can you test

DRI_PRIME=1 glxgears

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-1527215827

This works fine from flatpak sandbox with same runtime as Steam

please copy your system information from Steam (Steam -> Help -> System Information)

Since I'm also seeing the same behavior, I figured I'd provide my own system information. But due to #9398, I cannot :disappointed:

@kisak-valve System information from stable client
https://gist.github.com/koresh-krasa/b9a7a4c486ff061b9823aea6ce44f65b

DRI_PRIME=1 was working before this update. Also similar behavior was present with new gamepadui before (similar to https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9190)

@kisak-valve I see 2 issues here:

1. In the new UI framework, Steam can't create a window using a dGPU. That's the most obvious problem, Steam should be able to use any GPU. I'm sure Valve's developers are already looking for a solution to this.
2. That Steam is requesting a non-default GPU in the first place is an issue in itself. There's no reason for Steam to wake-up a dGPU in a laptop, that's wasteful. Only games should require using a dGPU, and even then, not all games require that.

Solving issue 2 is pretty easy, just remove the options from the desktop file. I've sent a PR to fix that in the Flatpak package for now, until it's removed upstream: flathub/com.valvesoftware.Steam/pull/1086

Re-reading this issue report, it should be noted that the common case where DRI_PRIME gets set is from the desktop environment seeing PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true in Steam's desktop shortcut. As a workaround, this can be set to false or removed to avoid this issue.

Not sure if I necessarily executed the above workaround correctly, but I could not get it to work. What I was able to do was run Steam from the terminal with the argument -vgui and that successfully got Steam to open again. The only downside to the -vgui workaround is that the Friends UI fails to connect. Not sure if this is technically the appropriate workaround, but it worked for me.

My setup is Ubuntu 20.04 with Steam installed via the .deb package from here and I am opted into the Steam Beta releases.

Hey all, I'm sure you guys are all still cracking at it either way, but I just wanted to mention there's a specific use case for users deliberately launching steam under the DRM_PRIME=1 variable.
There's power saving in general of course, but it's also a popular choice with users who utilise full GPU passthroughs to virtual machines, effectively allowing them to pass control of their GPU between the guest or host operating system on the fly, just depending on what they're doing with it (which game they're playing) at the time.

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/145A-FE54-F37B-278A
^ This official article doesn't get as far into the motivations of it, but it basically outlines a NVidia-specific method of doing the exact same thing, and mentions the convenience of launching steam under the variable rather than setting it on a per-/every-game basis.

I have no clue what

Re-reading this issue report, it should be noted that the common case where DRI_PRIME gets set is from the desktop environment seeing PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true in Steam's desktop shortcut. As a workaround, this can be set to false or removed to avoid this issue.

Not sure if I necessarily executed the above workaround correctly, but I could not get it to work. What I was able to do was run Steam from the terminal with the argument -vgui and that successfully got Steam to open again. The only downside to the -vgui workaround is that the Friends UI fails to connect. Not sure if this is technically the appropriate workaround, but it worked for me.

My setup is Ubuntu 20.04 with Steam installed via the .deb package from here and I am opted into the Steam Beta releases.

'v-gui' argument is the only way to get Steam to launch for me as well. 'DRI_PRIME' and modifying 'PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true' do absolutely nothing

@Candyhands @TimTheOverlord are you guys by any chance using KDE or one of the other Qt-based DEs? If that's the case, besides removing PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true from Steam's .desktop file, you might also need to remove X-KDE-RunOnDiscreteGpu=true. Can you try removing both options from the desktop file and test if that solves the problem.

Note that this test might require a logoff/login or a reboot because DEs often have trouble live reloading .desktop files.

Re-reading this issue report, it should be noted that the common case where DRI_PRIME gets set is from the desktop environment seeing PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true in Steam's desktop shortcut. As a workaround, this can be set to false or removed to avoid this issue.

Can confirm that changing /usr/share/applications/steam.desktop as described above works for me. I have a config quite close to OP

Operating System Version:
Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm) (64 bit)
Kernel Version: 6.1.0-9-amd64
X Window Manager: GNOME Shell
Steam Runtime Version: steam-runtime_0.20230509.49499

Video Card:
Driver: AMD AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT (navi21, LLVM 15.0.6, DRM 3.49, 6.1.0-9-amd64)
Driver Version: 4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 22.3.6

@Candyhands @TimTheOverlord are you guys by any chance using KDE or one of the other Qt-based DEs? If that's the case, besides removing PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true from Steam's .desktop file, you might also need to remove X-KDE-RunOnDiscreteGpu=true. Can you try removing both options from the desktop file and test if that solves the problem.

Note that this test might require a logoff/login or a reboot because DEs often have trouble live reloading .desktop files.

I have done this, and no dice. I'm on xfce, so it's gtk based rather than qt based. Running 'steam-runtime --reset' fixed the problem for me, but only for once launch. When I closed it, I couldn't open it back up.

Same problem here, with DRI_PRIME=1, steamwebhelper chash.

OS: Fedora release 38 (Thirty Eight) x86_64
Host: HP ProDesk 600 G1 SFF
Kernel: 6.3.8-200.fc38.x86_64
Resolution: 1920x1080
DE: GNOME 44.2
WM: Mutter
WM Theme: Adwaita
Theme: Adwaita [GTK2/3]
Icons: Adwaita [GTK2/3]
CPU: Intel i7-4770 (8) @ 3.900GHz
GPU: Intel HD Graphics
GPU: AMD ATI Radeon Pro WX 4100
Memory: 4059MiB / 11835MiB

Removing PrefersNonDefaultGPU and X-KDE-RunOnDiscreteGpu from the .desktop file worked for me. Is there any drawback to that? That is, once this issue get solved, should I bother to add it again or not really?

If I simply run steam all is well; but if I run env DRI_PRIME=1 steam; steamwebhelpers spawn and die, systemd-coredump runs for a bit, and this repeats until I close Steam.
Here's neofetch --off output:

OS: openSUSE Tumbleweed x86_64 
Host: ROG Strix G513QY_G513QY 1.0 
Kernel: 6.3.7-1-default 
Uptime: 37 mins 
Packages: 3589 (rpm), 15 (flatpak) 
Shell: fish 3.6.1 
Resolution: 1920x1080 
DE: Plasma 5.27.5 
WM: KWin 
Theme: Breeze [Plasma], Adwaita [GTK2/3] 
Icons: breeze [Plasma], breeze [GTK2/3] 
Terminal: konsole 
Terminal Font: DejaVu Sans Mono 8 
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX with Radeon Graphics (16) @ 3.300GHz 
GPU: AMD ATI Radeon Vega Series / Radeon Vega Mobile Series 
GPU: AMD ATI Radeon RX 6700/6700 XT/6750 XT / 6800M/6850M XT 
Memory: 5062MiB / 15376MiB

More details found here, but the problem is all about DRI_PRIME, so anything else is likely irrelevant.

Removing PrefersNonDefaultGPU and X-KDE-RunOnDiscreteGpu from the .desktop file worked for me. Is there any drawback to that? That is, once this issue get solved, should I bother to add it again or not really?

For most games that won't make a difference, since games using Vulkan, DXVK and VKD3D will choose the dGPU on their own. The only difference in behavior you will see is with OpenGL games that will now default to the primary GPU, which on a laptop will be the iGPU. If you want to launch an OpenGL game on the dGPU you must set DRI_PRIME=1 %command% on its launch options.

On a desktop PC you don't need these options, so it's better to keep them off, independent of this issue.

I'm of the opinion these options should never have been added to the desktop file in the first place. They do more harm than they help.

Thanks! And actually I just realized that today it's not opening again, even with those options set.. Any idea?

Even with those options set in the .desktop file the only way I have to make Steam open is with the -vgui flag ...

EDIT: Apparently, I had to change another desktop file located in /usr/lib/steam/steam.desktop

@ndavd, thanks for the workaround. For others who want to try it, do this: env DRI_PRIME=1 steam -vgui.
I am not sure why, but the "friends network" doesn't work when I do this.

