I have the same output as JoshuaBillson (ends at the STEAM_RUNTIME_HEAVY line w/o errors like in the #7813 report).

steam --reset does nothing for me: login never happens (very briefly a steam updater progress bar flashes) and log output is the same.

@JoshuaBillson Try running Steam with the command:

STEAM_RUNTIME=0 steam

It shows more useful information.

STEAM_RUNTIME=0 steam does return additional error information in my case:

Error: You are missing the following 32-bit libraries, and Steam may not run:
libXtst.so.6
libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0
libpipewire-0.3.so.0

None of which I have installed on my 20.04 box (and may be unavailable besides?).

@kisak-valve For me, it helped because it showed missing dependencies:

This fact made me open the ticket about a missing i386 version libpipewire-0.3 on Ubuntu https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pipewire/+bug/1931312

Note: I have no idea what difference it makes using Steam with or without the Steam Runtime.

Although I'm a developer, Steam in particular is still a black box for me, and it tends not to have useful error messages.
The last update made Steam stop opening on my machine.
Trying to open via terminal didn't help either and did not show me any useful errors minimally intelligible by humans until I trying to open with STEAM_RUNTIME=0

I also don't know why Steam insists that python3-apt is not installed. (I checked and it is installed)

Update: In my case, running steam --reset solves the problem of Steam not opening.
Note: I haven't installed libpipewire-0.3:i386 yet, since there is no i386 package published in Ubuntu repository https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pipewire/+bug/1931312

Why Steam does not provides --help and show quick documentation about all command-line options?

@luzfcb there may be two issues at play:

• libpipewire may be allowed to fail silently (heh. silently.) as using --reset goes through just fine
• the --reset and subsequent care in not saving the password as a countermeasure to the crash would get past #7813, which I think is tue true issue at hand here

Seeing exactly the same thing on Ubuntu 20.04:

• Steam downloaded an update this morning,

• Launching Steam via the UI did show a window very briefly, but no longer does even that,

• Trying to launch Steam via terminal (with or without the --reset flag) shows me the same output posted elsewhere here:

  Output of steam AND steam --reset on cli

  ➜ steam
  Running Steam on ubuntu 20.04 64-bit
  STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically
  Pins up-to-date!
  Steam client's requirements are satisfied
  WARNING: Using default/fallback debugger launch
  /home/ctorgalson/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam -nominidumps -nobreakpad
  [2021-06-09 18:11:54] Startup - updater built Jun  8 2021 22:23:36
  Looks like steam didn't shutdown cleanly, scheduling immediate update check
  [2021-06-09 18:11:54] Loading cached metrics from disk (/home/ctorgalson/.local/share/Steam/package/steam_client_metrics.bin)
  [2021-06-09 18:11:54] Using the following download hosts for Public, Realm steamglobal
  [2021-06-09 18:11:54] 1. https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com, /client/, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 100, source = 'update_hosts_cached.vdf'
  [2021-06-09 18:11:54] 2. https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com, /client/, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 100, source = 'update_hosts_cached.vdf'
  [2021-06-09 18:11:54] 3. http://media.steampowered.com, /client/, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 1, source = 'baked in'
  [2021-06-09 18:11:54] Checking for update on startup
  [2021-06-09 18:11:54] Checking for available updates...
  [2021-06-09 18:11:54] Downloading manifest: https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/client/steam_client_ubuntu12
  [2021-06-09 18:11:54] Download skipped: /client/steam_client_ubuntu12 version 1623193086, installed version 1623193086, existing pending version 0
  [2021-06-09 18:11:54] Nothing to do
  [2021-06-09 18:11:54] Verifying installation...
  [2021-06-09 18:11:54] Performing checksum verification of executable files
  [2021-06-09 18:11:55] Verification complete
  STEAM_RUNTIME_HEAVY: ./steam-runtime-heavy
  

• Trying to launch Steam with STEAM_RUNTIME=0 displays an error about missing 32-bit packages:

