protonscr

Steam not opening a file picker

steamopen Distro Family: Arch
ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#11541 · opened 2024-12-03 by Tahsin404 · updated 2025-07-25 · 6 comments · github
TTahsin404 2024-12-03 github

Your system information

  • Steam client version (build number or date): 1731433018
  • Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): ArchLinux
  • Opted into Steam client beta?: [Yes/No] No
  • Have you checked for system updates?: [Yes/No] Yes
  • Link to your full system information (Help -> Steam Runtime Diagnostics) in a Gist
  • GPU: AMD

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

Steam Does not open a file picker. Clicking options such as "Browse" or "Add Drive" does nothing. I have xdg-desktop-portal and xdg-desktop-portal-gtk installed. I also have checked that all dependencies listed in the AUR are installed.

Describe what you expected should happen and what did happen. Please link any large code pastes as a Github Gist:
Expected to see a file picker when clicking on Browse or Add Drive. Clicking on said buttons does nothing.

Steps for reproducing this issue:

  1. Install steam from Arch Package manager pacman.
  2. Click on "Add a Game" -> "Add a Non-Steam Game" -> "Browse"
  3. Nothing Happens.
Mmikela-valve maintainer 2024-12-05 github

Hi @Tahsin404, could you please post logs for your Steam client as described by the issue template?

* Steam Logs: [generate by running this command in a terminal `tar -zcvf ~/Desktop/steam-logs.tar.gz ~/.steam/steam/logs`]
TTahsin404 2024-12-05 github
  • Steam Logs: [generate by running this command in a terminal tar -zcvf ~/Desktop/steam-logs.tar.gz ~/.steam/steam/logs]

steam-logs.tar.gz

Rrkfg 2025-06-14 github

I have a similar issue on Debian if Steam is run with a secondary group, for example as sudo -Eg games /path/to/steam.sh. It's a pretty fringe case but I need it to let Steam and games to skip my VPN and connect directly, there are some rules in iptables etc., I tried removing them and they don't seem to affect this issue.

If I run Steam normally (under rkfg:rkfg with no sudo) the browse dialogs pop up fine, but if I run it under a secondary group (so the actual uid:gid is rkfg:games) nothing happens when I click "Browse" in different parts of the UI. For example, when adding a non-steam game or sharing a screenshot with "Save Image...". A line in cef_log.txt appears when I click those buttons saying [0614/145824.171080:INFO:CONSOLE(1)] "Uncaught (in promise) #<Object>", source: https://steamloopback.host/chunk~2dcc5aaf7.js?contenthash=649c0ce49bcf83db88c2 (1) which is too vague. No idea what would be the reason but maybe some dbus permission issue?

This issue is the closest I could find but if needed I can open a new one.

Your system information

  • Steam client version (build number or date): 1747701111
  • Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): Debian Testing
  • Opted into Steam client beta?: No
  • Have you checked for system updates?: Yes
  • Steam Logs: steam-logs.tar.gz
  • GPU: Nvidia 5090
Kkisak-valve maintainer 2025-06-14 github

Hello @rkfg, you've described an uncommon edgecase somewhere in xdg-desktop-portal, either in the framework or the specific backend you're using. Steam wouldn't be responsible for the implementation details after handing off the file selector call to xdg-desktop-portal.

Rrkfg 2025-06-14 github

Thank you for the hint, I was able to reproduce the issue with another Electron app that seems to also use xdg-desktop-portal for picking files, so it's not Steam-specific. I'll see if I can make a workaround for my case.

EDIT: I experimented a little and found that xdg-desktop-portal tries to access /proc/<pid>/root where <pid> is my small demo process PID, and it returns a permission denied error. Apparently it can't be opened if these processes have different group IDs even if user IDs match. So I yet again changed my VPN bypass solution, now to cgroups, described here, there's also a big script that sets everything up but I only needed a few lines to make it work. Now the file picker appears as expected and my IP in the overlay web browser is detected correctly.

MMagicalus 2025-07-21 github

I'm running into similar issue on NixOS. Hitting Browse Files for an individual game or trying to select a Steam Library does nothing, but oddly enough a file picker DOES come up for adding a non-steam game and hitting browse, though it looks much more like a custom steam picker than anything I've installed on this system. I tried to use tail on most of the log files while trying to open a file picker, but nothing of note seemed to happen in any of them, best I can reckon. I was having the same issue on Ubuntu 22.04, but accidentally wiped my hard drive before I got around to testing and writing a bug report, so no log files from that.

Upon further testing: drop down menus are entirely are unclickable. The drop downs gotten from right clicking games in the library or the gear over on the right highlight properly, but clicking will click whatever is behind.

This is a wildly different issue, so I'll make a separate issue.

As with rkfg, I'll open a separate issue if needed.

Your system information

  • Steam client version (build number or date): 1751405894
  • Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): NixOS 25.05
  • Opted into Steam client beta?: No
  • Have you checked for system updates?: Yes
  • Steam Logs:steam-logs.tar.gz
  • GPU: Intel Iris XE

Nothing extracted yet.