Edit: fossilize_replay has been running for a long time, this concerns me because I think it's pre-compiling shaders for the iGPU, which for most games is undesirable, and probably isn't pre-compiling anything for the dGPU. This would be a good reason to have DRI_PRIME working again (or be able to specify which GPU/driver to compile for) because otherwise I might as well turn off the shader caching feature.

xpost from https://github.com/flathub/com.valvesoftware.Steam/issues/1103

Similar issue, only happened in the past day or so. I am not using Flathub. Core output of inxi -Fxz:

System: Kernel: 5.10.0-23-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.1 Desktop: Cinnamon 4.8.6
Distro: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)
Machine: Type: Portable System: Alienware product: Alienware 17 v: A17 serial:
Mobo: Alienware model: 068R5X v: A00 serial: UEFI: Alienware v: A17
date: 07/22/2019
CPU: Info: Quad Core model: Intel Core i7-4700MQ bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Haswell rev: 3
L2 cache: 6 MiB
flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 38311
Speed: 3303 MHz min/max: 800/3400 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 3303 2: 3381 3: 3218 4: 3266
5: 3267 6: 3268 7: 3226 8: 3280
Graphics: Device-1: Intel 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics vendor: Dell driver: i915
v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0
Device-2: NVIDIA GK106M [GeForce GTX 765M] vendor: Dell driver: nvidia v: 470.182.03
bus ID: 01:00.0
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: loaded: nvidia resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 4600 (HSW GT2) v: 4.5 Mesa 20.3.5
direct render: Yes

I've had issues with Bumblebee before, but this doesn't seem to be related to Bumblebee. Core symptoms:

• Have to start any steam application with primusrun like usual
• Doing so will run the application like usual, but every 5-10 seconds, the center of the screen will freeze (approximately where the Steam desktop UI should be, if it were open) briefly, and interrupt whatever task I am doing for a split second as described in OP
• Since I have to run everything from terminal, I can see the output that repeats every 5-10 seconds:

/bin/bash: /home/user/miniconda3/lib/libtinfo.so.6: no version information available (required by /bin/bash)
steamwebhelper.sh[234335]: Runtime for steamwebhelper: defaulting to /home/user/.steam/debian-installation/ubuntu12_64/steam-runtime-heavy
/bin/bash: /home/user/miniconda3/lib/libtinfo.so.6: no version information available (required by /bin/bash)
steamwebhelper.sh[234335]: Using CEF sandbox (try with -no-cef-sandbox if this fails)
BuildCompleteAppOverviewChange: 166 apps
RegisterForAppOverview 1: 4ms
RegisterForAppOverview 2: 4ms

• I've tried using -no-cef-sandbox and it merely changes that line to saying "cef sandbox already disabled", but still freezes the screen/system periodically
• System monitor shows spikes in cpu usage when the screen freezes, as well as numerous (going from 1 to 10,20,30 etc) steamwebhelper processes appearing briefly when the cpu spikes, then returning back to 1 steamwebhelper process
• Opening Steam by "running with dedicated gpu" option on start menu, or running via terminal without primus will not open the application correctly (this was the case before as well; always have to open with primusrun )
• the libtinfo line was there before this problem, and probably unrelated
• Even if I minimize the Steam UI, it will still interrupt. The only thing that prevents the interruption is shutting down Steam entirely.
• Judging by the other threads I've found, this seems to be a linux issue in general. Possibly a library update that came with the new GUI update?
• The GUI itself loads fine, and I can access it as long as I don't open Steam with primusrun, and instead open it without primus (yet of course I can't open any application without primus)

Here are other related threads that I've found that seem to be related:
https://github.com/flathub/com.valvesoftware.Steam/issues/1104
https://github.com/flathub/com.valvesoftware.Steam/issues/1103
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=286571
https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?p=2339619

Let me know which logs might be useful.

Edit: Have not tested -vgui flag, will give it a shot tomorrow

Even with those options set in the .desktop file the only way I have to make Steam open is with the -vgui flag ...

EDIT: Apparently, I had to change another desktop file located in /usr/lib/steam/steam.desktop

On doing some more testing apparently it only opened with those options once.. Today I couldn't open it again, even though those options were set. So for me, currently, using the -vgui option is the only way I can open Steam

@winchjr Have you tried running Steam without primusrun, then use in each game's launch option primusrun %command% (syntax may be incorrect, never used primusrun)? Would be nice if you could set a global Steam game launch option.

Okay, launching Steam from the command line finally does something for me. Before it just returned a message saying the runtime was all good. But now, these are the errors I get. Arch w/ XFCE on a 3060ti

(steam:9387): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 21:06:27.063: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
Could not connect to X session manager: Authentication Rejected, reason : None of the authentication protocols specified are supported and h

(steam:9387): Gtk-WARNING **: 21:06:56.305: gtk_disable_setlocale() must be called before gtk_init()
RegisterForAppOverview 1: 7ms
RegisterForAppOverview 2: 7ms

(steam:9387): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 21:06:56.877: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(steam:9387): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 21:06:56.877: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
steamwebhelper.sh[10034]: Runtime for steamwebhelper: defaulting to /home/jonah/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_64/steam-runtime-heavy
steamwebhelper.sh[10034]: glibc >= 2.34, partially disabling sandbox until CEF supports clone3()
BuildCompleteAppOverviewChange: 241 apps'

For me the biggest issue with the -vgui flag is that I can't open properties of a game, it just opens a blank window. And that's a problem because I need to specify things like Proton version and DRI_PRIME=1 %command%. Is that happening to you as well?

@chinoto Strangely, this works! I have no more issues.

For others using Bumblebee/Primus like me, if running from terminal doesn't work, put

primusrun %command%

in the game launch option commands.

Thanks @chinoto!

The only ways I can get steam to open are if I open it with the commandline or with -vgui parameter set in the .desktop file. Hope to see a fix for this soon

@winchjr What was happening before is that Steam, and everything it spawned, ran through primusrun, now you're only running the individual games through primusrun.

For those working around this bug for Steam by disabling DRI_PRIME, but still want/need a game to use DRI_PRIME, use env DRI_PRIME=1 %command% in the launch options, which is nearly the same as the primusrun %command% workaround I suggested to @winchjr.

I am using nvidia-drivers from gentoo overlay on a PC.
No primus or bumblee installed.
Steam was working fine few hours ago ~20 hours.
Now it won't launch.
Similar errors: crash log about "libcef", SharedJSCo': ERROR: https://steamloopback.host/chunk~2dcc5aaf7.js 403 error.
-no-cef-sandbox just changed a line as someone mentioned.
I am able to open steam with -vgui flag but I can't run any game. It says wrong elf class for both 32 and 64 bit paths:
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/jesus12/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.

I found another temporary fix. At least in gnome, you can right click an application and click "launch using integrated graphics card. This makes it launch normally for me. If I click it normally it launches on the dGPU and crashes like others here have described.

New steam client update didn't fix the issue :(

New steam client update didn't fix the issue :(

I rly appreciate that Steam supports Linux and contributed to make gaming on Linux a thing. But man this is why I prefer open source software, if the client truly was open source we'd have at least gotten an answer from a dev by now

Guys, this comment on my issue solved it for me, perhaps it also applies to this issue -> https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9692#issuecomment-1605607970

Guys, this comment on my issue solved it for me, perhaps it also applies to this issue -> [#9692 (comment)](https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9692#issuecomment-1605607970)

Followed that and can't even get to step 4 because the windows still open transparently and then close themselves after a few seconds, same goes for the Steam settings window. Only way to open anything so far is with -vgui. I followed those steps and then did -vgui to follow from step 4 forward, and it still didn't work. I'm just gonna play OpenTTD until they get it fixed (which hopefully happens before the Steam Sale).

Guys, this comment on my issue solved it for me, perhaps it also applies to this issue -> [#9692 (comment)](https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9692#issuecomment-1605607970)

Followed that and can't even get to step 4 because the windows still open transparently and then close themselves after a few seconds, same goes for the Steam settings window. Only way to open anything so far is with -vgui. I followed those steps and then did -vgui to follow from step 4 forward, and it still didn't work. I'm just gonna play OpenTTD until they get it fixed (which hopefully happens before the Steam Sale).

I see, maybe I should share exactly how I solved it on my machine because it wasn't exactly like the comment. I simply:

• steam --reset (or steam-runtime --reset, can't recall which one I did, but I think they kind of do the same thing)
• Steam -> Settings -> Interface
• Enable Enable GPU accelerated rendering in web views (requires restart) (in the original comment it says disable, but I had it disabled by default and what solved it for me was enabling it)

EDIT: I don't know if it matters but perhaps it's worth noting that I added back the settings in the steam.desktop file:

PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true
X-KDE-RunOnDiscreteGpu=true

I'm on X11, NVIDIA.

Replying to https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-1605700376

Thank you so much, this finally worked for me. Steam seems to be okay at the moment!! On Nvidia

@TimTheOverlord There might be too many layers of other stuff going on when launching via GUI, try launching it from a terminal with either env --unset=DRI_PRIME steam, env DRI_PRIME=1 steam -vgui, or env --unset=DRI_PRIME steam -vgui.
-vgui breaks the "Friends Network" for me, but I suggest it just in case it might get something to work.

@TimTheOverlord There might be too many layers of other stuff going on when launching via GUI, try launching it from a terminal with either env --unset=DRI_PRIME steam, env DRI_PRIME=1 steam -vgui, or env --unset=DRI_PRIME steam -vgui. -vgui breaks the "Friends Network" for me, but I suggest it just in case it might get something to work.

Ran all three of these, only one that worked was the command with -vgui and yes, the "Friends Network" is broken as I noted in my OG comment in this chain. After running the above commands, even with the -vgui flag, it is still broken.

Replying to https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-1605700376

Ran those, no change either. To clarify I am running on an AMD GPU with Wayland and Ubuntu 20.04. I do have AMD-Pro drivers installed.

Ran those, no change either. To clarify I am running on an AMD GPU with Wayland and Ubuntu 20.04. I do have AMD-Pro drivers installed.

That's interesting because I thought Steam was working fine with Wayland non-NVIDIA setups

Ran those, no change either. To clarify I am running on an AMD GPU with Wayland and Ubuntu 20.04. I do have AMD-Pro drivers installed.

That's interesting because I thought Steam was working fine with Wayland non-NVIDIA setups

I'm experiencing this issue on an all-amd laptop (Asus G14 2022) on gnome wayland.

Ran those, no change either. To clarify I am running on an AMD GPU with Wayland and Ubuntu 20.04. I do have AMD-Pro drivers installed.

That's interesting because I thought Steam was working fine with Wayland non-NVIDIA setups

Ah, I was mistaken. It is X11, not wayland.

