steam recognizes controller without controller

steamopen Distro Family: UbuntuGeneral controller / Steam Input

ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#10066 · opened 2023-09-15 by heike-hh · updated 2025-10-10 · 1 comments · github

Hheike-hh 2023-09-15 github

Your system information

Steam client version (build number or date): 1694466342
Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): Ubuntu
Opted into Steam client beta?: [No]
Have you checked for system updates?: [Yes]
Steam Logs: [generate by running this command in a terminal tar -zcvf ~/Desktop/steam-logs.tar.gz ~/.steam/steam/logs]
GPU: Intel

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

Steam detects a controller on Ubuntu that doesn't exist (I've never owned one). This means that games with controller support and no further selection always start in this mode.
(Dual Boot > in Windows/Steam it explicitly says "no controller detected")

The properties/game looks like the attached picture.

lsusb >
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 046a:b090 Cherry GmbH Keyboard
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0bda:0153 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 3-in-1 (SD/SDHC/SDXC) Card Reader
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04ca:3015 Lite-On Technology Corp. Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 Bluetooth
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0461:4d0f Primax Electronics, Ltd HP Optical Mouse
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
controller-ubuntu
controller-ubuntu1

Jjn64 2025-10-10 github

This might have a similar cause as #6253.

If so, it can be fixed by blacklisting the affected mouse/keyboard from being detected as a joystick by the kernel.

https://github.com/denilsonsa/udev-joystick-blacklist

Steam Settings > Controller should now show which device is being detected as a controller.

Keychron keyboard detected as controller in Steam, before blacklisting

Or check Steam/logs/controller.txt for the device, example:

[2025-10-10 17:40:23] Local Device Found
  type: 3434 0437
  path: sdl://1
  serial_number:  - 0
[2025-10-10 17:40:23]   Manufacturer: 
[2025-10-10 17:40:23]   Product:      Keychron C3 Pro 8K System Control

Nothing extracted yet.