Hi all
Steam wouldn’t launch for me after installing on a new machine, the apptray icon appeared but I couldn’t get to the main window. I killed the processes and launched from the CLI and this worked but the other issue is my fans are spinning up like crazy when it’s launched
Does anyone know why this is happening and also is there way to launch it from the menu as I’ve already accidentally closed the terminal window once?
Is selinux-policy-targeted-gaming installed?
See Portal:SELinux/Common issues - openSUSE Wiki
There is an application launcher “Steam” in the menu (at least for the big DEs)
Sounds like the wrong graphic card is used. Is it an Optimus setup (integrated and discrete graphics)?
Hi, thanks for replying so quickly, I’m using Apparmor instead of SELinux and have a AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT graphics card although there is a built-in card on the board. How can I tell if the wrong one is being used?
If you can get Steam to open from the terminal, in the main Steam window, there is a submenu where you get „ Hardware informations“. This will tell which GPU is used by Steam.
In your opening post you stated that Steam apptray window started but without main window. How did you open it without terminal or application starter…maybe i missinterprete your opening post.
By clicking one of the entries in the apptray (friends, shop, …), the window should show up accordingly.
That’s the strange thing, I could right-click on the apptray icon and there were options but selecting any of them wouldn’t bring the main window up, I couldn’t even launch a game from the icon
I’ve just reinstalled Tumbleweed, left the default of SELinux, the same issue is there but I’ve noticed I get some permission errors when launching now (still works from CLI)
steam.sh[67918]: Running Steam on opensuse-tumbleweed 20250702 64-bit
steam.sh[67918]: STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically
setup.sh[67970]: Steam runtime environment up-to-date!
steam.sh[67918]: Log already open
steam.sh[67918]: Steam client's requirements are satisfied
CProcessEnvironmentManager is ready, 6 preallocated environment variables.
[2025-07-05 14:48:46] Startup - updater built Jun 28 2025 01:05:05
[2025-07-05 14:48:46] Startup - Steam Client launched with: '/home/martyn/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam' '-srt-logger-opened'
Looks like steam didn't shutdown cleanly, scheduling immediate update check
CProcessEnvironmentManager is ready, 6 preallocated environment variables.
[2025-07-05 14:48:46] Process started with command-line: '/home/martyn/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam' '-child-update-ui' '-child-update-ui-socket' '8' '-srt-logger-opened'
07/05 14:48:46 minidumps folder is set to /tmp/dumps
[2025-07-05 14:48:46] Using update UI: console
07/05 14:48:46 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(0)/tid(68019)
[2025-07-05 14:48:46] Create window
[2025-07-05 14:48:46] Loading cached metrics from disk (/home/martyn/.local/share/Steam/package/steam_client_metrics.bin)
[2025-07-05 14:48:46] Using the following download hosts for Public, Realm steamglobal
[2025-07-05 14:48:46] 1. https://client-update.akamai.steamstatic.com, /, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 400, source = 'update_hosts_cached.vdf'
[2025-07-05 14:48:46] 2. https://client-update.fastly.steamstatic.com, /, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 900, source = 'update_hosts_cached.vdf'
[2025-07-05 14:48:46] 3. https://client-update.steamstatic.com, /, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 1, source = 'baked in'
07/05 14:48:46 minidumps folder is set to /tmp/dumps
[2025-07-05 14:48:46] Checking for update on startup
[2025-07-05 14:48:46] Checking for available updates...
[2025-07-05 14:48:46] Downloading manifest: https://client-update.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam_client_ubuntu12
[2025-07-05 14:48:46] Manifest download: send request
[2025-07-05 14:48:46] Set percent complete: 0
[2025-07-05 14:48:46] Set status message: Checking for available updates...
[ 0%] Checking for available updates...
