diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 71562c2..39e7511 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -247,6 +247,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde_json",
  "steam_shortcuts_util",
  "steamgriddb_api",
+ "sysinfo",
  "tokio",
  "toml",
  "winreg 0.10.1",
@@ -2751,6 +2752,21 @@ dependencies = [
  "unicode-xid",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "sysinfo"
+version = "0.23.10"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "4eea2ed6847da2e0c7289f72cb4f285f0bd704694ca067d32be811b2a45ea858"
+dependencies = [
+ "cfg-if 1.0.0",
+ "core-foundation-sys 0.8.3",
+ "libc",
+ "ntapi",
+ "once_cell",
+ "rayon",
+ "winapi",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "tempfile"
 version = "3.3.0"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 6e33955..77c1241 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ eframe = { version = "0.17.0", optional = true }
 egui = { version = "0.17.0", optional = true }
 image = { version = "0.24.1", optional = true, features = ["png"] }
 toml = { version = "^0.5.8", optional = true }
+sysinfo = "0.23.10"
 
 [features]
 #default = ["ui"]
diff --git a/src/defaultconfig.toml b/src/defaultconfig.toml
index 9be602e..a2cbd69 100644
--- a/src/defaultconfig.toml
+++ b/src/defaultconfig.toml
@@ -36,4 +36,5 @@ enabled = true
 [steam]
 create_collections = false
 optimize_for_big_picture = false
-
+stop_steam = false
+start_steam = false
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index a69ae4c..d75e74a 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -20,10 +20,17 @@ use std::error::Error;
 #[cfg(not(feature = "ui"))]
 #[tokio::main]
 async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn Error>> {
+    
     let settings = settings::Settings::new()?;
+    if settings.steam.stop_steam{
+        crate::steam::ensure_steam_stopped();
+    }
     settings::Settings::write_config_if_missing();
     let usersinfo = sync::run_sync(&settings,&mut None).unwrap();
     sync::download_images(&settings,&usersinfo,&mut None).await;
+    if settings.steam.start_steam{
+        crate::steam::ensure_steam_started(&settings.steam);
+    }
     Ok(())
 }
 
diff --git a/src/steam/mod.rs b/src/steam/mod.rs
index 672d5ff..e0948c9 100644
--- a/src/steam/mod.rs
+++ b/src/steam/mod.rs
@@ -2,9 +2,11 @@ mod settings;
 mod utils;
 mod collections;
 mod proton_vdf_util;
+mod restarter;
 
