I can confirm that i'm also having this issue on a bedrock system with artix and gentoo, with steam coming from artix, however -no-cef-sandbox allows steam to start just fine.

no-cef-steam.log

cef-steam.log

Tried the beta again today on Debian Sid, same error as dsalt reports. No matter whether run it with "-no-cef-sandbox" or not.

I can confirm this issue is also found an Arch. I have attached some relevant logs generated by steam.

cef_log.txt
steamwebhelper.log
webhelper.txt

I have found a workaround. The issue seems to be in the public beta, so the solution is to opt out. However, we cannot access the UI to do so, so we need to use the -clearbeta command line option. An issue arises when doing so though, were steam seems to be unable to connect to the internet despite having a solid connection. In order to resolve this, use --reset option immediately before opting out.

TL;DR, workaround is to run this:

steam --reset
steam -clearbeta

@DAMO238, I think that you're reporting a different problem.

I see that you appear to be launching Steam with -no-cef-sandbox (as evidenced by --no-sandbox in the steamwebhelper launch commands).

Could you try launching without that option, and from a terminal window? This is to confirm that Steam fails differently (and as described in this bug report) in that case.

I launched from a terminal with and without the -no-cef-sandbox, both of which had the same output, which seems to be the same issue that @Seegras is having but slightly different to what you and @MCPO-Spartan-117 are having. (Please correct me if I am wrong in saying that.)

Same issue, rolling back from beta fixed. It didn't matter if I used -no-cef-sandbox or not.

Same issue here, Arch Linux 6.3.2 (Zen) + Nvidia. Maybe remove "Debian" family flair since it touches Arch as well?

Here's the dump (gh won't allow .dmp, so I zipped it): assert_20230523094130_28.dmp.zip

And a log:

steam.sh[153934]: Running Steam on arch rolling 64-bit
steam.sh[153934]: STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically
setup.sh[154060]: Steam runtime environment up-to-date!
steam.sh[153934]: Steam client's requirements are satisfied
[2023-05-23 09:40:40] Startup - updater built May 19 2023 22:00:10
[2023-05-23 09:40:40] Startup - Steam Client launched with: '/home/greg/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam'
[2023-05-23 09:40:40] Opted in to client beta 'publicbeta' via beta file
You are in the 'publicbeta' client beta.
05/23 09:40:40 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1684535786)/tid(154577)
Looks like steam didn't shutdown cleanly, scheduling immediate update check
[2023-05-23 09:40:40] Loading cached metrics from disk (/home/greg/.local/share/Steam/package/steam_client_metrics.bin)
[2023-05-23 09:40:40] Using the following download hosts for Public, Realm steamglobal
[2023-05-23 09:40:40] 1. https://client-update.akamai.steamstatic.com, /, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 1000, source = 'update_hosts_cached.vdf'
[2023-05-23 09:40:40] 2. https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com, /client/, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 1, source = 'update_hosts_cached.vdf'
[2023-05-23 09:40:40] 3. http://media.steampowered.com, /client/, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 1, source = 'baked in'
[2023-05-23 09:40:40] Checking for update on startup
[2023-05-23 09:40:40] Checking for available updates...
[2023-05-23 09:40:40] Downloading manifest: https://client-update.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam_client_publicbeta_ubuntu12
[2023-05-23 09:40:40] Manifest download: send request
[2023-05-23 09:40:40] Manifest download: waiting for download to finish
[2023-05-23 09:40:40] Manifest download: finished
[2023-05-23 09:40:40] Download skipped: /steam_client_publicbeta_ubuntu12 version 1684535786, installed version 1684535786, existing pending version 0
[2023-05-23 09:40:40] Nothing to do
[2023-05-23 09:40:40] Verifying installation...
[2023-05-23 09:40:40] Performing checksum verification of executable files
[2023-05-23 09:40:41] Verification complete