[2025-07-05 14:48:46] Set percent complete: -1
[2025-07-05 14:48:47] Manifest download: waiting for download to finish
[2025-07-05 14:48:47] Manifest download: finished
[2025-07-05 14:48:47] Download skipped: /steam_client_ubuntu12 version 1751405894, installed version 1751405894, existing pending version 0
[2025-07-05 14:48:47] Nothing to do
[2025-07-05 14:48:47] Verifying installation...
[2025-07-05 14:48:47] Verifying all executable checksums
[2025-07-05 14:48:47] Set percent complete: -1
[2025-07-05 14:48:47] Set status message: Verifying installation...
[----] Verifying installation...
[2025-07-05 14:48:47] Verification complete
UpdateUI: skip show logo
[2025-07-05 14:48:47] Destroy window
Steam logging initialized: directory: /home/martyn/.local/share/Steam/logs
[2025-07-05 14:48:47] ProcessNextMessage: socket disconnected
[2025-07-05 14:48:47] No more messages are expected - exiting
/usr/share/themes/Breeze-Dark/gtk-2.0/widgets/entry:70: error: unexpected identifier 'direction', expected character '}'
/usr/share/themes/Breeze-Dark/gtk-2.0/widgets/styles:36: error: invalid string constant "combobox_entry", expected valid string constant
XRRGetOutputInfo Workaround: initialized with override: 0 real: 0xf623c030
XRRGetCrtcInfo Workaround: initialized with override: 0 real: 0xf623a6a0
07/05 14:48:47 minidumps folder is set to /tmp/dumps
07/05 14:48:47 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steamsysinfo)/version(1751405894)/tid(68037)
Running query: 1 - GpuTopology
Response: gpu_topology {
gpus {
id: 1
name: "AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (RADV NAVI32)"
vram_size_bytes: 12868124672
driver_id: k_EGpuDriverId_MesaRadv
driver_version_major: 25
driver_version_minor: 1
driver_version_patch: 4
}
gpus {
id: 2
name: "AMD Radeon Graphics (RADV RAPHAEL_MENDOCINO)"
vram_size_bytes: 33789308928
driver_id: k_EGpuDriverId_MesaRadv
driver_version_major: 25
driver_version_minor: 1
driver_version_patch: 4
}
default_gpu_id: 1
}
Exit code: 0
Saving response to: /tmp/steamMJIpgp - 123 bytes
steamwebhelper.sh[68056]: Starting steamwebhelper under bootstrap steamrt steam runtime via: /home/martyn/.local/share/Steam/steamrt64/steam-runtime-steamrt/_v2-entry-point
steamwebhelper.sh[68056]: Starting steamwebhelper with steamrt steam runtime at /home/martyn/.local/share/Steam/steamrt64/steam-runtime-steamrt/_v2-entry-point
exec ./steamwebhelper -nocrashdialog -lang=en_US -cachedir=/home/martyn/.local/share/Steam/config/htmlcache -steampid=68018 -buildid=1751405894 -steamid=0 -logdir=/home/martyn/.local/share/Steam/logs -uimode=7 -startcount=0 -steamuniverse=Public -realm=Global -clientui=/home/martyn/.local/share/Steam/clientui -steampath=/home/martyn/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam -launcher=0 --valve-initial-threadpool-size=4 --valve-enable-site-isolation --enable-smooth-scrolling --password-store=basic --log-file=/home/martyn/.local/share/Steam/logs/cef_log.txt --disable-quick-menu --disable-component-update --enable-features=PlatformHEVCDecoderSupport --disable-features=SpareRendererForSitePerProcess,DcheckIsFatal,BlockPromptsIfIgnoredOften,ValveFFmpegAllowLowDelayHEVC
Steam Runtime Launch Service: starting steam-runtime-launcher-service
Steam Runtime Launch Service: steam-runtime-launcher-service is running pid 68252
bus_name=com.steampowered.PressureVessel.LaunchAlongsideSteam
Desktop state changed: desktop: { pos: 0, 0 size: 1920,1080 } primary: { pos: 0, 0 size: 1920,1080 }
Caching cursor image for , size 32x32, serial 8, cache size = 0
reaping pid: 68019 -- steam
Couldn't write /.steam_exec_test.sh: Permission denied
Couldn't write /.snapshots/.steam_exec_test.sh: Permission denied
Couldn't write /boot/efi/.steam_exec_test.sh: Permission denied
Couldn't write /boot/grub2/i386-pc/.steam_exec_test.sh: Permission denied
Couldn't write /boot/grub2/x86_64-efi/.steam_exec_test.sh: Permission denied
Couldn't write /opt/.steam_exec_test.sh: Permission denied
Couldn't write /root/.steam_exec_test.sh: Permission denied
Couldn't write /srv/.steam_exec_test.sh: Permission denied
Couldn't write /usr/local/.steam_exec_test.sh: Permission denied
Couldn't write /var/.steam_exec_test.sh: Permission denied
[2025-07-05 14:50:48] Background update loop checking for update. . .
