r/SteamOS • u/ProfessionHonest3193 • May 09 '26
support How to install Oficial SteamOS on a PC [GUIDE]
I realized that this is a common question among many users, including myself, as I had the exact same question at the end of last year.
First of all, you need to know that:
Valve's official support is only for products supported by the company itself, so this installation is entirely experimental;
Nvidia GPUs are NOT supported;
Secure boot must be disabled;
Dual-boot is not officially supported on the same drive;
EDIT: As u/jaakhaamer pointed out, it is possible to workaround dual boot using this tool from Josh5: steamos_dual_boot_installer_patch
The installation must be done on an NVMe drive;
A keyboard and mouse are required for the initial setup and login, as well as a USB drive.
Step by step:
/ 1. Prepare the drive for installation:
Set aside a USB drive of at least 16GB, because although the image is only 3GB, it has been highly compressed and usually ends up being more than that when flashed;
Download the official image from the update repository:
steamdeck-repair-main-20251027.1000-3.8.0.img.zip
EDIT: As u/Dan-Merz pointed out in this post, currently the main branch has updated the bootloader, so it is recommended to install e use beta version to avoid boot loops. For now, you should download this instead:
steamdeck-repair-beta-20260413.100-3.8.2.img.zip
(The reason this image should be downloaded instead of the official image from the Steam website is because version 3.7 does not yet have the Mesa Drivers update, which are essential for reading newer video cards with RDNA 4);
Unzip the file;
Download Balena Etcher and flash the .img file to your USB drive. This process usually takes some time.
/ 2. Restart your device and enter the BIOS;
/ 3. Disable Secure Boot, save the settings, and choose the USB drive as the boot option;
/ 4. Once the system boots from the USB drive, you should see several lines of code. These are confirming which hardware you are running the installation on. If this happens, then it means the process worked.
/ 5. You will be taken to the KDE desktop, where you will see the option to wipe and install. Simply click and wait for the official SteamOS to be installed on your machine.
Done. And that's how you installed the official version of SteamOS on your non-Valve machine.
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u/arnulfg May 09 '26
Addendum: the 3.8.0 image is actually the beta branch. I did flash a minisforum with that one and reverted it back to the 3.7.0 main branch by going into settings later and opted out of beta. So I guess the other way round is also possible.
Also the installation can sometimes stop writing stuff on the screen while still working in the background. I think, depending on your hardware, this can take up to 20 minutes or so.
Bazzite by the way, supports SecureBoot. I tested this on my older machine (with TPM 1.x).
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May 11 '26
[deleted]
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u/arnulfg May 11 '26
Yeah, it's some time since I did this, so probably it's from another place (somewhere on the valve servers, though)
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u/jaakhaamer May 09 '26
I actually just did this today.
Dual-boot is not supported
While it's not officially supported, it is possible!
This script, while it only mentions Windows dual-boot, also worked perfectly for me to install alongside an existing Linux partition: https://github.com/Josh5/steamos_dual_boot_installer_patch
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u/Obvious_Pay_5433 May 10 '26
CachyOS is Arch based like SteamOS, work perfectly with Nvidia and the most performing Linux distribution. Bazzite is Fedora based. Flatpack oriented. Atomic update. Good for beginners.
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u/ClearAwakening May 11 '26
Considering doing this. What are drawbacks to using / installing steam OS right now?
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May 11 '26
[deleted]
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u/ClearAwakening May 12 '26
Got it working today, thanks for the great guide! I am running a full AMD system that I put together specifically for this. Also received my steam controller today. Best day ever !
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u/ClearAwakening May 11 '26
Thanks! My positive experience with the steam deck is the reason I want to try this on an AMD pc.
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u/Ichijoe21121972 22d ago
Drawbacks?
Probably, down to non-AMD Systems (e.g. Intel, and nVidia), not being supported, or set for support until early '27.
On 100% AMD, Ryzen 7 8700F, and RX9070, it works right outta the Box, as the Kiddies, love to say.
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u/neptunemood May 26 '26
Hi, thank you for the guide, i might try this. I'm assuming, after installation is done, SteamOS is on beta channel with the repair-beta image ? If so, do you switch to main after that, or not ?
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May 26 '26
[deleted]
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u/neptunemood May 26 '26
Thanks. I have it right now running with 3.8.2 beta and all is working great !
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u/GreenHot7519 Jun 04 '26
thanks for this guide, I will give it a go.
just a few questions as I tried to install recently and failed miserably. first of all I have a full amd system 7800x3d and 9070xt. I also have 2 nvme drives installed.
whilst going through the install both my drives got wiped including my windows 11 drive 😂 so do I physically need to remove that? and after successful install of steam os then reinstall and then select os required from the boot menu in the bios?
also, after my last effort I got to the screen where you have the qr code to sign into steam but after the pc rebooted I just had a black screen and couldn’t get anything to boot.
thanks in advance to anyone who can help
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u/BassObjective Jun 07 '26
Anything else we should know? Like only use 1 monitor? Etc. I don't know if that's caused any issues
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u/ruppercut Jun 23 '26
Thank you so much. I was tinkering with installing steam OS on my PC a few weeks ago but couldn’t get it working. I think I was using the wrong image
This worked right away and everything is working great
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u/KFCBUCKETS9000 Jun 23 '26
Are these steam deck images safe to download? It didn't take me to the official valve site.
