Steam Play feature allows for Windows games on Linux

[you2]

Ubuntu for myself. I tried mint a couple of years ago but didn't like it; it was too configured to something or other. I thought it would be a good fit since i run xfce4 (I tried mint when ubuntu went to unity and gnome was not well supported - then settled on xfce4).

 

[TheELF]

With most new users I would point them toward Linux Mint or one of the Official Ubuntu distros. A few that shows a willingness to read the documentation, then Manjaro. I wouldn't advise them to use SteamOS as that is pretty much a game only focused distro. Most gamers do use their computers for other thing besides gaming.

I had to disable the auto login anyway because it wouldn't work at the beginning and of course I left it disabled to have a normal usable OS,it's just pretty bare bones and you have to figure out how to install anything additional you need.

So can you run steam as root with access to your windows partitions?
Because steamOS let's me mount and access them as root but tells me that it won't run steam as a root user

 

[whm1974]

I had to disable the auto login anyway because it wouldn't work at the beginning and of course I left it disabled to have a normal usable OS,it's just pretty bare bones and you have to figure out how to install anything additional you need.

So can you run steam as root with access to your windows partitions?
Because steamOS let's me mount and access them as root but tells me that it won't run steam as a root user

I have never used SteamOS and I never will since it is a game only distro. I use Manjaro Linux.
https://manjaro.org/

Use some other Distro like Manjaro or one of the Ubuntu based ones.

 

[TheELF]

Use some other Distro like Manjaro or one of the Ubuntu based ones.

That's what I was asking,can you do that in manjaro or any other distro?

 

[whm1974]

That's what I was asking,can you do that in manjaro or any other distro?

The lat time I had Windows on my system I could access the drives with out being root. Why would you want to run Steam as root?

 

[TheELF]

The lat time I had Windows on my system I could access the drives with out being root. Why would you want to run Steam as root?

Because that's the only way to add my games partition/steam library to the steam library in linux (that I know of) so I don't have to copy or re download gigabytes of files.
I can access windows read-only when not in root but steam (the software not the OS) needs write access too and this can only be done under root but under root steam doesn't want to launch.

 

[whm1974]

Because that's the only way to add my games partition/steam library to the steam library in linux (that I know of) so I don't have to copy or re download gigabytes of files.
I can access windows read-only when not in root but steam (the software not the OS) needs write access too and this can only be done under root but under root steam doesn't want to launch.

The Windows games will work that way? With Wine you have install Windows applications in Linux using Wine to to work.

 

[TheELF]

The Windows games will work that way? With Wine you have install Windows applications in Linux using Wine to to work.

They would at least show up as installed,on windows I do this often and at first start if the game needs anything extra it get's installed by steam and runs,I can hope that this will be the same for steam on linux.

 

[you2]

This doesn't sound right. Can you provide more details on how the system is setup - i.e, is windows running in a vm or is this network access ?

Because that's the only way to add my games partition/steam library to the steam library in linux (that I know of) so I don't have to copy or re download gigabytes of files.
I can access windows read-only when not in root but steam (the software not the OS) needs write access too and this can only be done under root but under root steam doesn't want to launch.

 

[whm1974]

This doesn't sound right. Can you provide more details on how the system is setup - i.e, is windows running in a vm or is this network access ?

Yeah doesn't sound right either. In any case I wouldn't use SteamOS anyway. I'm sure it is fine for a "console" type setup, but I rather not run a crippled Linux distro.

 

[TheELF]

This doesn't sound right. Can you provide more details on how the system is setup - i.e, is windows running in a vm or is this network access ?

I just have the windows disk connected in the system while I boot into steam on a different disk.
Steam (debian 8) is the only thing running I just want root access while running steam so I can use the existing steam library.
Am I making so little sense?

 

[whm1974]

I just have the windows disk connected in the system while I boot into steam on a different disk.
Steam (debian 8) is the only thing running I just want root access while running steam so I can use the existing steam library.
Am I making so little sense?

I don't think that will work. To be clear I don't think that many people are actually using SteamOS anyway. Like I said Steam Linux games run just fine on other distros including Arch based ones.

 

[you2]

It is called dual boot and should work fine. Also linux can read most windows file systems.

Back to the specific problem are you mounting the windows file system read only in your fstab or do you having steam mount the disk (not sure it can do this but the fact htat you require root suggest that is what is happening). You can manually mount the partition if you need to via something similar to:
mkdir /media/windows
mount -r sdxy /media/windows
where x is the disk (a letter from a-z) and y is the partition number (0-n)
The -r indicate it should be read only

I don't think that will work. To be clear I don't think that many people are actually using SteamOS anyway. Like I said Steam Linux games run just fine on other distros including Arch based ones.

 

[TheELF]

I'm mounting the partition just fine when I'm root but steam won't run as root.
Mounting read-only doesn't work since steam needs to be able to save files and install games.

Could anybody with a real full distro just please tell me if they can use a root account and run steam on it as root?

 

[whm1974]

I'm mounting the partition just fine when I'm root but steam won't run as root.
Mounting read-only doesn't work since steam needs to be able to save files and install games.

Could anybody with a real full distro just please tell me if they can use a root account and run steam on it as root?

You don't need to run Steam as root, in fact with Linux you don't run as root or with root privileges anyway. It is a really bad idea to do so. You will need to install the Windows games on the Linux side for Steam Play to work.

 

[you2]

Yes you can mount the file system as root but then any user id should be able to access it. The read-only suggestion was only because some of the windows file system are not as stable as others when linux writes to them. However once mounted you should have no problem accessing the files from other user ids. If you do you can change the permissions to make them readable/writeable by anyone. you can do this on windows if necessary (make sure to make the directory writable by anyone). I've never tried changing permissions of a windows file system from linux but the normal command would be somethign like chmod -R o+rw [some directory]. That will recursively change an entire tree including the named directory. You should issue the chmod command as root it only is necessary once.

 

[Red Storm]

When this eventually results in me being able to play Age of Empires II HD on a Chromebook running Linux, I shall be a happy person.

 

[whm1974]

So I'm playing Path of Exiles using Proton and while it works it does crash every so often.