You just spent six hours grinding for that one legendary achievement on your desktop. You finally see the notification pop up in the corner of your screen—sweet victory. But then, you hop onto your laptop or your Steam Deck later that night, eager to show off that 100% completion status, and... nothing. The achievement is locked. It’s like those hours of your life never happened.
It's infuriating.
Seeing your steam achievements not updated on different computer is one of those specific, modern-day headaches that makes you want to chuck your hardware out the window. You’d think in 2026, with cloud saves being the standard for over a decade, this wouldn't be a thing. Yet, here we are. This isn't just a visual bug; it’s a breakdown in the handshake between your local game files, the Steam Cloud, and Valve’s backend servers.
Most people assume it’s a syncing error. They’re usually right. But the "why" behind it is actually a bit more layered than just "the internet flickered."
The Ghost in the Machine: Why Achievements Desync
Steam achievements don't all work the same way. Honestly, it’s kind of a mess behind the scenes. Some achievements are "stat-based," meaning the game tracks a variable—like "Kills: 499/500"—and when it hits the threshold, it pings Steam. Others are "event-based," triggered by a specific script during a cutscene or upon loading a level.
When you switch computers, you're relying on the Steam Cloud to move those local variables from PC A to PC B. If PC A didn't upload the save correctly before you shut it down, PC B has no idea you ever finished that quest.
Sometimes, the issue is the API itself. Steamworks—the set of tools developers use—requires the game to "call" the Steam server to register the achievement. If you’re playing in "Offline Mode" or if your firewall decided that specific game was a threat for three seconds, that call never goes out. You might have the save file where the boss is dead, but the "Achievement Unlocked" flag is stuck in limbo on your first machine.
It gets weirder with games that use third-party launchers. Think EA Play, Ubisoft Connect, or Rockstar Games. These layers add another point of failure. You’re not just syncing with Steam; you’re syncing with a launcher that’s talking to Steam. If that middleman glitches, your progress stays local.
Checking the Steam Cloud Status
First thing's first. You have to check if the Cloud is even doing its job.
Go to your Steam Library. Right-click the game that's giving you grief. Hit "Properties." Under the "General" tab, look for the Steam Cloud toggle. If it's off, well, there’s your culprit. But even if it’s on, look at the status next to the "Play" button in your library. Does it say "Out of Sync" or "Cloud Status: Up to date"?
If it says "Out of Sync," don't just ignore it. That’s Steam telling you it found a conflict. Usually, it’ll ask if you want to download from the Cloud or upload from the local machine. Always be careful here. If you chose the wrong one, you could overwrite your progress with an older save, effectively deleting your achievement progress forever.
Forced Synchronization and the "Offline" Trap
A lot of us like to put our computers to sleep right after a gaming session. Big mistake. Steam often needs a minute or two after you close a game to upload those heavy save files to the server. If you snap your laptop shut the second the credits roll, the upload gets killed.
When you open Steam on your second computer, it looks for the latest data, finds nothing new, and just assumes you haven't played.
How to Force a Refresh
Sometimes you just need to kick the system. Try this:
- On the computer where the achievement is showing up (if it is local), launch the game again.
- Perform a small action—save the game again or move your character.
- Exit the game properly (no Alt+F4).
- Wait for the "Cloud Sync" blue bar to finish in the Steam library.
- On the second computer, restart Steam entirely. Not just closing the window, but right-clicking the taskbar icon and hitting "Exit."
This forces Steam to re-authenticate your session and check the manifests. Most of the time, this fixes the steam achievements not updated on different computer issue instantly.
The Role of Local Save Files
Let’s get technical for a second. Some games, especially older titles or indie projects with smaller budgets, don't actually store achievement triggers in the save file. They store them in a "User Config" file or a registry key.
Steam Cloud is great at moving SaveGame01.sav, but it’s notoriously bad at moving registry entries or obscure .ini files located in your AppData/Local folder. If a game developer tied the achievement trigger to a local config file that isn't part of the Steam Cloud sync list, that achievement will never sync to another computer automatically. You’d have to manually copy those files via a USB drive or a service like Dropbox.
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It’s annoying? Yes. Is it common? More than you’d think.
Troubleshooting Specific Scenarios
If you're using a Steam Deck as your "different computer," there’s an extra layer of complexity. The Deck’s "Quick Resume" feature is amazing, but it can wreak havoc on achievements. If you suspend a game, the Steam API connection often times out. When you wake it back up and finish a task, the achievement might pop locally on the Deck, but because the WiFi connection hasn't fully re-established the "handshake" with Steam’s servers, the achievement stays "local only."
Always try to be online when the achievement actually triggers. If you're playing a long RPG on a flight, don't expect those achievements to show up on your desktop until you've reconnected the Deck to the internet and let it "settle" for a few minutes.
SAM: The Last Resort
If you have truly, honestly earned an achievement, it shows as unlocked in-game, you’ve tried syncing, and Steam still won't budge, there is a community tool called Steam Achievement Manager (SAM).
Now, a word of caution. SAM is a third-party tool. While thousands of people use it to fix broken achievements without issue, you should never use it while a VAC-protected game (like Counter-Strike or TF2) is running. Basically, it allows you to manually tell the Steam API, "Hey, I got this achievement."
Use it only as a last resort when the steam achievements not updated on different computer bug has effectively cheated you out of your hard-earned digital trophy. It’s a way to correct the record, not a way to cheat—though some people use it for that, which honestly ruins the fun.
Steps to Ensure Smooth Syncing
To keep this from happening again, you need a workflow. It sounds overkill, but it saves the headache.
- Verify Integrity of Game Files: On the new computer, right-click the game > Properties > Installed Files > Verify Integrity. This can sometimes trigger a missing achievement sync.
- Check the "Global" Achievement List: Sometimes the library page is just slow to update. Check your actual public profile page in a web browser. If it's there, the second computer's Steam client is just being laggy and will eventually catch up.
- Disable Beta Clients: If you’re running the Steam Beta branch on one machine and the Stable branch on another, the database versions can occasionally clash. Stick to the same version on both.
- The "Wait and See" Method: Valve's servers occasionally go through maintenance. Tuesday nights (Pacific Time) are notorious for Steam maintenance. If your achievements aren't updating then, just go to bed. They’ll likely be there in the morning.
The reality is that Steam is a massive, aging architecture. It’s generally reliable, but the "different computer" scenario exposes the cracks in how local data is handled versus server-side data.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Identify the machine where the achievement is missing and check the "Cloud Status" icon next to the Play button.
- Re-launch the game on the original PC (where you earned the achievement) to ensure a final cloud upload was successful.
- Ensure you are not in Steam "Offline Mode" on either device, as this completely halts achievement pings.
- Manually check your Steam Profile via a web browser to see if the achievement is registered on Valve's servers; if it is, the problem is purely a local display bug on your second PC that a simple restart should fix.
- Update the Steam Client on both machines to ensure the sync protocols are identical.