How to find steam executable path in Python

Question

What are the best ways to find the Steam install path (for example using registry, possible paths, and the Steam start-menu shortcut?)

Answer 1

import os
import winreg
import win32api

def read_reg(ep, p = r"", k = ''):
    try:
        key = winreg.OpenKeyEx(ep, p)
        value = winreg.QueryValueEx(key,k)
        if key:
            winreg.CloseKey(key)
        return value[0]
    except Exception as e:
        return None
    return None

Path1 = "{}\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs\\Steam\\Steam.lnk".format(os.getenv('APPDATA'))
if os.path.exists(Path1):
    import sys
    import win32com.client 

    shell = win32com.client.Dispatch("WScript.Shell")
    shortcut = shell.CreateShortCut(Path1)
    Path1Res = shortcut.Targetpath
else:
    Path1Res = False
Path2 = str(read_reg(ep = winreg.HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, p = r"SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Valve\Steam", k = 'InstallPath'))+r"\steam.exe"
Path3 = str(read_reg(ep = winreg.HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, p = r"SOFTWARE\Valve\Steam", k = 'InstallPath'))+r"\steam.exe"
if not os.path.exists(Path2):
    Path2 = None
if not os.path.exists(Path3):
    Path3 = None
PossiblePaths = [r"X:\Steam\steam.exe", r"X:\Program Files\Steam\steam.exe", r"X:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe"]
ValidHardPaths = []
for Drive in win32api.GetLogicalDriveStrings().split('\000')[:-1]:
    Drive = Drive.replace(':\\', '')
    for path in PossiblePaths:
        path = path.replace("X", Drive)
        if os.path.exists(path):
            ValidHardPaths.append(path)
if len(ValidHardPaths) == 0:
    ValidHardPaths = ["None"]
print("Registry64: " + str(Path2)+"|"+ "Registry32: "+ str(Path3)+"|"+ "Start Menu Shortcut: "+ str(Path1Res)+"|"+ "Possible Locations: " + ', '.join(ValidHardPaths)+"|")

Method 1: (start menu shortcut) works by first trying to find the steam start menu shortcut, if it exists it will read the destination and add 'steam.exe' to it, then it will check if the path is valid (source: https://stackoverflow.com/a/571573/14132974).
Method 2: (registry) works by attempting to find the steam registry path and reading the key: "InstallPath", adding 'steam.exe' to it, and then checking if the path is valid. It will also do the same using the Steam32 registry path (source: https://tutorialexample.com/python-read-and-write-windows-registry-a-step-guide-python-tutorial/, https://github.com/NPBruce/valkyrie/issues/1056).
Method 3: (possible paths) is fairly simple, there is a list of paths where there is a big chance Steam might be installed, it will check this path for every drive in the system and check if the path is valid (source: https://stackoverflow.com/a/827397/14132974).

This code will return a path in string format, if not it will return 'None', it also supports multiple paths being found in the 'possible paths' method.
Keep in mind this code is made for Windows and may not work on other platforms.