Steam not launching in 25.11

Help
1

I have another ask for the community. I currently have steam enabled in my host’s default.nix file in my flake.

programs.steam = {
    enable = true;
    remotePlay.openFirewall = true; 
    dedicatedServer.openFirewall = true; 
    localNetworkGameTransfers.openFirewall = true;
  };

Additionally, this machine is using an nvidia 3060ti which is configured below

{
  config,
  lib,
  pkgs,
  ...
}: {
  hardware.graphics = {
    enable = true;
  };

  hardware.nvidia-container-toolkit = {
    enable = true;
  };
  services.xserver.videoDrivers = ["nvidia"];

  hardware.nvidia = {
    open = true;
    nvidiaSettings = true;
    modesetting.enable = true;

    package = config.boot.kernelPackages.nvidiaPackages.stable;
  };
}


Could not start dynamically linked executable: /home/justin/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/usr/libexec/steam-runtime-tools-0/srt-logger
NixOS cannot run dynamically linked executables intended for generic
linux environments out of the box. For more information, see:
https://nix.dev/permalink/stub-ld
bin_steam.sh[51034]: Couldn't set up srt-logger, not logging to console-linux.txt
Could not start dynamically linked executable: /home/justin/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/usr/libexec/steam-runtime-tools-0/srt-logger
NixOS cannot run dynamically linked executables intended for generic
linux environments out of the box. For more information, see:
https://nix.dev/permalink/stub-ld
bin_steam.sh[51034]: Couldn't set up srt-logger, not logging to console-linux.txt
Could not start dynamically linked executable: /home/justin/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/usr/libexec/steam-runtime-tools-0/srt-logger
NixOS cannot run dynamically linked executables intended for generic
linux environments out of the box. For more information, see:
https://nix.dev/permalink/stub-ld
bin_steam.sh[51034]: Couldn't set up srt-logger, not logging to console-linux.txt
steam.sh[51034]: Running Steam on nixos 25.11 64-bit
steam.sh[51034]: STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically
/home/justin/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh: /home/justin/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/setup.sh: /bin/bash: bad interpreter: No such file or directory
/home/justin/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh: /home/justin/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/setup.sh: /bin/bash: bad interpreter: No such file or directory
/home/justin/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh: /home/justin/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/run.sh: /bin/bash: bad interpreter: No such file or directory
steam.sh[51034]: Log already open
steam.sh[51034]: Error: You are missing the following 32-bit libraries, and Steam may not run:
libc.so.6
Error:
You are missing the following 32-bit libraries, and Steam may not run:
libc.so.6

edit: I thought I added what I see when executing in a terminal (@waffle8946 again, thanks for the “duh” moment)

It was working fine before the switch to 25.11. I cannot be the only person having this issue…!

2

What do the logs say when trying to launch steam?

3

Okay-It looks like I had steam-unwrapped in my flake. Once I removed that, I could run steam via terminal execution. What is gui program we are supposed to use in nixpkgs now? Did that change?

4

I just installed steam and it worked fine…ignore me. :grinning_face:

2 Likes
5

When you launch Steam, it downloads files in the background without showing any progress. It might look like nothing is happening, but it’s actually downloading, so you just have to wait it out.

6

Use programs.steam.enable instead.

7

Something weird is certainly going on on 25.11. I can’t start steam anymore either (amdgpu / 8060S), and just now tried with flatpak, which worked - the first time. The second time it crashes after “logging in”, just like the steam I have from programs.steam.enable = true;.

I’ll have to dig some more myself.

8

Use the steam command in a terminal and look at the output.

9

I would suggest:

programs.steam = {
    enable = true;
    remotePlay.openFirewall = true; 
    dedicatedServer.openFirewall = true; 
    localNetworkGameTransfers.openFirewall = true;
  };

And then make sure to add the steam package “steam” to however you are managing your packages for your nixOS config or flake. That was the kicker for me.

10

Also recommend the same-that is the first thing I did when nothing would launch.

11

Those are only necessary if they’re using those features - those will not prevent steam from launching if they’re off. For example, I don’t use any of those hence would never enable those.

Generally it’s a good idea to not open ports for no reason.

Absolutely not, the programs.steam.enable does that already.

2 Likes
12

Worse, programs.steam.enable adds a specially overridden pkgs.steam to your packages: nixpkgs/nixos/modules/programs/steam.nix at b3aad468604d3e488d627c0b43984eb60e75e782 · NixOS/nixpkgs · GitHub

By adding your own pkgs.steam to environment.systemPackages you risk your version taking precedence over that of the module - which in fact is likely the cause of the kinds of problems described in this thread, since it breaks the graphics library injection the module usually applies.

Most likely what solved it for you was relaunching steam/rebooting often enough to bust a cache or something; steam can be very stateful and brittle, it’s a massive pile of stuff installed at runtime.

Unless you know what the options you’re setting do, don’t authoratively assert they’re solving issues. You’re spreading misinformation.

13

Sadly I did, and there doesn’t really seem to be anything logged to the terminal window after the steam login window just disappears. Steamwebhelper is started, the “logging in..” window appears, and then it exits with status 0 (before getting to the step about loading user data):

exec ./steamwebhelper -nocrashdialog -lang=en_US -cachedir=/home/adtu/.local/share/Steam/config/htmlcache -steampid=55702 -buildid=1766451605 -steamid=0 -logdir=/home/adtu/.local/share/Steam/logs -uimode=7 -startcount=0 -steamuniverse=Public -realm=Global -clientui=/home/adtu/.local/share/Steam/clientui -steampath=/home/adtu/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam -launcher=0 --valve-initial-threadpool-size=12 --valve-enable-site-isolation --enable-smooth-scrolling --password-store=basic --log-file=/home/adtu/.local/share/Steam/logs/cef_log.txt --disable-quick-menu --disable-component-update --gaia-url=http://disabled.invalid --enable-features=PlatformHEVCDecoderSupport --disable-features=WinRetrieveSuggestionsOnlyOnDemand,SpareRendererForSitePerProcess,DcheckIsFatal,BlockPromptsIfIgnoredOften,ValveFFmpegAllowLowDelayHEVC
SaveRegistryVDF
SaveRegistryVDF completed successfully

What makes it even more annoying to debug is that steam starts fine the first time (or two) after booting, and then it just fails like this after (e.g. after clicking the tray icon and exiting). There’s some errors popping up here and there (e.g. one related to fontconfig), but they also appear when steam actually works after a reboot.

14

Actually logging out and back in is enough. I wonder if it’s something related to niri/xwayland-satellite, or.. Who knows. Ideas are appreciated :smiley:

15

Steam will check if there’s already a running instance at that point, so most likely there’s already a zombie steam process that’s not exited fully yet. Maybe it’s hanging around for a download or the whole fossilize process thing. Check ps for any steam-related processes (or just don’t fully close and reopen it to begin with).

That or the pidfile isn’t cleaned up for some reason. I doubt this is a packaging/NixOS issue, in either case.