protonscr

RunningAppID no longer set in registry.vdf

steamopen
ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#9672 · opened 2023-06-18 by Dwarsen · updated 2026-07-24 · 2 comments · github
DDwarsen 2023-06-18 github

Your system information

  • Steam client version (build number or date): 1686880776
  • Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): Manjaro Linux
  • Opted into Steam client beta?: No
  • Have you checked for system updates?: Yes
  • Steam Logs: steam-logs.tar.gz
  • GPU: Nvidia RTX 3080

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

Normally the id of the current running app can be found in ~/.steam/registry.vdf under HKCU.Software.Valve.Steam.RunningAppID, but after the large update with the new fancier UI this is no longer the case, the variable is always set to 0.

This was also an issue during the beta of the new UI; before the changes, this variable was correctly set.

Steps for reproducing this issue:

  1. Start a game in steam
  2. Check HKCU.Software.Valve.Steam.RunningAppID
  3. It will be 0, but should be the AppID of the currently running game
FFrogTheFrog 2023-06-25 github

Can confirm that this is no longer working. Still works on Windows though :/

RRatief 2026-07-24 github

I just ran into this problem and can confirm that the registry.vdf file isn't getting updated with the RunningAppID anymore. In fact the RunningAppID doesn't get created at all on Linux. A fix would be nice! Or some other way to detect when a steam game is launched (d-bus signals?).
OS: Ubuntu 24.04
My .vdf:

	"HKCU"
	{
		"Software"
		{
			"Valve"
			{
				"Steam"
				{
					"StartupModeTmpIsValid"		"0"
					"language"		"english"
					"CompletedOOBEStage1"		"1"
					"SourceModInstallPath"		"/home/snip/.local/share/Steam/steamapps\\sourcemods"
					"AutoLoginUser"		"snip"
					"Rate"		"30000"
					"AlreadyRetriedOfflineMode"		"0"
				}
				"Steamsteamglobal"
				{
					"language"		"english"
				}
			}
		}
	}

Nothing extracted yet.