  Output of STEAM_RUNTIME=0 steam on cli

  ```
  ➜ STEAM_RUNTIME=0 steam
  Running Steam on ubuntu 20.04 64-bit
  STEAM_RUNTIME is disabled by the user
  Error: You are missing the following 32-bit libraries, and Steam may not run:
  libXtst.so.6
  libXrandr.so.2
  libXrender.so.1
  libgobject-2.0.so.0
  libglib-2.0.so.0
  libgio-2.0.so.0
  libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0
  libpipewire-0.3.so.0
  libpulse.so.0
  libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0
  libva.so.2
  libbz2.so.1.0
  libva-drm.so.2
  libva.so.2
  libva-x11.so.2
  libvdpau.so.1
  Can't find 'steam-runtime-check-requirements', continuing anyway
  WARNING: Using default/fallback debugger launch
  /home/ctorgalson/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam -nominidumps -nobreakpad
  [2021-06-09 18:15:07] Startup - updater built Jun  8 2021 22:23:36
  Looks like steam didn't shutdown cleanly, scheduling immediate update check
  [2021-06-09 18:15:07] Loading cached metrics from disk (/home/ctorgalson/.local/share/Steam/package/steam_client_metrics.bin)
  [2021-06-09 18:15:07] Using the following download hosts for Public, Realm steamglobal
  [2021-06-09 18:15:07] 1. https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com, /client/, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 100, source = 'update_hosts_cached.vdf'
  [2021-06-09 18:15:07] 2. https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com, /client/, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 100, source = 'update_hosts_cached.vdf'
  [2021-06-09 18:15:07] 3. http://media.steampowered.com, /client/, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 1, source = 'baked in'
  [2021-06-09 18:15:07] Checking for update on startup
  [2021-06-09 18:15:07] Checking for available updates...
  [2021-06-09 18:15:07] Downloading manifest: https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/client/steam_client_ubuntu12
  [2021-06-09 18:15:08] Download skipped: /client/steam_client_ubuntu12 version 1623193086, installed version 1623193086, existing pending version 0
  [2021-06-09 18:15:08] Nothing to do
  [2021-06-09 18:15:08] Verifying installation...
  [2021-06-09 18:15:08] Performing checksum verification of executable files
  [2021-06-09 18:15:08] Verification complete
  ```
  

Error messages about missing 32-bit packages when you run with STEAM_RUNTIME=0 are not relevant here. You are seeing those error messages because you are using STEAM_RUNTIME=0.

The reason those libraries are missing is because you are specifically telling Steam not to use the copy of those libraries provided by the Steam Runtime. This is not a supported thing to do, and is just distracting you.

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/7813#issuecomment-857851359 has some general comments about crashing on startup which are also applicable here.

Error messages about missing 32-bit packages when you run with STEAM_RUNTIME=0 are not relevant here.

Understood. Only added that there because it was suggested upthread as something that might expose more information.

@smcv I'm not using Steam Beta at all. Since the https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/7813 issue explicitly cites Steam Beta, it might be better to also make it explicit if your comment applies to regular Steam or only to the Steam Beta. (I like a Python Zen phrase: Explicit is better than implicit). Anyway, thanks for your extremely detailed comment.

#7813 was originally about the Steam beta, but people have left comments there about both the beta and the "general availability" (non-beta) version, and I think different people commenting on that issue might be talking about more than one reason to crash.

To make this explicit: everything I said in https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/7813#issuecomment-857851359 is equally applicable to the beta and the "general availability" (non-beta) version.

In my case I can get steam to launch once by removing the ~/.steam directory. After exiting out, attempting to run Steam again results in the same log output as the original post (no errors or other indication of a fault).

I'm not using the beta client and I have run the setup.sh --force command.

Same for me, but that only works once, after which it fails to start again. steam --reset also doesn't work for me.

Hello @JoshuaBillson, can you check if you're seeing #7813? In particular, if you run steam --reset, then login without telling Steam to remember the password, does it continue to work the next time you start Steam? ([#7813 (comment)](https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/7813#issuecomment-856967759))

Thanks for the help @kisak-valve, that seems to have solved my problem. I have restarted my PC several times and launched a few games to confirm that the issue does not return and so far everything seems good. The issue seems to be related to the login process; so long as I do not instruct Steam to remember my credentials everything continues to work.

In my case I can get steam to launch once by removing the ~/.steam directory. After exiting out, attempting to run Steam again results in the same log output as the original post (no errors or other indication of a fault).

I'm not using the beta client and I have run the setup.sh --force command.