(process:154577): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 09:40:41.958: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(process:154577): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 09:40:41.958: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
Loaded SDL version 3.0.0-1540-gd5f07730b

(steam:154577): Gtk-WARNING **: 09:40:42.014: Unable to locate theme engine in module_path: "adwaita",
/usr/share/themes/amarena/gtk-2.0/main.rc:805: error: unexpected identifier 'direction', expected character '}'

(steam:154577): Gtk-WARNING **: 09:40:42.017: Unable to locate theme engine in module_path: "adwaita",
/usr/share/themes/amarena/gtk-2.0/hacks.rc:28: error: invalid string constant "normal_entry", expected valid string constant
XRRGetOutputInfo Workaround: initialized with override: 0 real: 0xf2e69db0
XRRGetCrtcInfo Workaround: initialized with override: 0 real: 0xf2e68500
GetWin32Stats: display was not open yet, good
ComputeStartupMode: found registry default startup mode: 0
Switching to desktopui, since -vgui was not specified
steamwebhelper.sh[160594]: Runtime for steamwebhelper: defaulting to /home/greg/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_64/steam-runtime-heavy
steamwebhelper.sh[160594]: glibc >= 2.34, partially disabling sandbox until CEF supports clone3()
CAppInfoCacheReadFromDiskThread took 66 milliseconds to initialize
src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (448) : Failed creating offscreen shared JS context
src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (448) : Failed creating offscreen shared JS context
src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (448) : Fatal assert; application exiting
src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (448) : Fatal assert; application exiting
05/23 09:41:30 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1684535786)/tid(154577)
assert_20230523094130_28.dmp[165907]: Uploading dump (out-of-process)
/tmp/dumps/assert_20230523094130_28.dmp
_ExitOnFatalAssert

assert_20230523094130_28.dmp[165907]: Finished uploading minidump (out-of-process): success = yes
assert_20230523094130_28.dmp[165907]: response: CrashID=bp-0d350791-4fed-46b1-839d-eccee2230522

Any updates on the issue?

Just tested again here (running Devuan testing (daedalus) now); I still need -no-cef-sandbox for the same reason.

The UI overhaul beta seems to work but the usual one seems to still refuse to start properly. -no-cef-sandbox doesn't do anything for me. I'm on endeavourOS.

It it the most weird thing: on Arch, after updating the system and deleting all xdg-desktop-portal-* packages except xdg-desktop-portal-gtk, Steam works with both betas just fine. I'm starting to think that on Arch it was not a Steam problem as I've started experiencing problems with all GTK apps around the same time, and all the problems disappeared with this solution

pacman.log.fragment.txt
Here's the ending of my pacman.log corresponding to June 4th. There's quite a lot, but I'm relatively sure only the last several lines are relevant

I'll also try to reinstall the packages to check if they actually cause things to break

I looked at my installed packages and noticed I had xdg-desktop-portal-gnome. After removing it and redownloading the beta, it worked just fine. I even checked by restarting Steam, started just like it should.

That xdg-desktop-portal-* problem looks very much like a different problem: their presence or absence make no difference here. (I have Steam in a chrooted environment.)

1686092969 works again for me, expect everything is tiny, but that's another issue.

1686092969 works again for me, expect everything is tiny, but that's another issue.

I've just re-tested with that build. Still fine with -no-cef-sandbox, still fails with that JS context error without.

I get this problem on latest NixOS. Can't even log in, gray screen. Same error, src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (421) : Failed creating offscreen shared JS context

Same error here as @n3oney on NixOS. Steam version 1685488080.

Edit: steam --reset and steam -clearbeta didn't resolve the issue. Removing the xdg-desktop-portal-* package doesn't seem to do anything either.

Hi, noting here that the NixOS issue at this moment, while exhibiting the same symptoms superficially, is 99% unlikely to be related to the other issues reported here. The NixOS issue is caused by our specific peculiarities, and a fix is merged.

