steam-no-browser.bat" still works, you just have to increase timeout /t 5 /nobreak to something like timeout /t 30 /nobreak

With the current 5 seconds steamwebhelper process gets killed and renamed too quickly and you get the "steamwebhelper is not responding" error. Increasing timeout will allow steam to properly initialize/login and you have a few seconds left to launch the game you want to play. After you're done playing and want to launch different game, you will have to kill steam.exe process(or right click tray icon and wait for error to appear, then select close steam) and launch it again with steam-no-browser.bat and start your game.

You don't even have to run "steam-normal.bat" anymore, as steam automatically restores steamwebhelper.exe on each launch if it detects that's missing(renamed).

If it worked at first and doesnt now, goto directory Steam\bin\cef and delete steamwebhelper.exee from both cef.win7 and cef.win7x64 folder and try again

https://youtu.be/mFGs484Y620?si=owvxYWpshJ6TRMuc
check this video guys. you get some progress

i made a edit to fix some little things & added code to detect if steam is installed

steam-no-browser.bat:

@echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

title Steam No Browser

:: Check if steam.exe exists, if it doesn't in the specific route there will be an error
if exist "%SystemDrive%\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe" (
	set "steam_path=%SystemDrive%\Program Files (x86)\Steam"
    goto :StartScript
) else (
    goto :Error
)

:Error
cls

echo ========================================
echo "Steam.exe" wasn't detected, please edit
echo The script to solve it
echo ========================================
echo.

pause
exit

:StartScript
cls

:: kill steam if is running
tasklist | findstr /i "steam.exe" && taskkill /f /im "steam.exe"

:: rename binary back to .exe as steam requires it to initialize
for %%a in ("cef.win7", "cef.win7x64") do (
    set "bin=!steam_path!\bin\cef\%%~a\steamwebhelper.exee"
    if exist "!bin!" (
        ren "!bin!" "steamwebhelper.exe"
    )
)

:: open steam
start "" "!steam_path!\steam.exe" --disable-background-networking --enable-low-end-device-mode --single-process -cef-single-process -skipinitialbootstrap -quicklogin -oldtraymenu -silent

:: only continue if steamwebhelper is running in case steam is updating
:query_steamwebhelper
tasklist | findstr /i "steamwebhelper.exe" || goto :query_steamwebhelper

:: allow a few seconds for steam to initialize/login
timeout /t 15 /nobreak

:: rename binary and kill the process
for %%a in ("cef.win7", "cef.win7x64") do (
    set "bin=!steam_path!\bin\cef\%%~a\steamwebhelper.exe"
    if exist "!bin!" (
        ren "!bin!" "steamwebhelper.exee"
    )
)

:kill_process
taskkill /f /im "steamwebhelper.exe"
timeout /t 1 /nobreak
taskkill /f /im "steamwebhelper.exe"
timeout /t 1 /nobreak
taskkill /f /im "steamwebhelper.exe"
timeout /t 1 /nobreak

@sandr1x, the script has built-in undo - just had to run it again

I'm back at it again. Your script works well. It reduced the RAM consumption by 2 times ( default 1064 vs script 686 ), but I don’t need it anymore) I just bought more RAM

@OptiJuegos i made a edit to fix some little things & added code to detect if steam is installed

renames the .exe, errors out and crashes without renaming it back :|

@improvised-explosive-device try this new ver: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1069748073955348550/1159234052356849794/Steam_No_Browser.bat

@improvised-explosive-device try this new ver: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1069748073955348550/1159234052356849794/Steam_No_Browser.bat

Where is this from? Also, why does it open CS2:

:: open steam
start "" "!steam_path!\steam.exe" steam://rungameid/730 --disable-background-networking --enable-low-end-device-mode --single-process -cef-single-process -skipinitialbootstrap -quicklogin -oldtraymenu -silent

steam://rungameid/730

It has that in the command ^.

Opening CS 2, so just remove it to prevent it from opening.

@improvised-explosive-device try this new ver: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1069748073955348550/1159234052356849794/Steam_No_Browser.bat

Newbie here - do I use this version (minus the CS2 part), or the original version but increase the timeout?

Is it possible to update the OP to fix this, and to remove all the functions which no longer works?

I'm not aware of a method that works currently. Haven't looked either since I don't use steam.

yup me to, i switched to epic games from steam coz 200mb to 400 mb is too much for me plus cpu spike by steam webhelper no matter what tweak i use they revert back after few updates by steam
as most games i play r already available in epic so i m using epic on Rare launcher open-source ,light , fast takes 40mb and closes automatically with game