This was exactly my problem; steam would launch once and then crash from that point on once I closed the client. Deleting ~/.steam or re-installing steam would let me get back into the client but then the issue would return once I closed it again. The solution proposed by kisak-valve seems to have resolved my issue however. The trick seems to be that you must instruct Steam to not remember your login credentials. To do this, once you get into the client go to Steam > Settings > Account and make sure you check the box which says “Don’t save account credentials on this computer”.

As a data point, I have Steam version 1623193086 on an Ubuntu 20.04 test system here and it's working fine, so there must be something about @ctorgalson's system that is not the same. I'm using an existing ~/.steam, I'm using saved account credentials, and I don't have libpipewire-0.3-0:i386 or libnm0:i386 installed, so in theory I should have all the risk factors that people are saying could be contributing to Steam not starting, but I still can't reproduce the crash.

I tried creating a new user account with an empty home directory and logging in to Steam in that user account, but that also seems to be working fine.

For people who are affected by Steam crashing on startup: getting information from steam-runtime-system-info as described in https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/7813#issuecomment-857851359 might help Steam developers to figure out why you get that crash and I don't.

@JoshuaBillson and @luzfcb say that they can work around this by using steam --reset and then not letting Steam save their credentials. If that workaround is successful for you too, then you are maybe experiencing the same issue as them.

If that workaround is not successful, then you might be seeing the same symptom (a crash) but for a different reason - there are lots of reasons why a program as complicated as Steam can crash! If that's the case, then it is probably better to open a separate issue with full details of your system, what you are experiencing, what workarounds you tried, etc., so that it can be dealt with separately if necessary.

@JoshuaBillson works like a charm! I'm not sure why steam --reset does nothing for me, but removing ~/.steam and choosing NOT to save my login appears to resolve the issue (relaunched steam several times and launched a few games).

Possible data point:

• steam --reset changes nothing here,
• removing ~/.steam and launching Steam works,
• ~at this point, it becomes impossible to save the password (I can log in successfully, but if I check the box, I'm prompted to re-login next time anyway).~

Possible data point:

• steam --reset changes nothing here,
• removing ~/.steam and launching Steam works,
• at this point, it becomes impossible to save the password (I can log in successfully, but if I check the box, I'm prompted to re-login next time anyway).

Did you check the box which says “Don’t save account credentials on this computer” in Steam > Settings > Account? If so, I would imagine this is why it won't remember your password even when you instruct it to. Also, I want to point out that an alternative to removing ~/.steam is to simply uninstall and reinstall the Steam client by running sudo apt-get remove steam && sudo apt-get install steam.

Did you check the box which says

:man_facepalming: I did.

With that change, I'm in the camp of "everything works great without saving logins".

@JoshuaBillson works like a charm! I'm not sure why steam --reset does nothing for me, but removing ~/.steam and choosing NOT to save my login appears to resolve the issue (relaunched steam several times and launched a few games).

That works for me as well, but when i install/start a game (csgo, it wont start) and then close and restart steam, same problem again...

i tried with flatpak, same problem here but the executable returns following error: (memory access error)

/home/user/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh: Zeile 772:   163 Speicherzugriffsfehler  (Speicherabzug geschrieben) $STEAM_DEBUGGER $DEBUGGER_ARGS "$STEAMROOT/$STEAMEXEPATH" "$@"

I'm also experiencing this problem. My temporary workaround was to edit ~/.steam/registry.vdf and change Registry.HKCU.Software.Valve.Steam.RememberPassword from "1" to "0". After that, I was successfully able to launch Steam (and was asked for my password).

I'm also experiencing this problem. My temporary workaround was to edit ~/.steam/registry.vdf and change Registry.HKCU.Software.Valve.Steam.RememberPassword from "1" to "0". After that, I was successfully able to launch Steam (and was asked for my password).

Neat solution thank you. This worked for me on Ubuntu 21.04 where previous suggestions didn't work.

steam updated, works for me now as expected

I have the same problem on Ubuntu 20.04, nothing updated for me - it doesn't work for like 3 days straight.

Experiencing the same symptoms under Ubuntu 20.04.

Previously, removing docker interfaces and running steam --reset would get it running again, but not today.

Was finally able to get back into steam after editing ~/.steam/registry.vdf to disable Registry.HKCU.Software.Valve.Steam.RememberPassword (thanks @compumike !)