This resolution and the two previous comments are extremely unlikely to be relevant for other distros.

Same error here as @n3oney on NixOS. Steam version 1685488080.

Edit: steam --reset and steam -clearbeta didn't resolve the issue. Removing the xdg-desktop-portal-* package doesn't seem to do anything either.

Not only was steam affected, but other applications as well (librewolf took ages to start for example). The culprit was
xdg-desktop-portal-gnome

being installed in addition to

xdg-desktop-portal xdg-desktop-portal-gtk xdg-desktop-portal-xapp

as the latter three were all dependencies of cinnamon and could not be removed. I suspect some interaction between the gtk and gnome packages interfering with each other.

Removing xdg-desktop-portal-gnome not only fixed steam, but returned other application behavior to its original state.

Removing xdg-desktop-portal-gnome not only fixed steam, but returned other application behavior to its original state.

Okay… if that's the case then why am I seeing that JS context failure (without -no-cef-sandbox), given that that xdg package has never been installed here?

I can confirm that removing xdg-desktop-portal-gnome resolved this issue for me on Arch.

Worth noting for anyone else still having issues, I was successfully running steam 9/10 times by using DEBUGGER=gdb steam, hitting y when asked "Enable debuginfod for this session?" (won't work if you hit n instead), then entering run.

The xdg-desktop-portal-* issues are probably different than the issue reported by @dsalt .

@dsalt if you have a custom chroot setup it is possible that is triggering a CEF sandbox check and causing steamwebhelper to fail to initialize. When webhelper fails to start we print the message:

Failed creating offscreen shared JS context

If you look in ~/.steam/steam/logs/cef_log.txt and ~/.steam/steam/logs/webhelper.txt you might be able to find some clues as to what in particular is causing the sandbox checks to fail. Otherwise, the -no-cef-sandbox switch is available for custom installs like these where we can't initialize the CEF sandbox.

If I misinterpreted your system setup situation let me know.

@lostgoat, all that I see is this:

[0615/204427.248264:INFO:crash_reporting.cc(248)] Crash reporting enabled for process: browser
[0615/204427.249088:FATAL:zygote_host_impl_linux.cc(117)] No usable sandbox! Update your kernel or see https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/master/docs/linux/suid_sandbox_development.md for more information on developing with the SUID sandbox. If you want to live dangerously and need an immediate workaround, you can try using --no-sandbox.

[1970-01-01 01:00:00] Client version: no bootstrapper found
[1970-01-01 01:00:00] Startup - webhelper launched with: /home/steam/Steam/ubuntu12_64/steamwebhelper --disable-seccomp-filter-sandbox -lang=en_US -cachedir=/home/steam/Steam/config/htmlcache -steampid=32020 -buildid=1686779606 -steamid=0 -logdir=/home/steam/Steam/logs -uimode=7 -startcount=2 -steamuniverse=Public -realm=Global -clientui=/home/steam/Steam/clientui -steampath=/home/steam/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam --enable-media-stream --disable-smooth-scrolling --disable-accelerated-video-decode --password-store=basic --log-file=/home/steam/Steam/logs/cef_log.txt --disable-quick-menu --disable-features=SameSiteByDefaultCookies --enable-blink-features=ResizeObserver,Worklet,AudioWorklet --disable-blink-features=Badging

The referenced page gives no obvious clues.

