How to open the Steam console on Windows 10
The Steam app has a developer console that you can use to modify in-game behavior, controller behavior, and more. Accessing the console isn’t easy; there’s no menu that will open it and no keyboard shortcut that can do the job.
Open Steam console
Steam doesn’t offer direct access to its console, so you may not even know it exists. That said, if you’re looking to modify something in it, there are multiple ways to access it.
1. Run box
You can launch Steam with the console open.
- Make sure Steam is already running on your system.
- Tap the Win+R keyboard shortcut to open the run box.
- In the run box, enter the following and tap the Enter key.
steam://open/console
- The Steam app will open (or maximize), and you will see a Console tab.
Note: Use the command as is. Do not modify it even if you’ve installed Steam to a non-Windows drive or an external drive.
2. Desktop shortcut
You can modify a desktop shortcut of the Steam app and use it to run Steam with the console.
- Create a desktop shortcut for the Steam app.
- Right-click the shortcut and select Properties from the context menu.
- Go to the Shortcut tab.
- Click inside the Target field. Go to the very end, add one space, and enter the following.
-console
- Click Apply.
- Use this modified shortcut to open Steam with the console.
3. File Explorer
File Explorer can also open the Steam console if the app is already running.
- Make sure Steam is running.
- Open a File Explorer window.
- Enter the following in the location bar, and tap Enter.
steam://open/console
- The Steam app window will be restored, and the Console tab will be selected by default.
4. Web browser
- Make sure Steam is running on your system.
- Open any web browser of your choice.
- Enter the following in the URL bar, and tap enter.
steam://open/console
- If prompted, allow the browser to open the Steam app.
- Steam will open with the Console tab selected.
Conclusion
The Steam console isn’t built to help users apply cheats to games or to pirate games. It’s simply there so that users can change how the app behaves. You can run commands that will modify a game, e.g., the sound in the game or how the controller behaves in a particular game, among other things. If you’re having trouble with an older game, or you’ve added a non-Steam game to the Steam library, you may be able to use the console to modify its behavior.