I'm experiencing the same issue as well. Using the previously mentioned work around of running DRI_PRIME directly on the games from game settings rather than on all of Steam.
I'm on a dual AMD GPU setup with Debian Trixie. (Both Polaris, I think)

Same issue for me on Arch Linux using the latest steam update (the one with the new UI). By default Steam tries to launch with the dedicated gpu (Radeon RX 6800XT). It works fine when launching with integrated gpu (Raphael (rev c1) integrated amd gpu of ryzen 9 7950x).

Replying to https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-1605700376

This seems to work once but not reliably. For me removing the two booleans works for xwayland when i run with my igpu from amd. However VRR/gsync no longer works the performance is lower and screen flickering. Disabling VRR seems the only way. There goes my nice X11, Nvidia setup.

Intel + AMD graphics card.
DRI_PRIME=1 doesn't start steam ui and I can't launch the game.
This command works fine for me:
DRI_PRIME=1 steam -silent steam://rungameid/{game number}.

So, has anyone managed to fix this yet? It seems you cannot access the Steam icon from the panel, or the start menu shortcut (although the command line and selecting it from the desktop works). Also, the game "Dying Light" has some issues playing on Steam. It appears that Steam is having issues running on the new Linux Mint 21.2 "Victoria" Cinnamon Edition, which came out a few days ago. Any solutions, workarounds?

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that if you right-click the Steam icon and select "Settings," it will work. Apparently doing so bypasses the problem. Still, some problems persist. "Dying Light" has issues loading and it appears that you cannot quit the game without it crashing. I don't know if this issue is related the graphics problem that apparently is causing the problem with the Steam icon, but I thought I should mention this just in case. Again, there was never an issue like this in the previous Linux Mint version. Hopefully, this issue will be fixed soon...

I have the same issue on POP!_OS 22.04 with both the repo and flatpak version of steam, it goes into a complete boot loop and after the initial start screen never comes up.
System 76 Thelio MIra
AMD 7700x
AMD 6600
32 gb ram
POP 22.04 with all updates. Kernel 6.2.6.xxxx

I have tried it from the repo, flatpak, and direct from Steam. Any possible fix???

Right now, the workaround I’ve been using is to remove DRI_PRIME=1 on the Steam client, and then go into each game’s properties and add “DRI_PRIME=1 %command%” to launch options (just add DRI_PRIME=1 at the beginning of commands).

@wojtbar Does env --unset=DRI_PRIME steam bring up the Steam UI? If so, you can use DRI_PRIME=1 %command% for each game's launch options like @266-750Balloons mentioned.

I mentioned env DRI_PRIME=1 %command% in an earlier comment because some shells don't provide the convenience of setting variables for a command without env, but I bet Steam runs everything through bash instead of whatever shell it was run from.

I was initially unable to launch Steam from the menu after upgrading to Linux Mint 21.2 (from 21.1), and the workaround suggested by @kisak-valve (changing PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true to PrefersNonDefaultGPU=false in the desktop entry) fixed it for me.

But in my case, games then launched from Steam seem to run perfectly well without adding DRI_PRIME=1 %command% to the launch options as suggested above. It occurs to me that, despite having a system with both integrated and discrete graphics, I've never had to use DRI_PRIME=1 for anything (even outside of Steam) in several years of using Linux, and maybe this is why:

michael:~$ glxinfo -B | grep Device
    Device: AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series (tahiti, LLVM 15.0.7, DRM 3.42, 5.15.0-76-generic) (0x679a)
michael:~$ export DRI_PRIME=1
michael:~$ glxinfo -B | grep Device
    Device: Mesa Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600 (HSW GT2) (0x412)
michael:~$ 

My discrete GPU appears to be the default, although I didn't make it that way on purpose. Is that not a valid configuration? The use of PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true in Steam's desktop entry would suggest as much, given the implication that the "non-default GPU" is necessarily the right one for gaming. By the way, if I do run games with DRI_PRIME=1, some of them — particularly native Steam games which use OpenGL and, outside of Steam, native GZDoom in OpenGL mode — run poorly and are clearly using my integrated graphics, whereas otherwise they run well and use my discrete graphics. Some other games — such as Windows games under DXVK via Proton via Steam (launched with PrefersNonDefaultGPU=false) as well as native GZDoom in Vulkan mode — appear to use my discrete GPU regardless of whether I set DRI_PRIME=1. So there's some inconsistency here, but OpenGL at least seems to handle DRI_PRIME=1 simply by selecting my (apparently non-default) integrated graphics chip.

Did setting PrefersNonDefaultGPU=false in Steam's desktop entry fix it for me because my discrete GPU is the default? (Was Steam just failing to start because it was trying to use integrated graphics?) It seems like it must be a coincidence, because the PrefersNonDefaultGPU=false workaround appears to have helped a lot of people and yet everything I've been reading has given me the impression that discrete graphics being the default is very unusual. But I figured I should bring it up.

I was initially unable to launch Steam from the menu after upgrading to Linux Mint 21.2 (from 21.1), and the workaround suggested by @kisak-valve (changing PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true to PrefersNonDefaultGPU=false in the desktop entry) fixed it for me.

Could you please tell me where the Steam desktop file is located? Or is it perhaps a command I need to run in the terminal? I'm still learning how to use Linux (I quit Windows over a year ago, since I was fed up with their constant spying).

Could you please tell me where the Steam desktop file is located?

I think it should be at /usr/share/applications/steam.desktop. That would be owned by root, so you would need to open the file with administrator privileges in order to change it directly. If you don't want to do that, you can also make a copy of the file at ~/.local/share/applications/steam.desktop and then change PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true to PrefersNonDefaultGPU=false in that copy. Desktop entries in ~/.local/share/applications/ typically act as overrides to the ones in /usr/share/applications/, at least in Cinnamon (Linux Mint's desktop environment).

To copy and modify it from the command line:

cp /usr/share/applications/steam.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/steam.desktop
sed s/PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true/PrefersNonDefaultGPU=false/ -i ~/.local/share/applications/steam.desktop

Edit: Just to clarify, the desktop entries in /usr/share/applications/ and/or ~/.local/share/applications/ define items in the application menu. If you have an actual desktop shortcut to Steam, the file defining that shortcut would probably be ~/Desktop/steam.desktop.

I was initially unable to launch Steam from the menu after upgrading to Linux Mint 21.2 (from 21.1), and the workaround suggested by @kisak-valve (changing PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true to PrefersNonDefaultGPU=false in the desktop entry) fixed it for me.

Could you please tell me where the Steam desktop file is located? Or is it perhaps a command I need to run in the terminal? I'm still learning how to use Linux (I quit Windows over a year ago, since I was fed up with their constant spying).

/usr/share/applications, there you will find the .desktop file. Make sure to log out and log back in after making changes, so the launcher refreshes.

Yup, it worked! Thanks, guys... :+1:

@michaelneverwins DRI_PRIME is usually meant for laptops where the iGPU* is going directly to the display and renderings from the dGPU* have to pass through the iGPU to reach the display. I'm guessing that DRI_PRIME blindly offloads to the non-display GPU, regardless of which way the power difference goes.

As for why OpenGL and Vulkan** games behave differently, I believe that is because Vulkan games can choose which GPU to render on, whereas OpenGL games are stuck with whatever the graphics stack chose to use, which can be influenced by DRI_PRIME and MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE***.

*integrated/dedicated
**Proton uses Vulkan via DXVK for DirectX games
***I attempted to use this to play with Zink, but it wasn't included in my distribution's Mesa package at the time (apparently it is now!). I just tried running steam with it, but it failed. Might be useful for specific OpenGL games though.

Replying to https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-1647196453

Well, that's one problem solved. Both the panel icon and the "Start Menu" icon for Steam work. However, there is one more issue. It appears certain games are having problems loading. One such example is the hit zombie game "Dying Light." Is the DRI_PRIME the culprit? Again, sometimes it take a while for "Dying Light" to load, sometimes the game doesn't start. When it does, I can play, but when I try to quit the game, the computer freezes. I am then forced to shut the power off on my PC. Also, to point out, "Dying Light" has Vulcan shaders to load when it starts, so I'm very certain it is a Vulcan game. Should I set the DRI_PRIME line for the .desktop Steam file to 0, or what should I do? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks... :)

Thanks for the information, @chinoto. I am indeed not using a laptop, and both of my monitors are plugged directly into my GPU, one via HDMI and the other via DVI just because that's what I have. (Wondering if it would make a difference, I tried plugging them into the motherboard's HDMI and DVI ports while the PC was off and then booting it up, but then my desktop wouldn't display at all and I had to switch to a TTY with Ctrl+Alt+F1 to see anything.)

As of now, I'm not sure whether having my discrete GPU as the default is a blessing or a curse. On one hand, I've never had to worry about adding DRI_PRIME=1. On the other hand, as I've now discovered, I have to worry about software incorrectly assuming my default graphics are bad, e.g. desktop entries with PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true launching programs with integrated graphics. Steam not launching with PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true may have other causes, but Super Tux Kart's desktop entry also has PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true which causes it to use my integrated graphics and run poorly. I've also noticed that right-clicking items in Linux Mint 21.2's application menu shows a "Run with dedicated GPU" option which, sure enough, actually results in OpenGL software using my integrated graphics instead. At best, this option is badly named. It's going to bug me even if I don't look at it. But I'll stop ranting now.