 
 pub use settings::SteamSettings;
 pub use utils::*;
 pub use collections::*;
-pub use proton_vdf_util::*;
\ No newline at end of file
+pub use proton_vdf_util::*;
+pub use restarter::*;
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/steam/restarter.rs b/src/steam/restarter.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2989827
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/steam/restarter.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+use std::{path::Path, process::Command, thread::sleep, time::Duration};
+
+use sysinfo::{ProcessExt, System, SystemExt};
+
+pub fn ensure_steam_stopped() {
+    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
+    let steam_name = "steam.exe";
+    #[cfg(target_family = "unix")]
+    let steam_name = "steam";
+    
+    let s = System::new_all();
+    let processes = s.processes_by_name(&steam_name);
+    for process in processes {
+        let mut s = System::new();
+        process.kill_with(sysinfo::Signal::Quit);
+        process.kill_with(sysinfo::Signal::Kill);
+        while s.refresh_process(process.pid()) {
+            println!("Waiting for steam to stop");
+            sleep(Duration::from_millis(500));
+            process.kill_with(sysinfo::Signal::Quit);
+            process.kill_with(sysinfo::Signal::Kill);
+        }
+    }
+}
+#[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
+pub fn ensure_steam_started(settings: &super::SteamSettings) {
+    let steam_name = "steam.exe";
+    let s = System::new_all();
+    let mut processes = s.processes_by_name(&steam_name);
+    if processes.next().is_none() {
+        //no steam, we need to start it
+        println!("Starting steam");
+        let folder = super::get_steam_path(settings);
+        if let Ok(folder) = folder {
+            let path = Path::new(&folder).join(steam_name);
+            let mut command = Command::new(&path);
+            if let Err(e) = command.spawn() {
+                println!("Failed to start steam: {:?}", e);
+            };
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(target_family = "unix")]
+pub fn ensure_steam_started(_settings: &super::SteamSettings) {
+    let steam_name = "steam";
+    let s = System::new_all();
+    let mut processes = s.processes_by_name(&steam_name);
+    if processes.next().is_none() {
+        //no steam, we need to start it
+        println!("Starting steam");
+        let mut command = Command::new(&steam_name);
+        if let Err(e) = command.spawn() {
+            println!("Failed to start steam: {:?}", e);
+        };
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/steam/settings.rs b/src/steam/settings.rs
index b3a3f0e..0bc53c8 100644
--- a/src/steam/settings.rs
+++ b/src/steam/settings.rs
@@ -5,4 +5,6 @@ pub struct SteamSettings {
     pub location: Option<String>,
     pub create_collections: bool,
     pub optimize_for_big_picture: bool,
+    pub stop_steam: bool,
+    pub start_steam: bool,
 }
diff --git a/src/steam/utils.rs b/src/steam/utils.rs
index 59d43c6..7095be2 100644
--- a/src/steam/utils.rs
+++ b/src/steam/utils.rs
@@ -53,11 +53,7 @@ pub struct SteamUsersInfo {
 pub fn get_shortcuts_paths(
     settings: &SteamSettings,
 ) -> Result<Vec<SteamUsersInfo>, Box<dyn Error + Sync + Send>> {
-    let user_location = settings.location.clone();
-    let steam_path_str = match user_location {
-        Some(location) => location,
-        None => get_default_location()?,
-    };
+    let steam_path_str = get_steam_path(settings)?;
     let steam_path = Path::new(&steam_path_str);
     if !steam_path.exists() {
         return Result::Err(Box::new(SteamFolderNotFound {
@@ -107,6 +103,15 @@ pub fn get_shortcuts_paths(
     Ok(users_info)
 }
 
+pub fn get_steam_path(settings: &SteamSettings) -> Result<String, Box<dyn Error + Sync + Send>> {
+    let user_location = settings.location.clone();
+    let steam_path_str = match user_location {
+        Some(location) => location,
+        None => get_default_location()?,
+    };
+    Ok(steam_path_str)
+}
+
 pub fn get_default_location() -> Result<String, Box<dyn Error + Sync + Send>> {
     #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
     let path_string = {
@@ -198,3 +203,6 @@ pub fn get_users_images(user: &SteamUsersInfo) -> Result<Vec<String>, Box<dyn Er
         .collect();
     Ok(file_names)
 }
+
+
+
diff --git a/src/ui/uiapp.rs b/src/ui/uiapp.rs
index 6177c5a..a84528c 100644
--- a/src/ui/uiapp.rs
+++ b/src/ui/uiapp.rs
@@ -43,6 +43,10 @@ impl MyEguiApp {
     pub fn run_sync(&mut self) {
         let (sender,mut reciever ) = watch::channel(SyncProgress::NotStarted);        
         let settings = self.settings.clone();        
+        if settings.steam.stop_steam{
+            crate::steam::ensure_steam_stopped();
+        }
+
         self.status_reciever   = reciever;
         self.rt.spawn_blocking(move || {                        
 
@@ -55,6 +59,9 @@ impl MyEguiApp {
             if let Some(sender) = some_sender{
                 let _ = sender.send(SyncProgress::Done);
             }
+            if settings.steam.start_steam{
+                crate::steam::ensure_steam_started(&settings.steam);
+            }
         });
     }
 
@@ -236,6 +243,8 @@ impl MyEguiApp{
             });
             ui.checkbox(&mut self.settings.steam.create_collections, "Create collections").on_hover_text("Tries to create a games collection for each platform");
             ui.checkbox(&mut self.settings.steam.optimize_for_big_picture, "Optimize for big picture").on_hover_text("Set icons to be larger horizontal images, this looks nice in steam big picture mode, but a bit off in desktop mode");
+            ui.checkbox(&mut self.settings.steam.stop_steam, "Stop Steam before import").on_hover_text("Stops Steam if it is running when import starts");
+            ui.checkbox(&mut self.settings.steam.start_steam, "Start Steam after import").on_hover_text("Starts Steam is it is not running after the import");
 
             ui.separator();