On the kernel side:

CONFIG_CGROUPS=y
# CONFIG_CGROUP_FAVOR_DYNMODS is not set
CONFIG_BLK_CGROUP=y
CONFIG_CGROUP_WRITEBACK=y
CONFIG_CGROUP_SCHED=y
CONFIG_CGROUP_PIDS=y
CONFIG_CGROUP_RDMA=y
CONFIG_CGROUP_FREEZER=y
CONFIG_CGROUP_DEVICE=y
CONFIG_CGROUP_CPUACCT=y
CONFIG_CGROUP_PERF=y
CONFIG_CGROUP_MISC=y
CONFIG_CGROUP_DEBUG=y
# CONFIG_BLK_CGROUP_IOLATENCY is not set
# CONFIG_BLK_CGROUP_IOCOST is not set
# CONFIG_BLK_CGROUP_IOPRIO is not set
# CONFIG_NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_CGROUP is not set
# CONFIG_CGROUP_NET_PRIO is not set
# CONFIG_CGROUP_NET_CLASSID is not set

CONFIG_HAVE_ARCH_SECCOMP=y
CONFIG_HAVE_ARCH_SECCOMP_FILTER=y
CONFIG_SECCOMP=y
CONFIG_SECCOMP_FILTER=y
# CONFIG_SECCOMP_CACHE_DEBUG is not set

Mount points look sane (in as much as the various system ones are mirrored in the chroot).

I'm having this issue (seeing the shared JS context message in a terminal) and running with -no-cef-sandbox doesn't change anything for me. Removing xdg-desktop-portal-gnome didn't make a difference for me. I'm on Arch, not running the client beta.

After today's huge update of Steam UI I have started experiencing the same issue.

src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (529) : Failed creating offscreen shared JS context
src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (529) : Failed creating offscreen shared JS context
src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (529) : Fatal assert; application exiting
src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (529) : Fatal assert; application exiting

But for some reason, if I enable gdb and run steam with debug enabled, it runs successfully. And even after you disable debugging, it can run with no issue. After reboot, you have to enable gdb again to make it work.
I'm on Manjaro (Arch). Client is not beta, and nothing above helps.

Having the same shared JS context error:

@luna:~ ❯ cat ~/.steam/steam/logs/cef_log.txt                                            
[0616/110459.586804:INFO:crash_reporting.cc(248)] Crash reporting enabled for process: browser
[0616/110459.630205:INFO:crash_reporting.cc(271)] Crash reporting enabled for process: gpu-process

I have the same issue. steam --reset; steam -clearbeta works but needing to reset every times I want to start steam is annoying (and it reset the shared libraries).

I haven't tried removing any xdg-desktop-portal* as they are required for software that I use regularly.

steam -no-cef-sandbox behave exactly as without this option (there's a crash).

Just throwing in that I have the same issue, on Arch btw. I noticed that it happens a lot more after the new UI update.

src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (529) : Failed creating offscreen shared JS context
src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (529) : Failed creating offscreen shared JS context
src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (529) : Fatal assert; application exiting
src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (529) : Fatal assert; application exiting

Had the same problem, and I am on Arch as well, removing xdg-desktop-portal-gnome did indeed fix the problem for me. steam --reset and steam -clearbeta unfortunatly didn't. What's most surprising for me is that steam worked fine until the day before yesterday, and I didn't notice any updates or upgrades, not on steam and not on my system. But I am a "fire and forget" kind of guy when it comes to updates. I see the notification, run the update, and promptly forget about it. So that's not saying much...

I seemed to have the same problem on Gentoo Linux for the past couple of days, except in about 3% of the attempts to start Steam, it would actually start. The --reset, -no-cef-sandbox and -clearbeta flags did not seem to affect this chance. Removing xdg-desktop-portal-gnome, however, did indeed fix the problem for me.

xdg-desktop-portal-gnome

Remove this package also works in Manjaro and also improves radically the load of some applications like libreoffice calc, telegram desktop, etc

I had xdg-desktop-portal-gnome enabled on my machine and leftover from some testing. I don't actually even use it for anything. I disabled it per suggestions here and in the upstream thread, now steam opens and works fine...

I have the same issue. steam --reset; steam -clearbeta works but needing to reset every times I want to start steam is annoying (and it reset the shared libraries).

I haven't tried removing any xdg-desktop-portal* as they are required for software that I use regularly.

steam -no-cef-sandbox behave exactly as without this option (there's a crash).

