How To Install SteamOS On a Gaming PC

If you’re envying the Steam Deck experience or looking for an alternative to Windows 11, you’re in luck. You can install the Steam Deck’s operating system, SteamOS, on your gaming PC for free using Valve’s official SteamOS recovery image. 

While Valve doesn’t guarantee support for every PC yet, SteamOS can run on most AMD-powered systems. It only took an hour to get it up and running on my PC and you can do the same. 

Before You Get Started

There are a couple things you’ll need to install SteamOS on your PC, and a few things you should know before trying this. 

It’s also important to note that SteamOS is a distribution of Linux, which means apps that are only available on Windows won’t run on it. Most games that require kernel-level anti-cheat aren’t compatible, either. 

To get SteamOS installed on your PC, you’ll need an empty USB drive with at least 8GB of space. I also recommend having a second storage device on hand, whether it’s an external hard drive or a USB thumb drive, to back up your PC beforehand. 

How to Install SteamOS

1. Backup your PC

Installing SteamOS requires wiping your PC’s drive, so I recommend backing up everything on your PC first. I use an external hard drive to back up all my files, but you can use any drive you like, including cloud storage. The important thing is to save your files on a different drive than the one you’re planning to install SteamOS on (don’t use the USB drive you’re going to put your SteamOS recovery image on, either). 

If you have multiple drives on your gaming PC and want to make sure data on your other drives isn’t wiped while installing SteamOS, it’s a good idea to physically remove those drives from your PC. 

2. Download the SteamOS recovery image

After backing up your PC, download the official SteamOS recovery image. This contains the default version of SteamOS that ships with the Steam Deck. It’s designed for restoring a Steam Deck (or another compatible handheld gaming PC, like the Lenovo Legion Go S) if something happens to your original installation, but you can also use this recovery image for a new installation of SteamOS. After downloading the zip file, extract it. 

3. Flash the SteamOS recovery image to a USB thumb drive

The next step is creating bootable media with the SteamOS recovery image and an empty USB drive. Make sure the drive you use has at least 8GB of storage on it and doesn’t have any other files (the drive will get wiped in the process of creating your bootable media). 

To do this, you need a disk image writing tool like BalenaEtcher or Rufus. I used BalenaEtcher. With the empty USB thumb drive plugged in, I selected “Flash from file” and chose the SteamOS recovery image extracted from the zip file, then selected the USB thumb drive as the destination. It may take several minutes to flash the SteamOS recovery image onto your drive. Once it’s done, shut down your PC. 

4. Boot into the BIOS on your PC and update your boot priority

Next, turn your PC back on, but make sure you boot into your BIOS (not your operating system). If you don’t know the BIOS key for your PC, you can find it by checking the manual for your motherboard (or laptop). Delete and escape are common BIOS keys. As your PC is starting back up, repeatedly press your BIOS key. 

The BIOS looks different depending on your PC, but the setting you need to update is your boot priority. This determines which drive your PC boots into first. Make sure you have your USB drive with the SteamOS recovery image plugged in and set it as the first option in your boot priority. Save the changes and exit your BIOS (which will start the regular booting process). 

5. Boot into SteamOS recovery image

After exiting the BIOS, your PC should attempt to boot into the drive with the SteamOS recovery image. It can take a few minutes for SteamOS to start up. At first, all you’ll see is scrolling lines of text on a black screen – that’s Linux going through the SteamOS startup checklist. Once it’s complete, your screen will go black, potentially for several minutes, while SteamOS is launching. 

Eventually, the SteamOS desktop environment will show up, but this can also take a few minutes, so leave your PC alone while it gets everything up and running. When it’s ready, your mouse and toolbar will appear on screen, along with four icons along the top of your screen. 

To install SteamOS, double click the icon labeled “Wipe Device & Install SteamOS.” You’ll get a pop up warning you that this process will permanently delete everything on your device. If you’re sure you want to go ahead with the installation, select “Proceed.” 

6. Allow SteamOS to install on your PC

After allowing the SteamOS installation to begin, a terminal will appear on your screen. Don’t close it or attempt to change anything in it – this terminal is running the SteamOS installation. Don’t attempt to do anything else in the desktop environment while this is running, either. 

When the process is complete, you’ll see a pop up asking if you want to proceed with a reboot. Select “Proceed” and let your PC restart. This can also take a few minutes, so don’t hit your power button or unplug your system. 

7. Reboot and setup SteamOS

After rebooting, you should see the SteamOS welcome screen. Go through the steps on screen to get your PC set up. When you’re done, SteamOS will search for updates, download them, and restart again. After that, you should see the Steam sign-in page. Log in and you’ll be good to go! 

SteamOS will launch in Steam’s Big Picture Mode since it’s designed for handheld gaming PCs, but you can navigate it with a mouse and keyboard if you want (or a controller). It also has a normal desktop environment outside of Steam where you can install other apps, like Discord, and use your PC for any other normal tasks like web browsing. To move from Steam to your regular desktop environment, select the Menu button in the bottom left, then “Power” then “Switch to Desktop.” 

Tip: Epic Games and GOG don’t have Linux apps, but you can play compatible games from those apps on your SteamOS PC using the Heroic Games launcher. 

Can’t Install SteamOS? Try These Alternative Linux Distributions

SteamOS doesn’t have a full PC release yet, so it won’t work on every system. If you can’t get it running with your hardware, your best bet is to install a different Linux distribution until SteamOS gets a full release. 

The first alternative I recommend is Bazzite. This is one of the best Linux distributions for gaming, especially if you’re new to Linux. Bazzite even works on handheld gaming PCs, if you’re looking to replace Windows 11 on your handheld. 

If Bazzite isn’t your cup of tea, beginner-friendly distributions like Fedora, Ubuntu, and Mint are also good options. Due to their popularity, it’s easy to find troubleshooting help for these distributions and each can be configured to resemble Windows or macOS if you want a more familiar desktop environment.

Stevie Bonifield is a freelance tech journalist who has written for IGN, PC Gamer, Tom’s Guide, and Laptop Mag, covering everything from custom keyboards to gaming on Linux.