protonscr

[BUG] "Set SteamVR as OpenXR runtime" button doesn't do anything

steamvropen bug
ValveSoftware/SteamVR-for-Linux#840 · opened 2025-11-25 by Reonu · updated 2025-12-26 · 4 comments · github
RReonu 2025-11-25 github

Describe the bug
This button doesn't do anything, and the runtime is not set.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

  1. Click "Set SteamVR as OpenXR runtime"
  2. Observe that no json is created or modified in ~/.config/openxr/1 and the runtime is not set

Expected behavior
It should set the OpenXR runtime.

System Information (please complete the following information):
Please use the latest Steam beta client and SteamVR beta for your bug reports!

  • Steam client version (build number or date):
  • SteamVR version: Beta 1763795278
  • Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): EndeavourOS up to date
  • Steam runtime diagnostics:

steamruntimeinfo.txt

  • Steam and SteamVR logs:

steam-logs.tar.gz

  • Minidumps:

steam-minidumps.tar.gz

Screenshots

Additional context

Ccorngood 2025-12-25 github

I get an error about missing mime type handler, but if I run:

~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/SteamVR/bin/linux64/vrurlhandler vrmonitor://openxr/makedefault

It doesn't seem to do anything. strace just shows it exiting immediately.

I guess possible duplicate of #754, or at least that issue matches my problem better.

Ccorngood 2025-12-26 github

I was able to manually create a working ~/.config/openxr/1/active_runtime.x86_64.json:

{
   "file_format_version": "1.0.0",
   "runtime": {
      "name": "SteamVR",
      "library_path": "[$HOME]/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/SteamVR/bin/linux64/vrclient.so"
   }
}

Note that [$HOME] was expanded to the absolute path.

CChristophHaag 2025-12-26 github

The manifest that SteamVR's ships is in ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/SteamVR/steamxr_linux64.json btw.

There's no functional problem with creating your own manifest there but usually you'd have active_runtime.json be a symlink to the manifest shipped by the runtime: mkdir -p ~/.config/openxr/1/ && ln -sf ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/SteamVR/steamxr_linux64.json ~/.config/openxr/1/active_runtime.json

That's what the button in SteamVR is usually supposed to do, and what 3rd party switching tools like https://github.com/rpavlik/xr-picker also do.

Ccorngood 2025-12-26 github

Ah thanks. I did try to find it but I missed that one and assumed it was dynamically generated.

Nothing extracted yet.