Replying to https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-1647261937

You're not the only one, michaelneverwins. We all want Steam running spotless on Linux. Especially other distros that are not Ubuntu. I've tried Ubuntu in the past and I just could not get pass the desktop. Didn't like it. So, I instead turned to Linux Mint. Plus, LM has better privacy settings than Ubuntu. Hopefully, some new update will come along and fix all this... :)

So, has anyone got some of their games to work (the ones that worked before the torturous Steam update)? Some of mine work, but not all of them (and yes, I have the Proton Experimental enabled). Also, Dying Light (which has a native Linux version) still has issues running. Can't even quit the game without it crashing... :(

From what I'm reading, it seems PrefersNonDefaultGPU is [not simply/more than] a proxy for DRI_PRIME=1 because there are several other variables that manipulate how GPU selection is handled and are specific to OpenGL or Vulkan, but the exact handling depends on your Desktop Environment or whatever opened the .desktop file.

I believe (Edit: I was wrong) DRI_PRIME is specific to OpenGL and should have no effect on DirectX games running through DXVK, which Proton/"Steam Play" (a modified version of Wine) uses.

Hopefully this either clears things up or just makes it more obvious how complicated this all is...

https://specifications.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/desktop-entry-spec-latest.html#:~:text=PrefersNonDefaultGPU

PrefersNonDefaultGPU: If true, the application prefers to be run on a more powerful discrete GPU if available, which we describe as “a GPU other than the default one” in this spec to avoid the need to define what a discrete GPU is and in which cases it might be considered more powerful than the default GPU. This key is only a hint and support might not be present depending on the implementation.

https://github.com/flathub/com.valvesoftware.Steam/issues/559#issuecomment-815900530

DRI_PRIME=1 selects the first non-default GPU, whatever that is. If your default is a fast AMD/NVIDIA discrete GPU, and you also have a slow AMD/Intel integrated GPU, then DRI_PRIME=1 will do the exact opposite of what you want.

https://gitlab.xfce.org/xfce/garcon/-/issues/21

On systems with NVidia discrete GPUs, render offload is controlled with three different environment vars as documented here. It's probably a good idea to just set all of them when the discrete GPU is requested

DRI_PRIME "applies to OpenGL and Vulkan" and is commonly needed to run Windows games through Proton on the dGPU. Some games offer GPU selection on their own or otherwise use the more powerful one, though.

Thanks again @chinoto and @DianaNites. I'm just commenting again to clear up a couple of things.

Earlier I wrote that I tried plugging my monitors into the motherboard instead of the GPU and had no graphics at all: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-1647261937

This was because I had to change "Initial Display Output" from "PCIe 1 Slot" to "IGFX" in my BIOS settings. I did that and then rebooted with my monitors plugged into my motherboard, and now Linux Mint is indeed treating my integrated graphics as the default (which is apparently typical).

michael:~$ glxinfo -B | grep Device
    Device: Mesa Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600 (HSW GT2) (0x412)
michael:~$ export DRI_PRIME=1
michael:~$ glxinfo -B | grep Device
    Device: AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series (tahiti, LLVM 15.0.7, DRM 3.42, 5.15.0-76-generic) (0x679a)
michael:~$ 

Note that this is the opposite of the glxinfo output I got when my monitors were plugged into the GPU: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-1647187561

So the reason for my dedicated graphics being the default (thus causing DRI_PRIME=1 to do the opposite of what was expected in some cases) was indeed the fact that my monitors were plugged into the GPU directly (or, on second thought, the fact that the GPU was the initial display output in the BIOS settings).

The more relevant bit of information is that, with Linux Mint now treating my integrated graphics as the default, Steam still fails to open a window when launched from a shortcut with PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true, which confirms that this bug has nothing to do with my integrated graphics having previously been the non-default. (Sorry for this whole tangential discussion.) Additionally, modifying the shortcut to use PrefersNonDefaultGPU=false still fixes Steam. The difference is that now I actually do need to add DRI_PRIME=1 %command% to the launch options of some games in order to get them to run well, whereas previously I did not because Steam as launched with PrefersNonDefaultGPU=false was already running games using my discrete GPU.

@michaelneverwins You should try running a benchmark to see what the overhead (latency and processing) would be of your more powerful/dedicated GPU directly connected to the monitor compared to the integrated being connected to the monitor and offloading to the more powerful GPU.
If the overhead isn't a concern, then the power savings when you're not doing anything graphically demanding could be appealing.

Thanks, @chinoto. I don't know of a good way to measure power consumption right now, but that's worth checking out. I did look at the temperature readings from my dedicated GPU while I was set up to use integrated graphics by default, and it didn't seem significantly cooler so it may not have been going to its lowest-power state when idle, but I guess temperature shouldn't correlate strongly to power consumption anyway if the fans are doing their job.

For now, though, I've gone with the simplest solution: just disabling my CPU's integrated graphics via the BIOS settings (and also, of course, setting "Initial Display Output" back to my PCIe slot, and moving the monitor cables back to the GPU ports accordingly). This may not be the most energy-efficient way to go, but it isn't any worse than my original dedicated-GPU-by-default configuration in which the integrated graphics were enabled but basically never used. With only one available graphics device, Steam launches successfully from the default menu shortcut. (Meanwhile I don't have to worry about adding DRI_PRIME=1, nor do I have to worry about PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true doing the wrong thing, since it won't do anything now.)

will this bug fix?still has the same issus on ubuntu 22.04 with amd 5800h with radeon rx6600m

My problem is, every game crashes when I have to open steam overlay in game (or I get an achievement, or whatever).
The workaround that works now is to add "DRI_PRIME=1 %command%" in launch options in game that breaks as someone has mentioned above.

I use arch linux with bspwm

TLDR: If you have an AMD GPU and are using the pro drivers, remove them and reinstall the AMD drivers using the --usecase=graphics option.

Alright, for anyone with an AMD GPU, if you have the AMD PRO drivers installed, simply don't. With some recent update, Valve killed the -vgui workaround I reported earlier, which prompted me to think about fixing it again. I dug into the logs to see why Steam was crashing, specifically at ~/.local/shareSteam/logs/cef_log.txt and noticed several entries of this:

EGL Driver message (Error) eglGetMscRateANGLE: glXGetMscRateOML failed

Googling that led me here which mentioned the infinitely opening windows of Chrome (very similar in my situation with Steam's windows opening and closing over and over again). Basically, I think that AMD does something funky with it's professional drivers and Steam, being engineered for the average Linux build, is probably expecting the open source AMD drivers to be installed. I specifically fixed it by completely purging the AMD drivers and then reinstalling them, this time with the --usecase=graphics option (steps to update here). I don't know how applicable this is to other people, but this finally got it working for me.

My system is running Ubuntu 20.04 on an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 with and old Vega 56. I installed the pro drivers initially with the intent of doing some deep learning in Pytorch. I had issues setting that up, and once Steam was updated to the new UI it broke. I hadn't tested many other applications, but I also noticed KiCAD was having graphics troubles too. The lesson learned here is don't stray too far from the beaten path when it comes to Linux, unless you're an Arch user... ;)

This issue has bugged me for months now. Although the suggested 'solution' to remove DRI_PRIME=1 from the environment variables works, it makes the steam client incredibly slow and laggy (because it's using the integrated graphics card now). Has anyone figured out how to force the steam client to use the dedicated GPU anyways?

@sleeyax You might be able to improve Steam's performance while not using DRI_PRIME by disabling "GPU accelerated rendering in web views" and other hardware acceleration, but this assumes the iGPU is so bad that the CPU becomes a better choice.

I tried running Steam with Zink (Vulkan-based translation layer for OpenGL), but the main window repeatedly attempts to open, then closes/crashes, which could easily be the fault of either Zink or Steam given how immature Zink is and how flaky Steam can be. The overhead isn't too high, so if it works on your setup, it could be good enough.

I ran Xonotic's the-big-keybench in timedemo mode with 1080p ultra settings and got these results direct and via Zink:

10510 frames 46.2483050 seconds 227.2515719 fps, one-second fps min/avg/max: 152 232 304 (336 seconds) # ./xonotic-linux64-sdl
10510 frames 54.8067248 seconds 191.7647886 fps, one-second fps min/avg/max: 146 195 257 (336 seconds) # env MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE=zink ./xonotic-linux64-sdl

Hey none of the thing here helped me. When i open with DRI_PRIME=1 steam, it just constantly crashes for me and doesnt let me play tf2 alone. The only reason i want this is because it makes steam launch every game with the correct GPU always which is ultimately what i want, i dont understand why it doesnt use the correct gpu in the first place but whatever.
If i try DRI_PRIME=1 on tf2 launch options is also irelevant as it launches with the integrated gpu regardles. the only way is with steam.

I was able to workaround this problem by running steam with the -cef-disable-gpu parameter. DRI_PRIME=1 steam -cef-disable-gpu works, along with switcherooctl launch -g 1 steam -cef-disable-gpu. Also, launching steam from the normal .desktop file works as well when adding this parameter to the Exec= line.

Edit:

System information: Arch with with kernel 6.5.5-arch1-1; primary GPU is an Intel integrated GPU on a 1360p processor. Secondary GPU is an AMD Radeon RX 6800 in an eGPU enclosure.

P.S. This fix does not work with the steam-native command, which crashes even when running on the integrated gpu.