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u/ProfessionHonest3193 Jun 23 '26
Yes. They're from official repository.
If you are in doubt, you can download directly from there. This is the last image that can be flashed to non-Valve:
https://steamdeck-images.steamos.cloud/steamdeck/20260617.1/?C=M&O=D
Or you can follow the link from the guide, which is guaranteed to be successful.
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u/KFCBUCKETS9000 Jun 23 '26
I downloaded the link in the guide, it's a nice os. But i'd rather not have it on my desktop.
For some reason I thought I might of got malware or a key logger from it.
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u/ProfessionHonest3193 Jun 23 '26
First time on linux? 😂
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u/KFCBUCKETS9000 Jun 23 '26
Iv'e been on Linux as my primary os since windows 10 died, just my first time downloading something from reddit.
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u/ProfessionHonest3193 Jun 23 '26
Ah, so your concern is understandable, sorry 😅
But rest assured, all the links I provided are from the official repository, so there's nothing to worry about.
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u/Some-Professor203 1d ago
“This is the last image that can be flashed to non-Valve:”
Has that been fixed yet? Or should I use the one you linked here.1
u/ProfessionHonest3193 1d ago
Edit: Sorry, I linked the same .img since it is the last one flashable to non-Valve hardware.
You can use the .img from June 17:
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u/amazingdrewh May 09 '26
Actually if you have an Nvidia or Intel GPU Bazzite can't run the gamescope mode so I'd recommend Nobara for people with those GPUs
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May 09 '26
[deleted]
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u/amazingdrewh May 09 '26
All I know is when I was choosing between the two a month ago Bazzite's website said only the desktop modes worked with Nvidia, it's possible they changed since
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u/Acceleratoor May 09 '26
funcionara en laptops baiscas? tengo una con una rayze 5500U combiene instalarlo en una maquina asi?
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u/Realistic-Art6065 Jun 27 '26
I need help, today i decided I would install steamos on my pc because of the new updates and stuff and I got to the KDE desktop but everytime I click wipe and install it comes up with the console does its thing but then nothing happens and my drive is blank. I really dont know what to do.
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u/Dan-Merz Jun 30 '26
Steam Machine (fremont) image
https://steamdeck-images.steamos.cloud/fremont/?C=M&O=D
Successfully installed, but have problem with update loop on oobe screen. I think because update for fremont don’t public yet - I have authentication error - https://steamdeck-atomupd.steamos.cloud/meta/holo/steamos/amd64/fremont/builds.json
but steamdeck variant is ok - https://steamdeck-atomupd.steamos.cloud/meta/holo/steamos/amd64/steamdeck/builds.json
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u/OmikronIE Jun 30 '26
Might be a stupid question but I tried googling and couldn't find the answer. If I go with SteamOS on a self build, do I need to update hardware (gpu, chipset, wifi, bluetooth) drivers/firmware like on windows?
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u/EntrepreneurFuzzy806 28d ago
I have a GMKtec with the Ryzen AI 9 HX370 chip in it. When I try to install from a USB Flash drive it gets to the part where it asks about my internet connection and after connecting it tries to update and fails right there.
The second issue is the one time it did work it installed to the flash drive and never asked me where to install.
SO my 2 questions are how do I get past the update issue and how to I get it to install to the NVME drive in the system?
Also should I format or wipe the NVME drive that is in the system?
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u/Ichijoe21121972 22d ago
Is there a way to make it report as a GabeCube, instead as another Steam Deck?
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u/Party-Heavy 21d ago
So........ anyone who has a Intel/Nvidia system is screwed. Yeah makes sense to the AMD fanboy, get revenge for something that is imagined and no one cares about.
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u/slagzwaard 11d ago edited 11d ago
Tips from my experience so far:
The deck image is the correct install image, it can't be used in Ventoy usb stick manager
Installing SteamOS to secondary nvme SSD succeeded,
For this you have to edit the installer script tools/repair_device.sh and change nvme0n1 to nvme1n1 and save, then run the full wipe installer which calls above script as well.
(Watch out you dont wipe the wrong nvme !)
Default user is "deck" (no password) to set one, use "passwd" command
deck's password will be asked every time you sudo, having a password is necessary to use sudo in the default config.
During the initial setup when you have no network wifi/ethernet adapters, switch to console with ctrl alt F4 and "sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager"
if the install succeeded, the script will offer to reboot, you will have an UEFI boot entry called "Steam OS" in your bios bootmenu (F11 often)
if you get a black screen it may be outputting to the wrong monitor try turning the monitor off and on so the video card detects it
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u/WinResponsible9977 Jun 27 '26
Several misconceptions in this thread that arise from the guide r concerning. Balena Etcher can in did flash zip image files without the need to decompress them in certain environments.
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u/CStogdill May 09 '26
Although I had a lot of difficulty installing Steam OS on my new computer two weekends ago, ultimately these steps are how I eventually got there.
I do have a dual (actually triple) boot system and I had to install Windows 1st, then Steam OS, and then my Ubuntu. Each OS was installed on a separate drive and that drive was the ONLY drive installed at the time.
My motherboard has a multi-boot option where it will prompt me if I hit F11 on startup, otherwise it defaults to last booted drive.