protonscr

black screen on arch

steamopen Window managerDistro Family: Arch
ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#12299 · opened 2025-08-30 by yahia098 · updated 2026-06-02 · 5 comments · github
Yyahia098 2025-08-30 github

Your system information

  • Steam client version (build number or date): 1.0.0.82-2 Tue 01 Apr 2025 04:37:22 PM CET
  • Distribution : Arch
  • Opted into Steam client beta?: No
  • Have you checked for system updates?: Yes

Steam Logs: tar -zcvf ~/Desktop/steam-logs.tar.gz ~/.steam/steam/logs
tar: Removing leading `/' from member names
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/parental_log.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/transport_steamui.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/systemdisplaymanager.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/client_networkmanager.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/bootstrap_log.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/compat_log.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/updateui_child.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/cef_log.previous.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/appinfo_log.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/steamui_update.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/shader_log.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/remote_connections.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/text_filter_log.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/steamui_audio.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/webhelper.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/transport_client.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/steamsysinfo.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/systemmanager.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/steamui_system.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/console_log.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/webhelper-linux.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/systemperfmanager.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/steamui_librarycache.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/content_log.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/steamui_login.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/webhelper_gpu.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/cef_log.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/configstore_log.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/workshop_log.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/connection_log.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/systemdockmanager.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/controller_ui.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/systemaudiomanager.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/cloud_log.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/controller.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/gameprocess_log.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/console-linux.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/steamui_html.txt
/home/yahia/.steam/steam/logs/streaming_log.txt

* GPU: Nvidia/amd it is a hybrid laptop 

#### Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:
whenever i open steam on Swaywm it just shows a black screen will test it on gnome and see if it is swaywm specific 
#### Steps for reproducing this issue:
just opening steam on my machine does it
Yyahia098 2025-08-30 github

ok i just verified the error is not there after downloading and installing gnome DE

Ddchang0 2025-08-31 github

I have the same issue running latest CachyOS (basically Arch). I installed Steam today; it downloaded the latest updated version, asked me to log in, and then expressed this bug. The main Steam window is black. If I hover the mouse over where the menu bar should be, it does show the menus. The Friends dialog window shows properly.

I am running Niri window manager on Wayland. No plans to install GNOME desktop environment because I left GNOME due to too much mouse usage causing repetitive-stress injury. Hopefully Steam for LINUX can be fixed to run with barebones tiling window managers (or Wayland/X sessiion without even a window manager) and not full desktop environments.

Thanks in advance!

VVead999 2026-04-08 github

@dchang0 Hey there, I know it has been a while, but I found the fix. I am on the same setup as you, except I am on Arch itself with Niri.

Fix: Just go to your system tray, then steam menu and click on Settings>Interface then untick the Enable GPU accelerated rendering for web UI option.

Explanation: Steam's store UI uses CEF, based on Chromium. Chromium tries to use GPU accelerated rendering which for some reason isn't supported on systems like ours. Trying to figure out why.

Ddchang0 2026-04-08 github

@dchang0 Hey there, I know it has been a while, but I found the fix. I am on the same setup as you, except I am on Arch itself with Niri.

Fix: Just go to your system tray, then steam menu and click on Settings>Interface then untick the Enable GPU accelerated rendering for web UI option.

Explanation: Steam's store UI uses CEF, based on Chromium. Chromium tries to use GPU accelerated rendering which for some reason isn't supported on systems like ours. Trying to figure out why.

Thanks! I had tried that already based on some other thread I found elsewhere. It did not work for me, though it did work for other people. I suspect it was due to the very low-end netbook-class CPU I had.
What did work for me on CachyOS was someone recommended that I force Steam to use the system composer by adding the command line option -system-composer. With this, I can leave the hardware acceleration setting turned on but it doesn't matter since it forces the use of the system composer.

That said, the "real" fix for me was to switch to a different computer. It was my old laptop that has an Intel N200 CPU with integrated graphics that was giving me trouble. I am running CachyOS with Niri and Steam on a newer laptop with an AMD Ryzen 5 AI 340-series CPU with integrated AMD graphics. The -system-composer option is not needed.

I hope this helps someone.

GGelmo 2026-06-02 github

Only solutions that worked for me were turning on a compositor or launching Steam with the -system-composer flag. Issue identified here - https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/10543

Upstream links