Replying to https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-1741845619

it also works in my case but it seems like the dedicated gpu is not used then

Replying to [#9383 (comment)](https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-1741845619)

it also works in my case but it seems like the dedicated gpu is not used then

In my case, the dedicated GPU was still used if launched via the normal .desktop launcher (where PrefersNonDefaultGPU is true) or when explicitly enabling it via other methods like DRI_PRIME or switcherooctl.

If you just run steam -cef-disable-gpu without anything else from the command line, unless you have DRI_PRIME set in your environment variables then it is going to use your integrated or otherwise "default" GPU.

Replying to [#9383 (comment)](https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-1741845619)

it also works in my case but it seems like the dedicated gpu is not used then

In my case, the dedicated GPU was still used if launched via the normal .desktop launcher (where PrefersNonDefaultGPU is true) or when explicitly enabling it via other methods like DRI_PRIME or switcherooctl.

If you just run steam -cef-disable-gpu without anything else from the command line, unless you have DRI_PRIME set in your environment variables then it is going to use your integrated or otherwise "default" GPU.

DRI_PRIME=1 steam -cef-disable-gpu is the command i used. Maybe my method of finding out if the dedicated GPU is used is flawed.

I had this issue got it to open using the settings trick that someone said. if you download a game it will also download (steam Linux runtime 3.0 sniper) then it will work normally

Re-reading this issue report, it should be noted that the common case where DRI_PRIME gets set is from the desktop environment seeing PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true in Steam's desktop shortcut. As a workaround, this can be set to false or removed to avoid this issue.

well i applied this by changing lines to comments.after reboot (as recommended), prime-run steam still gives the same result as in my case #10208.

#PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true
#X-KDE-RunOnDiscreteGpu=true

@karesosis prime-run is just a more direct way of getting a program to run on a non-default/discrete GPU, whereas those keys in the desktop entry file are ways of indicating to the desktop environment that the program should be launched with prime-run, env DRI_PRIME=1, or some other way of running the program on a different GPU.
Until this issue is fixed, you'll just have to run Steam on the default GPU and add prime-run %command% to the launch options of each game that runs via OpenGL.
Vulkan (native or translated with dxvk/vkd3d) games should automatically pick the more performant GPU or allow you to choose if native.

I can reproduce this issue with a laptop with two AMD GPUs (Phoenix and 7700S) and launching Steam like this:

DRI_PRIME=1 flatpak run com.valvesoftware.Steam

I haven't seen it mentioned here so I thought I should add that when the issue happens there is a segfault followed by a GPU reset.

[ 1086.416442] Composite Threa[26976]: segfault at 0 ip 0000000000000000 sp 00007f11d9993c38 error 14 in steamwebhelper[400000+10000] likely on CPU 4 (core 2, socket 0)
[ 1086.416457] Code: Unable to access opcode bytes at 0xffffffffffffffd6.
[ 1094.281717] Composite Threa[28145]: segfault at 0 ip 0000000000000000 sp 00007fe1471b0c38 error 14 in steamwebhelper[400000+10000] likely on CPU 15 (core 7, socket 0)
[ 1094.281734] Code: Unable to access opcode bytes at 0xffffffffffffffd6.
[ 1103.053918] [drm] PCIE GART of 512M enabled (table at 0x00000081FEB00000).
[ 1103.053956] [drm] PSP is resuming...
[ 1103.110556] [drm] reserve 0x1300000 from 0x81fc000000 for PSP TMR

The kernel version is 6.6.6-200.fc39.x86_64, and this is Silverblue, so the flatpak is really the only way to run Steam.

The workaround mentioned above does work for me.

DRI_PRIME=1 flatpak run com.valvesoftware.Steam -cef-disable-gpu

@superm1: I'm also on Silverblue and use Steam from Flathub and have 2 GPUs (one integrated with my CPU and a discrete one.)

While we're waiting for a proper fix, you can set that environment in the Flatseal app. Or you can run a 1-line command to adjust it for you (which does the same thing):

flatpak override --user --env=DRI_PRIME=1 com.valvesoftware.Steam

(Use either 1 or 0, depending on which works for you. This will override it just for your user account; if you are on a multi-user system and want to fix it for everyone on the system, then you'd need to drop the --user and prefix the command with sudo).

In my case, I need to tell it DRI_PRIME=0 (not 1), else it takes a while longer to start (as it looks like it loop crashes a few times until it eventually figures it out after a minute or two).

Here's what it looks like for me in Flatseal (you have to click the + icon first, then enter the variable):

I find that if I set the variable correctly (I tried both 0 and 1; for me it's 0), I don't need to specify -cef-disable-gpu or disable GPU acceleration in Steam's settings (under "Interface").

@garrett that's not really a solution, you're essentially telling Steam to run on your iGPU, meaning games won't launch on your dGPU by default, which is unacceptable for many games...

@Thesola10 A solution would be Valve fixing the underlying issue, but until then we have to settle for these workarounds.

Vulkan (and D3D via translation) games should automatically pick the more performant GPU, so the only games that should be an issue are those that use OpenGL, in which case you simply set env DRI_PRIME=1 %command% or prime-run %command% as the game's launch command depending on your setup.

This has worked just fine for me, though it would be nice to not need it at all.

@Thesola10: I never said it was a solution. It's a workaround you can do meanwhile.

I literally said this near the top to explain that:

While we're waiting for a proper fix, you can

Well, I see that Linux Mint 21.3 "Virginia" is finally out. However, I am very hesitant to upgrade. I had to struggle quite a bit to get Steam running back to normal on Linux Mint 21.2 "Victoria." Has the new Linux Mint version (21.3 "Virginia") solved theses issues, or does it cause further problems? Just wanted to ask and voice my concern is all...

@romeroFan6268 This issue is distro (version) agnostic, as far as I can tell.

@romeroFan6268 This issue is distro (version) agnostic, as far as I can tell.

Yeah, I know. I noticed that this problem started happening with Linux Mint 21.2 "Victoria." All the previous versions ran fine. I was just hoping to know if the new Linux Mint distro (21.3 "Virginia") had the same issue, if it fixed it, or made it worse. I do hope Valve fixes these issues, or that the Linux developers can. I was able to get Steam to run on Linux Mint 21.2 "Victoria" by changing these two lines in the settings to "false," so it'd read:

PrefersNonDefaultGPU=false
X-KDE-RunOnDiscreteGpu=false

That did the trick for me. I hope this helps... :)

I'm betting that the desktop environments in previous versions of Linux Mint hadn't yet implemented the GPU hinting functionality, so Steam's issue with non-default GPUs wasn't being triggered.

I'm betting that the desktop environments in previous versions of Linux Mint hadn't yet implemented the GPU hinting functionality, so Steam's issue with non-default GPUs wasn't being triggered.

I see. Yeah, that sounds like the problem I was having. Changing those two lines in Steam's settings did the trick for me. I heard others weren't so lucky. I do hope that the Steam developers fix this issue soon... :)

Myself and one other are also experiencing this issue. Setting Exec=/usr/games/steam %U -cef-disable-gpu (leaving all other settings the same) resolved it.

@kisak-valve I think this issue should be prioritised higher as many Linux users not as capable with Google-fu may not be able to find this thread.

I had this issue fixed by setting PrefersNonDefaultGPU=false, but I guess something else updated the file, which broke Steam for me again. At least I'm savvy enough to find this thread, but I agree that most people are not going to be able to fix it on their own.

I had this issue fixed by setting PrefersNonDefaultGPU=false, but I guess something else updated the file, which broke Steam for me again. At least I'm savvy enough to find this thread, but I agree that most people are not going to be able to fix it on their own.

Just out of curiosity, which Linux distro are you using? Linux Mint Cinnamon 21.3 "Virginia," Ubuntu, or something else? Just wanna make sure which Linux distros are affected by this change is all... :)

Also, for me, I changed the two lines in Steam setup, so it read as followed:

PrefersNonDefaultGPU=false
X-KDE-RunOnDiscreteGpu=false

I know you changed the first line to this, but maybe changing the second line as well may help... :)

Just out of curiosity, which Linux distro are you using?

Linux Mint 21.3. But the problem didn't reappear when I upgraded from 21.2, it reappeared more recently.

I know you changed the first line to this, but maybe changing the second line as well may help... :)

Changing only the first line was enough to get it working again for me.

Just out of curiosity, which Linux distro are you using?

Linux Mint 21.3. But the problem didn't reappear when I upgraded from 21.2, it reappeared more recently.

I know you changed the first line to this, but maybe changing the second line as well may help... :)

Changing only the first line was enough to get it working again for me.

Oh, so you were able to get it working again by changing that line again?

this happened to me, after restarting. Steam would show a balck window and close it, repeatedly, not being able to show my library. Launching from console worked OK.

What worked for me is that I noticed that my iGPU (the one that comes with the CPU) was suddenly enabled after a restart. Disabling it, as it was at the moment of installation of Steam, fixed everything.

After @perroboc 's comment, I checked the BIOS and my iGPU was enabled as well (Ryzen 9 7950X3D). Just disable the stupid thing, and you are good to go without any modifications.

Lot of comments here so apologies if this has been said before, but I found a fix. If you can find a way to launch steam that works (for me launching it from console with the steam command works) and turn off Enable GPU accelerated rendering in web views in the interface setting it will work again if launched with DRI_PRIME=1 or, for me, from the application launcher in KDE.

