Steam Deck Gets Windows Drivers

[TheLostSwede]

If you're one of the lucky few that managed to pre-order a Steam Deck and have had it delivered, you might be interested in knowing that Steam has now released its promised Windows drives. For now, Windows 10 is supported, but Valve is promising support for Windows 11, as soon as the company has incorporated fTPM into the device UEFI. Dual-boot isn't supported at this point in time, but this is something that Valve is also working on and is promising to deliver in SteamOS 3. In addition to the Windows drivers, Valve also added instructions on how to do a system recovery to get SteamOS back on the device, if Windows isn't for you on the Steam Deck.

The driver release includes drivers for the GPU, WiFi and Bluetooth, but audio drivers are missing for now. Valve suggests that those wanting to use Windows on their Steam Deck either use Bluetooth for audio, or rely on USB-C until the company has finished the drivers. This means that no sound will come out of the speaker or 3.5 mm audio jack for the time being. Valve will not offer any kind of Windows support, so it's up to you to get it installed and working on the Steam Deck.



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[Forza.Milan]

its seem like a deja vu, buying linux laptop and then replace with windows

 

[Cutechri]

Good, more choices is always better. By the time I get the e-mail to buy this thing, that dual boot wizard & audio drivers will be fully operational and I am definitely dual-booting Windows.

 

[GoldenX]

Great to have the option, but still, if you want the highest performance, SteamOS should be faster. There is a considerable difference between AMD drivers, and the RADV drivers on mesa.

 

[TechLurker]

Windows is probably a back-up option for games that aren't Linux compatible for one reason or another, like Destiny 2 for example. Sure, one would want to stay with Steam OS for predominantly gameplay purposes, but if their favorite games aren't Linux compatible due to age or code limits, being able to install and run from Windows 10 would help a lot.

 

[Nordic]

In cpu limited games SteamOS is faster than windows. I saw a report today that Cyberpunk is 18% faster on SteamOS than Windows. That is 7 more fps in Cyberpunk.

 

[Cutechri]

I'd just like to have Windows on there so I can actually get full usage out of this thing. It is a portable PC after all. It'd be fun to mess around installing Discord on it, or Afterburner, non-Steam games or games that only work on Windows etc.

 

[Logoffon]

Is dual-booting support relies on some proprietary stuff, or they're just too lazy to implement GRUB?

 

[Mussels]

Ya know...



If SteamOS gets its shit sorted, i wonder how long before i ditch my W10 install for SteamOS

 

[Cutechri]

If SteamOS gets its shit sorted, i wonder how long before i ditch my W10 install for SteamOS

I know when I'll be ditching Windows for any Linux based system - in about 4 lifetimes and maybe not even then.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Good, more choices is always better. By the time I get the e-mail to buy this thing, that dual boot wizard & audio drivers will be fully operational and I am definitely dual-booting Windows.

Lucky, Valve doesn't seem to acknowledge that life outside of North America and the EU exists... I can't even sign up to eventually receive the email to buy it

Is dual-booting support relies on some proprietary stuff, or they're just too lazy to implement GRUB?

The limitation seems to be in the bootloader they are currently using, but a BIOS update will be required because the original release on the initial Deck consoles has the hardware fTPM toggle missing, and will throw errors when installing Windows 11 (which is the intended Windows OS, apparently).

 

[Mussels]

In other words, use rufus to install TPM Free 11

 

[Dr. Dro]

In other words, use rufus to install TPM Free 11

Yeah, there are a few ways to bypass, Rufus, registry editor trick and all but Valve seems to be committed to releasing a BIOS update that enables the fTPM. I suppose that is for the best, if not for Windows 11 compatibility, for some extra security support and getting full advantage of the SoC's capabilities.

I want this little device to succeed, so more companies enter the market creating devices of this type (an UMPC renaissance of sorts, mostly geared towards gaming) and hopefully some of them find their way to South America... I don't think Valve cares or bothers enough to make their hardware available worldwide. We didn't receive the Steam Machines, Controller, or the Index here in Brazil, and they have not lifted a finger to make it happen in any step of the way, either. To add insult to injury the pages are often clearly translated into the local language but all they do is add a smarmy line saying that they "don't allow reservations in your region"

 

[Nordic]

I want this little device to succeed

They said that they plan to start shipping out 100k units a month in April and they have people with confirmed shipping up until the end of Q3, then it would logically make sense that there are at least 600k units sold not counting Q1 or after Q3 orders. It would not surprise me if they had at least a million delivered by years end.

I am not sure what others consider a success, but selling a million units of a niche handheld Linux gaming PC sounds successful to me. I don't think anyone actually expected anything resembling Nintendo sales numbers.

 

[Dr. Dro]

They said that they plan to start shipping out 100k units a month in April and they have people with confirmed shipping up until the end of Q3, then it would logically make sense that there are at least 600k units sold not counting Q1 or after Q3 orders. It would not surprise me if they had at least a million delivered by years end.

I am not sure what others consider a success, but selling a million units of a niche handheld Linux gaming PC sounds successful to me. I don't think anyone actually expected anything resembling Nintendo sales numbers.

I didn't really mean numbers overall, I just want it to sell well, so Valve feels like selling it in my region. More selfish than it sounds, I must admit, but it is a cool gadget for the gamer on the go, imo. It deserves an honest chance. The hardware is pretty good for the price, and it is a versatile machine. Anyone who has an established Steam library and plays a lot of video games should try and get one, but I am stuck on this I would if I could limbo, unfortunately. Cheers!

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

I'll feel less of a tool taking this out to game on then my laptop in my cousin's house for example.

One day .

Where's the club does anyone have one yet?!

 

[Nordic]

I didn't really mean numbers overall, I just want it to sell well, so Valve feels like selling it in my region. More selfish than it sounds, I must admit, but it is a cool gadget for the gamer on the go, imo. It deserves an honest chance. The hardware is pretty good for the price, and it is a versatile machine. Anyone who has an established Steam library and plays a lot of video games should try and get one, but I am stuck on this I would if I could limbo, unfortunately. Cheers!

I think all of the fans, and Linux fans in general, want it to sell well. I am curious if Valve will try to sell it in retail stores after filling all reservations. I am not how well the Deck would sell in the average Best Buy or Walmart.

Where's the club does anyone have one yet?!

It seems the few people on TPU interested are all Q3 or later. We do have a clubhouse ready when people start getting them.

 

[Imsochobo]

its seem like a deja vu, buying linux laptop and then replace with windows

most who have tested speak of atrocious performance vs linux, but there are some cases where stuff doesn't work on linux if you have that one specific game like fortnite because tim sweeny doesn't like valve.

 

[Nordic]

most who have tested speak of atrocious performance vs linux, but there are some cases where stuff doesn't work on linux if you have that one specific game like fortnite because tim sweeny doesn't like valve.

I have read about people having very poor performance on windows, like below 10 fps. I also read that turning on gamescope via the launch options returned performance to normal levels.

Really cpu bound games like cyberpunk perform as much as 18% better on Linux.

 

[TxGrin]

Have any of you tried the steam deck UI on pc yet? I followed this thread and have it working on windows 11.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/t57l4t
Video instructions can be found here.