It is suggested to close the vive console first, and let it ends the SteamVR process. The other way around may cause deadlock for few sec.
I used to use the Steam method of opening and closing SteamVR; however, as you mentioned I found that each time I would have it hang on me for a long period of time when closing, and worse, it wouldn't save my settings so I found myself having to set up my room each and every time I wanted to use my headset (very annoying). If I open Vive Console first, it no longer asks me to set up my room; however, when I go to close it, I do still occasionally have the system hang on me and then it eventually pops an error saying that SteamVR encountered a critical error and asks if I want to restart it or quit. So, I would say that while the Vive Console method for closing is far more reliable than doing it through Steam, it's still not perfect. Just my $0.02.
Vive Pro 2 Brief PC Freeze on SteamVR Exit
in VIVE Console Software
Posted
I used to use the Steam method of opening and closing SteamVR; however, as you mentioned I found that each time I would have it hang on me for a long period of time when closing, and worse, it wouldn't save my settings so I found myself having to set up my room each and every time I wanted to use my headset (very annoying). If I open Vive Console first, it no longer asks me to set up my room; however, when I go to close it, I do still occasionally have the system hang on me and then it eventually pops an error saying that SteamVR encountered a critical error and asks if I want to restart it or quit. So, I would say that while the Vive Console method for closing is far more reliable than doing it through Steam, it's still not perfect. Just my $0.02.