Well, it appears that changing the two lines in the Steam setup to:

PrefersNonDefaultGPU=false
X-KDE-RunOnDiscreteGpu=false

Well, now it works only once and then quits for good. Steam will not open. I have no idea why. Perhaps it's the new update for Linux Mint, Steam, or both. I have no idea...

In short, the Panel Icon for Steam will not work right.

Also, the start menu application shortcut for Steam does not work either...

Thankfully, I can still get it to work by typing in "Steam" in the terminal, clicking the Steam desktop icon, or by right-clicking the Steam icon on the Panel and selecting "Settings." It will not open any other way (at least none that I know about).

Ay-ya-ya-ya-yai. Such a rigmarole trying to get Steam to work on Linux Mint, you know? Uffda... :(

It seems over time, Steam wants us to use their program less and less. I don't know why. A lot of us don't wanna switch to Ubuntu to run Steam. Plus, from what I've heard, some people are even having problems on there as well...

Even "Minigalaxy" (which is basically the Linux version for GOG Galaxy) does not have any issues opening up...

Replying to https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-1860142748

This seems to be a solution for me, as for now. But sometimes the issue comes back and the client remains invisible. So I hope this is more of a permanent solution. At least until it is properly fixed

Unfortunenately the problem came back.

I wrote a script that automates setting up a workaround for this.

You can find it here: https://gist.github.com/major-gnuisance/4fad491e37c5ac7efa72f9473d4e95bd

It sets up a shim script that adds the -cef-disable-gpu flag when the DRI_PRIME environment variable is set and installs a modified steam.desktop to use it.
Tested on Fedora 40 Workstation, but I expect it to be nearly universally compatible.

@kisak-valve I see 2 issues here:

2. That Steam is requesting a non-default GPU in the first place is an issue in itself. There's no reason for Steam to wake-up a dGPU in a laptop, that's wasteful. Only games should require using a dGPU, and even then, not all games require that.

Hear, hear!

Ideally, Steam itself would always prefer to use the default GPU, to conserve power, and help the user manage GPU preferences for games.

I'd suggest adding a "default GPU" setting, looking something like this:

• Use system default (GPU0)
• Ask every time
• GPU0: Foobar Inc. 1000 Lite (Integrated GPU)
• GPU1: Foobar Inc. 9001 Ultra (Discrete GPU)
• GPU2: llvmpipe (LLVM 18.1.1, 256 bits) (Software rendering)

With an option to override the selection on a per-game basis, much like it works with Proton.

See the output of vulkaninfo --summary for inspiration.
Namely, the deviceName and deviceType keys.

Lot of comments here so apologies if this has been said before, but I found a fix. If you can find a way to launch steam that works (for me launching it from console with the steam command works) and turn off Enable GPU accelerated rendering in web views in the interface setting it will work again if launched with DRI_PRIME=1 or, for me, from the application launcher in KDE.

Yes! This is the only thing that fixed it for me, on Fedora 40 KDE Plasma 6. I removed the variables from the desktop file, but it only worked once I also turned this off.
I don't know if my configuration needs both, or just the steam settings fix. I am not going to add the lines back to the desktop file to test it.

Got a solution, not sure if this has already been posted, but I have a feeling that this is indeed a problem on valves end.
(Literally created this account to post this, because I spent the last 3hrs trying to figure this out, it is currently 02:17)

This started happening on my version of Kubuntu 24.04. Steam launched with an update pending, after the update, I completely lost the steam window and it would only launch from the terminal or by executing the launch script from the bin folder.

This is my fix in Kubuntu 24.04

Locate Steam.desktop (typically located in /usr/share/applications/ -or- /home/YourUsername/.local/share/applications/)
Right Click
Open with Kate
Scroll until you find PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true
Change =true to =false

(repeat this step for wherever you have the steam.desktop located)

This was able to fix my issue.

Replying to https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-2155706555

yep fixed it for me as well

guys, nothing work for me, i am in kde plasma 6 in manjaro stable, with RTX 4070 in WAYLAND,

What things i've tried? there is the list:

1. Running Steam from the terminal with the argument -vgui instead of starting it through the desktop shortcut.
2. Removing or add PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true from the Steam .desktop file.
3. Setting DRI_PRIME=0 or DRI_PRIME=none. or in 1
4. Modifying a script to add the -cef-disable-gpu flag when the DRI_PRIME environment variable is set.
5. Creating a workaround using a modified steam.desktop, which uses a shim script that adds the -cef-disable-gpu flag.
6. Launching Steam from console with the steam command.
7. -vgui or try --reset or delete steam folder from /home/noe/.local/share/Steam/

These solutions not work for me

could please something help me?

@Milor123

What CPU are you using?

@Milor123

What CPU are you using?

CPU: Intel i5-14500 (20) @ 5.000GHz
GPU: Intel AlderLake-S GT1
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070
Steam client version (last installed from pacman today):
Distribution (Manjaro Linux x86_64 Kernel: 6.6.32-1-MANJARO):
Opted into Steam client beta?: No
Have you checked for system updates?: yes
Steam Logs: steam-logs.tar.gz
GPU: Nvidia RTX 4070 (As secundary gpu, the main is the iGPU, but it always worked well)

@Milor123

You need to disable your iGPU in the BIOS. That's the permanent solution.

@Milor123

You need to disable your iGPU in the BIOS. That's the permanent solution.

It not a solution for me, I need work with my GPU and use it for passthrought in many situations

I was playing for a long time this way.

my iGPU loads kde plasma and my steam games use my nvidia card, it was always working in the past without any problems..

there is no reason to change it, it is a steam error, steam should open as it normally did.

Launching Steam from console with the steam command.

what's the output from this?

Launching Steam from console with the steam command.

what's the output from this?

this

steam                      
steam.sh[159649]: Running Steam on manjarolinux 24.0.2 64-bit
steam.sh[159649]: STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically
setup.sh[159722]: Steam runtime environment up-to-date!
steam.sh[159649]: Steam client's requirements are satisfied
[2024-06-25 20:44:26] Startup - updater built Jun 20 2024 17:13:49
[2024-06-25 20:44:26] Startup - Steam Client launched with: '/home/noe/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam' '-srt-logger-opened'
06/25 20:44:26 minidumps folder is set to /tmp/dumps
06/25 20:44:26 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1718904662)/tid(159785)
Looks like steam didn't shutdown cleanly, scheduling immediate update check
[2024-06-25 20:44:26] Loading cached metrics from disk (/home/noe/.local/share/Steam/package/steam_client_metrics.bin)
[2024-06-25 20:44:26] Failed to load cached hosts file (File 'update_hosts_cached.vdf' not found), using defaults
[2024-06-25 20:44:26] Using the following download hosts for Public, Realm steamglobal
[2024-06-25 20:44:26] 1. https://cdn.steamstatic.com, /client/, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 1, source = 'baked in'
[2024-06-25 20:44:26] Checking for update on startup
[2024-06-25 20:44:26] Checking for available updates...
[2024-06-25 20:44:26] Downloading manifest: https://cdn.steamstatic.com/client/steam_client_ubuntu12
[2024-06-25 20:44:26] Manifest download: send request
[2024-06-25 20:44:27] Manifest download: waiting for download to finish
[2024-06-25 20:44:27] Manifest download: finished
[2024-06-25 20:44:27] Download skipped: /client/steam_client_ubuntu12 version 1718904662, installed version 1718904662, existing pending version 0
[2024-06-25 20:44:27] Nothing to do
[2024-06-25 20:44:27] Verifying installation...
[2024-06-25 20:44:27] Performing checksum verification of executable files
[2024-06-25 20:44:28] Verification complete
UpdateUI: skip show logo
Steam logging initialized: directory: /home/noe/.local/share/Steam/logs

/home/noe/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/pinned_libs_32/libcurl.so.4: version `CURL_OPENSSL_4' not found (required by /usr/lib32/libproxy/libpxbackend-1.0.so)
Failed to load module: /usr/lib32/gio/modules/libgiolibproxy.so
XRRGetOutputInfo Workaround: initialized with override: 0 real: 0xebcaadc0
XRRGetCrtcInfo Workaround: initialized with override: 0 real: 0xebca9500
CAppInfoCacheReadFromDiskThread took 0 milliseconds to initialize
Couldn't initialize SDL: wayland  not available
Steam Runtime Launch Service: starting steam-runtime-launcher-service
Steam Runtime Launch Service: steam-runtime-launcher-service is running pid 159951
bus_name=com.steampowered.PressureVessel.LaunchAlongsideSteam
Couldn't initialize SDL: wayland  not available

Failed to load module: /usr/lib32/gio/modules/libgiolibproxy.so

are you sure your problem is the same as in this issue?

from the arch wiki, Finding missing runtime libraries, could you please share the output from this command?

$ cd ~/.steam/root/ubuntu12_32
$ file * | grep ELF | cut -d: -f1 | LD_LIBRARY_PATH=. xargs ldd | grep 'not found' | sort | uniq

and make sure you [re]install required libs. I remember when I used Arch I had to do something similar:

pacman -S lib32-fontconfig lib32-freetype2 lib32-gdk-pixbuf2 lib32-gtk2 lib32-libice lib32-libnm lib32-libpulse lib32-sdl2 lib32-libva lib32-libvdpau lib32-libudev0-shim lib32-openal lib32-libsm

Failed to load module: /usr/lib32/gio/modules/libgiolibproxy.so

are you sure your problem is the same as in this issue?

from the arch wiki, Finding missing runtime libraries, could you please share the output from this command?