[2025-07-05 14:50:48] Checking for available updates...
[2025-07-05 14:50:48] Downloading manifest: https://client-update.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam_client_ubuntu12
[2025-07-05 14:50:48] Manifest download: send request
[2025-07-05 14:50:48] Manifest download: waiting for download to finish
[2025-07-05 14:50:48] Manifest download: finished
[2025-07-05 14:50:48] Download skipped by HTTP 304 Not Modified
[2025-07-05 14:50:48] Nothing to do
These are expected. Steam checks after installation, to which directories it has access. By default is has no access to root owned directories. That is correct.
Can you try to switch to Wayland and test again? At the login screen, there should be a drop down menu where you can choose to start your desktop environment with Wayland.
Please also provide the output of following command as root:
ausearch -ts boot -m avc
How did you install Steam? From the default non-oss repo?
Same thing under Wayland, I installed it via zypper using the non-oss repo as you mention.
That command returns <no matches>
So to summarize:
- you can start steam and any game via terminal
- you can’t start steam via the application launcher?
Which DE are you using?
Exactly. I’m using KDE Plasma. I can’t understand why steam will launch from a CLI but not from the menu, also my fans seem to spin up quite a lot when steam launches, I’m sure it didn’t used to be like that.
Can you please open the application menu. Type “steam”, and right-click on the entry. Hit “Edit application”. Can you provide screenshots from both tabs for the Steam entry there?
Which medium did you use for installation? The Agama installer or the classic Tumbleweed ISO? I will try to reproduce in a VB.
The classic iso, I used the latest offline version - openSUSE-Tumbleweed-DVD-x86_64-Snapshot20250702-Media.iso
I’ve just disabled secureboot in my bios too, I don’t see the point of having it on.
Hm, strange. I’m not able to reproduce it in a VB (also non of may bare metal machines show the issue).
Used for VB installation:
- openSUSE-Tumbleweed-DVD-x86_64-Snapshot20250702-Media.iso
- SELinux enable
- secure boot enabled
- BTRFS
- KDE Plasma
The only thing i can think of…
Could you try to remove the checkmark “Run using dedicated graphics card” in the application launcher?
I tried that earlier and the same thing happened. I’ve just reinstalled again from fresh, using the NET version, Apparmor BTRFS, Plasma, secureboot disabled. I just don’t know what else to do, apart from running it in the CLI but that’s a pain because if I alt+tab for some reason, it’s easy to accidentally close the window.
I might try NixOS
I’ve tried ticking ‘run in terminal’ and that was the same, I ran it from the terminal again and it launched immediately. I don’t understand what the difference between the two of them is.
@SquarePeg79 running nvtop may offer a clue regarding gpu in use, look at installing and running switcherooctl to make sure it’s going to use the dGPU https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:NVIDIA_Switcheroo_Control?
Maybe setting DRI_PRIME in steam may help as well…
It is a pure AMD system. Also the terminal output shows that Steam uses the dedicated AMD GPU.