protonscr

[Fedora 43 (KDE Plasma)] Steam runs in background but with no UI or tray icon

steamclosed Steam clientDistro Family: Fedora
ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#12474 · opened 2025-11-24 by funniman-exe · updated 2026-03-20 · 8 comments · github
1 matching comments, n / p to jump
Ffunniman-exe 2025-11-24 github

Your system information

  • Steam client version (build number or date): 1763795278
  • Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): Fedora Linux 43 (KDE Plasma)
  • Opted into Steam client beta?: No
  • Have you checked for system updates?: Yes
  • Steam Logs: steam-logs.tar.gz
  • GPU: Nvidia w/ Intel Integrated Graphics

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

What was expected:

  • Steam launches
  • Steam UI launches
  • Steam appears in System Tray
  • Steam is visible under the "Applications" tab of the System Monitor tool

What actually occured:

  • Steam launches
  • Steam UI never launches
  • Steam never appears in System Tray
  • Steam is not visible under the "Applications" tab of the System Monitor tool

Steps for reproducing this issue:

  1. Launch Steam

Additional Context:

  • This issue initially started after I had attempted to launch a source mod, and Steam got a "something went wrong while displaying this content" error. Upon restarting Steam, it would appear in the System Tray but the Steam UI would not launch. Upon reinstalling Steam, it would no longer appear in the System Tray either, nor would it appear any longer under "Applications" in the System Monitor.
  • This issue persists between system restarts
  • This issue persists between Steam reinstalls
  • This issue persists after clearing ~/.cache
  • This issue still persists following the complete deletion of ~/.local/share/Steam
  • This issue does not occur using the unofficial Flatpak distrobution of Steam
Iizerotwo 2025-11-24 github

I would like to say i am also facing this issue.
But I am running Fedora 43 running Gnome 49.
Tho after trying to open the application after a while steam pops up with an error message stating steamwebhelper encountered an error.

Also to note is opening steam via the Terminal works absolutely fine.

VventsiR 2025-11-25 github

Same issue. The interesting thing is that it was working like 30 minutes ago and just broke now.

Workaround is to just do steam from the terminal.

Here is my system:
ven@fedora:~$ inxi -Fxz
System:
  Kernel: 6.17.8-300.fc43.x86_64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 15.2.1
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.5.3 Distro: Fedora Linux 43 (KDE Plasma Desktop
    Edition)
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Micro-Star product: GL75 9SD v: REV:1.0
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Micro-Star model: MS-17E5 v: REV:1.0 serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends v: E17E5IMS.103 date: 06/25/2019
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 38.3 Wh (98.9%) condition: 38.7/51.4 Wh (75.3%)
    volts: 11.96 min: 10.86 model: MSI BIF0_9 status: not charging
CPU:
  Info: 6-core model: Intel Core i7-9750H bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    arch: Coffee Lake rev: A cache: L1: 384 KiB L2: 1.5 MiB L3: 12 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 3700 min/max: 800/4500 cores: 1: 3700 2: 3700 3: 3700
    4: 3700 5: 3700 6: 3700 7: 3700 8: 3700 9: 3700 10: 3700 11: 3700 12: 3700
    bogomips: 62399
  Flags-basic: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel CoffeeLake-H GT2 [UHD Graphics 630] vendor: Micro-Star MSI
    driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-9.5 bus-ID: 00:02.0
  Device-2: NVIDIA TU116M [GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile]
    vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: nvidia v: 580.105.08 arch: Turing
    bus-ID: 01:00.0
  Device-3: Bison HD Webcam driver: uvcvideo type: USB bus-ID: 1-13:6
  Device-4: EMEET HD Webcam C960 driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo type: USB
    bus-ID: 1-3.4.4:10
  Display: wayland server: Xwayland v: 24.1.9 compositor: kwin_wayland
    driver: gpu: i915,nv_platform,nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch resolution:
    1: 2560x1440~144Hz 2: 3840x2160 3: 1920x1080~120Hz
  API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,nvidia,swrast platforms:
    active: gbm,wayland,x11,surfaceless,device inactive: device-1
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 25.2.7 glx-v: 1.4
    direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 630 (CFL GT2)
  API: Vulkan v: 1.4.321 drivers: intel,nvidia,llvmpipe surfaces: N/A
    devices: 3
  Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
    de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor gpu: nvidia-settings wl: wayland-info
    x11: xdriinfo, xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH cAVS vendor: Micro-Star MSI
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1f.3
  Device-2: NVIDIA TU116 High Definition Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 01:00.1
  Device-3: Samson Q2U handheld mic with XLR
    driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid type: USB bus-ID: 1-3.4.3:9
  Device-4: EMEET HD Webcam C960 driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo type: USB
    bus-ID: 1-3.4.4:10
  API: ALSA v: k6.17.8-300.fc43.x86_64 status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.4.9 status: active
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
    bus-ID: 00:14.3
  IF: wlo1 state: up mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 3000 bus-ID: 03:00.0
  IF: enp3s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: wg0-mullvad state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Bluetooth 9460/9560 Jefferson Peak (JfP) driver: btusb
    v: 0.8 type: USB bus-ID: 1-14:8
  Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 5.1
    lmp-v: 10
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.82 TiB used: 337.37 GiB (18.1%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Crucial model: CT2000T500SSD8 size: 1.82 TiB
    temp: 51.9 C
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 1.82 TiB used: 336.81 GiB (18.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/dm-0
    mapped: luks-c3b347af-32fc-49be-bcb5-ed0aff9097ea
  ID-2: /boot size: 1.9 GiB used: 548 MiB (28.2%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
  ID-3: /boot/efi size: 598.8 MiB used: 20.5 MiB (3.4%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
  ID-4: /home size: 1.82 TiB used: 336.81 GiB (18.1%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/dm-0 mapped: luks-c3b347af-32fc-49be-bcb5-ed0aff9097ea
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 8 GiB used: 16 KiB (0.0%) dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 77.0 C pch: 67.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
  Memory: total: 24 GiB available: 23.3 GiB used: 8.77 GiB (37.7%)
  Processes: 473 Uptime: 22m Init: systemd
  Packages: 30 note: see --rpm Compilers: gcc: 15.2.1 Shell: Bash v: 5.3.0
    inxi: 3.3.39

EDIT: I should mention - Steam does launch in the tray, but clicking buttons like Library or Store does nothing. I can click Exit to close it, which clears it from the tray, but it leaves behind a background process.

Ffunniman-exe 2025-11-25 github

What I find interesting is how many people have encountered this issue, yet they've pretty much all had luck launching Steam from the terminal, where as I have not. Launching from the terminal gives the same behaviour, the same logs, the same everything.

AalterNERDtive 2025-11-25 github

What does you guys’ environment look like?

I had to remove

ENABLE_VKBASALT=1
OBS_VKCAPTURE=1

from my Steam environment (which sucks, because now I have to change a lot of game launch parameters …).

Broke with mesa 25.2.7-2. Thought it would be fixed alongside #12470, but it’s not.

(Edit: turns out that vkcapture and vkbasalt are apparently just flat out broken with those drivers. Fun.)

VventsiR 2025-11-30 github

I no longer have issues

Nnaidje 2026-01-08 github

I no longer have issues

I'm having the same issue. Did you do anything specific to fix it?

VventsiR 2026-01-08 github

nope... just fixed on its own

Ffunniman-exe 2026-03-20 github

So shortly after my last comment, I decided to switch to the Steam distribution available through flatpak, and I have had no further issues with Steam since.

Launch options