$ cd ~/.steam/root/ubuntu12_32
$ file * | grep ELF | cut -d: -f1 | LD_LIBRARY_PATH=. xargs ldd | grep 'not found' | sort | uniq

and make sure you [re]install required libs. I remember when I used Arch I had to do something similar:

pacman -S lib32-fontconfig lib32-freetype2 lib32-gdk-pixbuf2 lib32-gtk2 lib32-libice lib32-libnm lib32-libpulse lib32-sdl2 lib32-libva lib32-libvdpau lib32-libudev0-shim lib32-openal lib32-libsm

Thank u very much bro, it apparently works well, after install and run your command for search file, it dont found errors, and now I've installared my steam beta and works.

NOTE IT WORK ONLY IF I RUN STEAM WITH THIS:

env -u SDL_VIDEODRIVER steam

Thank uuu bro !!!! If the error occurs again I will let you know.

Currently still an issue, however I need Steam to launch with the dGPU in specific circumstances, like when using VR. If the Steam client is launched with the iGPU but you launch SteamVR with the dGPU (for example when using ALVR), you get this garbled mess. Launching games still works fine (as long as you run them with DRI_PRIME=1) so it's not a showstopper, just a bit annoying.

Quick note: today Steam started presenting the same behaviour, and indeed it was because, somehow, the integrated GPU was enabled. Had to reboot to UEFI and disable it, and Steam started working as expected again.

Might have been the windows partition doing something to the UEFI config, I don't know.

No idea about the relevance, but disabling integrated GPU on BIOS solved it for me.

System:
  Host: nobara.lab Kernel: 6.11.8-300.fc41.x86_64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.2.3 Distro: Fedora Linux 41 (KDE Plasma)
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: ASUS product: N/A v: N/A serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: ProArt X670E-CREATOR WIFI v: Rev 1.xx
    serial: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends v: 2506
    date: 10/28/2024
CPU:
  Info: 8-core model: AMD Ryzen 7 7700X bits: 64 type: MT MCP cache: L2: 8 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 4799 min/max: 545/5573 cores: 1: 4799 2: 4799 3: 4799
    4: 4799 5: 4799 6: 4799 7: 4799 8: 4799 9: 4799 10: 4799 11: 4799 12: 4799
    13: 4799 14: 4799 15: 4799 16: 4799
Graphics:
  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 31 [Radeon RX 7900 XT/7900
    XTX/7900 GRE/7900M] driver: amdgpu v: kernel
  Display: wayland server: Xwayland v: 24.1.4 compositor: kwin_wayland
    driver: N/A resolution: 1: 2560x1440 2: 1920x1080
  API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: kms_swrast,radeonsi,swrast
    platforms: gbm,wayland,x11,surfaceless,device
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 24.2.7 renderer: AMD
    Radeon RX 7900 XTX (radeonsi navi31 LLVM 19.1.0 DRM 3.59
    6.11.8-300.fc41.x86_64)
  API: Vulkan v: 1.3.296 drivers: N/A surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland
Audio:
  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 31 HDMI/DP Audio
    driver: snd_hda_intel
  Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 17h/19h HD Audio
    driver: snd_hda_intel
  Device-3: Audient iD4 driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid type: USB
  API: ALSA v: k6.11.8-300.fc41.x86_64 status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.2.6 status: active
Network:
  Device-1: Intel 82599ES 10-Gigabit SFI/SFP+ Network driver: ixgbe
  IF: enp1s0 state: up speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: full mac: 00:1b:21:bc:9f:18
  Device-2: MEDIATEK MT7922 802.11ax PCI Express Wireless Network Adapter
    driver: mt7921e
  IF: wlp11s0 state: down mac: de:56:fe:88:28:d2
  Device-3: Intel Ethernet I225-V driver: igc
  IF: eno1 state: down mac: c8:7f:54:6a:3d:a0
  Device-4: Aquantia AQtion AQC113CS NBase-T/IEEE 802.3an Ethernet [Antigua
    10G] driver: atlantic
  IF: eno2 state: down mac: c8:7f:54:6a:44:70
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Foxconn / Hon Hai Wireless_Device driver: btusb type: USB
  Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 state: up address: D8:80:83:9C:6F:14 bt-v: 5.2
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.82 TiB used: 135.96 GiB (7.3%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 980 PRO 2TB size: 1.82 TiB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 1.82 TiB used: 135.53 GiB (7.3%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3
  ID-2: /boot size: 973.4 MiB used: 427.6 MiB (43.9%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
  ID-3: /boot/efi size: 598.8 MiB used: 19.3 MiB (3.2%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
  ID-4: /home size: 1.82 TiB used: 135.53 GiB (7.3%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 41.0 C mobo: 26.0 C gpu: amdgpu temp: 39.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 8
Info:
  Memory: total: 32 GiB note: est. available: 30.97 GiB used: 4.96 GiB (16.0%)
  Processes: 789 Uptime: 4m Shell: Zsh inxi: 3.3.36

experiencing this issue as well. Ever since switching from Nvidia to AMD

I made a post https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/11560 but was rightfully closed for duplication. Notes might still be helpful.

Would love to be able to run Steam properly.

experiencing this issue as well. Ever since switching from Nvidia to AMD

I made a post #11560 but was rightfully closed for duplication. Notes might still be helpful.

Would love to be able to run Steam properly.

Bro, try add here more details of you error, how is you crash? logs or things that can help to understand your problem.

Try running the steam over your terminal, and paste your logs here.

Replying to https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-2536332756

Sorry man, more info is in my original post linked in my first comment on this page. I'm new to linux and when I tried to get support from steam, they just pushed me to here. I don't know exactly whats logs you are looking for but happy to provide whatever you need but I need some instruction.

I assume you mean to run the steam command and copy/paste the output from terminal?

Replying to [#9383 (comment)](https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-2536332756)

Sorry man, more info is in my original post linked in my first comment on this page. I'm new to linux and when I tried to get support from steam, they just pushed me to here. I don't know exactly whats logs you are looking for but happy to provide whatever you need but I need some instruction.

I assume you mean to run the steam command and copy/paste the output from terminal?

What SO (distribution of linux) are u using?
Simply try show the basic, open a terminal and write, steam-native or steam-runtime or steam
(it should show a small log in your terminal while the steam is trying open and crash) or search in /home/<user>/.steam/error.log

and send file here and/or paste code in code format

Replying to https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-2536955775

Ubuntu Distro

txt file with output attached when i run steam command.
steam dump 12-11-24.txt

As for that error.log, I do not see such a thing at that location

@eons93 The Steam "icon" (.desktop file) sets a flag (PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true) that causes Steam to try to run on the performance GPU, but this causes a crash that Valve simply hasn't fixed yet.
Based on your post (https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/11560), Steam is working when run directly from a terminal, so just keep doing that or remove the flag from the .desktop file.
You mentioned "steam is behaving weirdly", but didn't go into any detail.

Replying to [#9383 (comment)](https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-2536955775)

Ubuntu Distro

txt file with output attached when i run steam command. steam dump 12-11-24.txt

As for that error.log, I do not see such a thing at that location

just try test if work execute the command in terminal:

try both, see if either solves your problem, if not then your problem is probably something else.

PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true steam
and
PrefersNonDefaultGPU=false steam

@eons93 The Steam "icon" (.desktop file) sets a flag (PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true) that causes Steam to try to run on the performance GPU, but this causes a crash that Valve simply hasn't fixed yet. Based on your post (#11560), Steam is working when run directly from a terminal, so just keep doing that or remove the flag from the .desktop file. You mentioned "steam is behaving weirdly", but didn't go into any detail.

I see, then I will look into changing the flag and seeing if that fixes it. As for the other strangeness, I feel like there are a few things but the main one that comes to mind is that sometimes when I start a game, steam will try and shutdown (a steam styled window pops up saying "steam is shutting down" or something similar). I can play the game fine and nothing actually happens to the steam client. This might be tied to something else I'm noticing where the steam client will just close after I quit out of a game.

Replying to https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-2539456751

Alright, changing the flag did not change anything. additionally tried running the commands Milor123 suggested and both commands worked just fine so whatever the issue is, its not that.

Replying to [#9383 (comment)](https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-2539456751)

Alright, changing the flag did not change anything. additionally tried running the commands Milor123 suggested and both commands worked just fine so whatever the issue is, its not that.

Are you runing it in wayland?

you should try:
unset SDL_VIDEODRIVER; steam

Replying to https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-2542389409

Like the command just like that? running steam from terminal always works. how could I add that to the .desktop file? just copy and paste that line (up until the ' ; ') ?

Edit: I confirmed, I am running wayland. I did some quick googling on that parameter you mentioned and tried adding the line SDL_VIDEODRIVER=x11 and SDL_VIDEODRIVER=wayland to no difference.

I dont see why it would be an issue but I'm opening the steam.desktop file and saving my changes without issue then running steam icon. Not closing text editor between changes, but only making and saving changes when steam is closed. Just want to confirm that isn't somehow not submitting the changes.