Update: removing the xdg-desktop-portal-gnome package doesn't solve the issue

vincent@shodan ~> pacman -Qs xdg-desktop-portal-gnome
vincent@shodan ~ [1]> steam
steam.sh[2238]: Running Steam on arch rolling 64-bit
steam.sh[2238]: STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically
...
src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (529) : Failed creating offscreen shared JS context
src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (529) : Failed creating offscreen shared JS context
src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (529) : Fatal assert; application exiting
src/steamUI/steamuisharedjscontroller.cpp (529) : Fatal assert; application exiting
06/18 14:19:20 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1686880776)/tid(2367)
assert_20230618141920_30.dmp[2570]: Uploading dump (out-of-process)
/tmp/dumps/assert_20230618141920_30.dmp
_ExitOnFatalAssert

Update to my post I made earlier, removing xdg-desktop-portal-gnome didn't fix the problem, but removing xdg-desktop-portal and xdg-desktop-portal-gtk did

Same error on WSL, neither steam --reset; steam -clearbeta nor removing xdg-desktop-portal-* helped me.

sudo pacman -R xdg-desktop-portal-gnome fixed it for me

@dsalt the latest client should detect that the chrome sandbox is unsupported and fall back gracefully to no sandbox mode.

Let me know if you still need to specify the no sandbox cli flag on your system.

@lostgoat, 1687306661 failing as before; 1687386907 starts up. There is an indication of partial disablement related to clone3(), but I saw no further messages concerning sandboxing.

More diagnostic output (or info about what to test!) would be good; if I can find what's stopping the sandboxing from working…

removing xdg-desktop-portal-* did it for me!

I also had to uninstall flatpak and lutris

I just remove xdg-desktop-portal-gnome and steam works fine.
lutris was not touched. No problem with my games.
Manjaro, Nvidia 1070
thanx for advice, btw ;)

Can confirm that deleting xdg-desktop* packages (which also meant I had to delete cinnamon, which I don't use) fixed the issue for me - I was able to launch the steam desktop app normally.

Running endeavouros

I started encountering this failure today after performing an update to my Manjaro (Arch-based) system. Full client output at https://gist.github.com/sparr/b1586c7bcb3ea4f85a62ba60b645dea8

Removing package xdg-desktop-portal-gnome got Steam to start. Gist above includes truncated successful startup. I'm still figuring out if games are working.

More diagnostic output (or info about what to test!) would be good; if I can find what's stopping the sandboxing from working…

@dsalt we probably won't add extra logging here since that is part of the chrome stack (and we prefer to avoid chrome patches). But since the code is open source I can link you to all the checks that are happening, hope that is helpful:
https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/lkgr/sandbox/linux/services/credentials.cc#264

Note, you should also see the following message in your webhelper.txt logfile:

Disabling sandbox due to a previous crash in CefInitialize with the sandbox enabled

I'm going to close this issue now since the sandbox fallback problem has been addressed.

For anyone running into issues with desktop-portal in this thread, please see this issue instead:
#9588

Something's presumably changed locally (but what? All that I can think of is a recent restart of X) as I'm not seeing that message re. CefInitialize – looks to me like all is well.

Having issues with Ubuntu 22.04, just installed steam and am getting these errors when I try to launch it

uninstalling xdg-desktop-portals* and all programs depending on it worked for me on Arch Linux

xdg-desktop-portal-*

Amazing. Worked for me on arch, thanks for this.

On arch linux, removing xdg-desktop-portal-gnome fixed the issue for me

Anyone getting the "new UI" to work on Debian WSLg? I see the Updating Window and then it just disappears.

I launched from a terminal with and without the -no-cef-sandbox, both of which had the same output, which seems to be the same issue that @Seegras is having but slightly different to what you and @MCPO-Spartan-117 are having. (Please correct me if I am wrong in saying that.)

Big thanks! Deleted xdg-desktop-portal* and it works fine.