Replying to [#9383 (comment)](https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-2536955775) @Milor123

PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true steam and PrefersNonDefaultGPU=false steam

Using PrefersNonDefaultGPU as an environment variable shouldn't do anything since it is meant to be handled by the desktop environment when used in a desktop entry file. When the DE detects that key, it will do one of many things to use the non-default GPU:

# for open source drivers
DRI_PRIME=1 application
# nvidia's proprietary driver
optirun application
optirun -b primus application
primusrun application
prime-run application
__NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 __VK_LAYER_NV_optimus=NVIDIA_only __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia application
# possibly others 😬

@eons93 If Steam is loading when launched from the terminal, but not from the desktop entry file, then I would assume you haven't removed the PrefersNonDefaultGPU line yet. Or are you having a different issue?

@eons93 If Steam is loading when launched from the terminal, but not from the desktop entry file, then I would assume you haven't removed the PrefersNonDefaultGPU line yet. Or are you having a different issue?

I think I am having a different issue. I removed that line and steam still isn't running properly.

Essentially what happens when I run Steam from the desktop icon, steam is running in the background but the window will only blink in and out of existence for a split second, reattempting to open the window every 5 seconds I would guess. This continues until I quit the process by right clicking the icon on the top bar of my screen. Below is my desktop file if thats of any help.
steam.txt

Try removing X-KDE-RunOnDiscreteGpu=true as well?

Replying to https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-2542616080

you need edit the file /etc/environment (I highly recommend this if it solved your problem, in linux there are a lot of games that will not work if you remove the “SDL”.)

sudo nano /etc/environment

add it:

SDL_VIDEODRIVER=unset

Replying to https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-2543996009

Yep, this is the one that did it. Even had a backup of the steam.desktop file that was unaltered and used that.

So my question now is, was my issue caused by not performing a step when I swapped from Nvidia to AMD? Everything I saw prior to the swap was that AMD runs much better and that i would just need to uninstall the nvidia drivers before I swapped (I might have unisntalled them after though). Trying to get a lesson out of this, haha.

I'm having an identical issue.

Distro: Solus 4.6 Convergence
DE: Budgie
Window system: X11
GPU: AMD RX 6400
CPU: Intel Core i5-8500
System install (not Flatpak)

Running using either switcheroo-control (Prefers Non-Default GPU set to true in a .desktop file) or the DRI_PRIME=1 environment variable set in either a terminal or .desktop file causes Steam to start fine, show the login screen, then repeatedly display a transparent window that almost immediately closes.

When attempting to use the integrated Intel GPU, Steam works perfectly, but games run on the integrated GPU :(

Doing SDL_VIDEODRIVER=unset results in the message described here: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/11608

Note that the DE and compositor are running on the integrated GPU.
Issue persists no matter what GPU the monitor is connected to.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/bd293343-7de1-406d-8add-1b533629f5a2

After some messing around in Kubuntu 24.10 I found a easy way to make it work like expected, if you go to the .desktop shortcut and do properties then click on run on dedicated gpu to disable it. It will boot fine and give no more issues.

(I have attached my screenshot on how to get it working on Kubuntu)

@ScarlettSamantha

if you go to the .desktop shortcut and do properties then click on run on dedicated gpu to disable it. It will boot fine and give no more issues.

Yes, this issue is discussing Steam crashing when that specific option is enabled. That option (effectively) sets DRI_PRIME through switcheroo-control.
Disabling it ‘fixes’ the problem because the problem only happens when that option (or others like it) are enabled ;)

I am in Zorin OS.
I don't have that KDE menu, however I was able to fix it by editing my .desktop file (/usr/share/applications/steam.desktop).

PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true

I changed the above line from true to false. My system does have an iGPU, but for whatever reason this line needs to be false.

I had to restart my system for the change to take effect (though maybe you can just log out and log back in).

@nathub

PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true

I changed the above line from true to false. My system does have an iGPU, but for whatever reason this line needs to be false.

This issue is discussing Steam crashing when that option is set to true. That option (effectively) sets DRI_PRIME through switcheroo-control.
Setting it to false ‘fixes’ the problem because the problem only happens when that option (or others like it) are enabled ;)

Edit: And yes I mostly copy-pasted this from my previous reply. Seems to be a commonly misunderstood subject 😁

Replying to https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-2600861775

Thanks alot : this solved my problem on Fedora 41 KDE Spin! :)

I too had(have) the issue that Steam would launch but no interface would show. Here are my 2cents.
From reading online (and here) and testing for myself, the issue seem to stem from having multiple GPU's installed while using a locally installed Steam version (non-flatpak).

I use Fedora 42 (Wayland, KDE plasma 6.3.5, AMD Ryzen 7600x and AMD 9070xt).

Running steam from the terminal would launch the app without problems. No noticeable errors either. Only error i saw was related to the KDE theme, which i can't explain.
Running the flatpak version of steam will also launch the app without issues.

Disable one of the GPU's (Either via BIOS, disabling dGPU in the .desktop properties, or setting PrefersNonDefaultGPU to false) sounds like a workaround (not a fix), but it actually disables the usage of the dedicated GPU (not for all games). And it would mean i need to add arguments to my games to use the dedicated GPU (DRI_PRIME=1).
For me this sounds like solving one problem by creating another.

Few commenters already mentioned this by now, and i tried it as well. As a WORKAROUND, disabling the option Enable GPU accelerated rendering in Web Views works for me as well.
As this option only applies to the steam client and not to games (As far as i can find).

This looks like the least invasive WORKAROUND right now other than running steam from the console.

First of all, thanks you a lot for your message @selenias this really fixed the issue for me.

However, it is of course just a workaround and should be fixed from steams side.

I have two GPUs in my system, one integrated intel and a dedicated AMD gpu and this causes the exact issue mentioned.

I see a few recommendations to simply not use DRI_PRIME=1, which does solve the issue with the Steam client itself, but doesn't that leave games not using the dGPU by default now?

@kisak-valve Can you do something to prioritize this issue and get it fixed soon, considering so many people are affected by this (as evidenced by the number of duplicate reports)? With Steam being perhaps the biggest steward of the Linux desktop, I would never have thought a show-stopping bug like this would take so long to resolve.

Thank you for staying professional throughout.

I'll try to summarize everything I've learned so as to lessen confusion for others. If you landed on this bug, it is because Steam has an issue with accelerating web views (the whole interface might be a web view) on a secondary GPU. To solve this you can:

• Disable your integrated GPU via BIOS settings so that your secondary GPU becomes the primary for everything as noted by michaelneverwins.
• Run steam manually from a terminal (I do this every time just in case I want to see debug output). You do not need to run env DRI_PRIME=0 steam unless that variable was set to something truthy elsewhere. Initially suggested by kisak-valve.
• Right click on the steam.desktop file and click "launch using integrated graphics card" as noted by DreamingCuttlefish.
• Get Steam running via another method (eg, bios, terminal, desktop file), then turn off "Enable GPU accelerated rendering in web views (requires restart)" via Settings -> Interface so that you can run Steam semi-normally as noted by selenias. It may be preferable to utilize another method if rendering web views is too heavy on your CPU as opposed to your iGPU (still technically your CPU, usually, but possibly more efficient utilization).
• Remove PrefersNonDefaultGPU from your steam.desktop file or set it to false as noted by michaelneverwins.

sed 's/PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true/PrefersNonDefaultGPU=false/' \
    /usr/share/applications/steam.desktop \
    > ~/.local/share/applications/steam.desktop

When whatever is handling .desktop files sees PrefersNonDefaultGPU with a truthy value (true or 1 usually), it will set the environment variable DRI_PRIME=1 for Mesa drivers or prefix the command (steam) to be run with prime-run or primusrun for NVIDIA drivers (or possibly something else entirely) in order to get the program running on a secondary GPU.

Unless you're disabling GPU acceleration of web views, until this issue is fixed, you'll just have to run Steam on the default GPU and add env DRI_PRIME=1 %command% or prime-run %command% to the launch options of each game that runs via OpenGL. Vulkan (native or translated by Wine/Proton with dxvk/vkd3d) games should automatically pick the more performant GPU or allow you to choose if it natively uses Vulkan.

These commands might be helpful.

❯ glxinfo -B | grep Device
    Device: AMD Radeon Graphics (radeonsi, renoir, ACO, DRM 3.64, 6.16.6-1-default) (0x1638)
❯ env DRI_PRIME=1 glxinfo -B | grep Device
    Device: AMD Radeon RX 6800M (radeonsi, navi22, LLVM 20.1.8, DRM 3.64, 6.16.6-1-default) (0x73df)

Good idea!

To solve this you can: [...]

Another workaround is, after launching Steam from the terminal just once, go to Settings -> Interface and turn off "Enable GPU accelerated rendering in web views (requires restart)". After this, Steam will not have this problem again.

Via https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/9383#issuecomment-2901778438

I'd appreciate it if you edit this into your post so it's all in one place :)

@NeatNit Done. I also edited the intro to reflect the newfound/rediscovered knowledge and added a note to this extra method regarding CPU vs GPU efficiency.

Just ended up here for the same issue on Linux Mint. Apparently a recent kernel update enabled my laptop's dedicated Intel Xe MAX GPU in kernel drivers, maybe that's why its suddenly broken for me.

I used the "fix" of disabling GPU acceleration in web-view.

How is this still happening?

I am also having this issue
Framework 16 7040 series - 7700S Radeon DGPU
Debian 13

Im still having this. Steam flashes, then can no longer interact with ui
pkill -9 steamwebhelper fixes this