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How can I run Steam?

I have two partitions, one with Windows 7 and all my games, and other with Ubuntu.

I want to play my Windows Steam games without having to download all the games in my Linux Steam.

Is it possible ?

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marked as duplicate by Jorge Castro, desgua, Rinzwind, fossfreedom♦, Marco Ceppi♦ Aug 28 '11 at 17:38

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Steam have no native version in Gnu/Linux. Maybe you want to install it by Wine or PlayonLinux. Your Steam games are installed on your Windows partition, because Steam did it. Of course, you can mount your Windows partition on Ubuntu, and launch your game manually by double-clicking on the .exe which will be using Wine. In my opinion, if you run on a dual-boot, it is better to run your Windows Steam games on Windows, because Wine is a good solution for apps like Office 2007 or Internet Explorer which does not require a good configuration, but if you want a good experience when playing a game, just don't use Wine, and play on Windows.

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This is simply not true. Lots of Steam games work pretty well over Wine, TF2 for example works great. – Arda Xi Aug 28 '11 at 11:21
Yeah, you are right. But if he wants to play with no bugs, playing games on Windows is better. – Atem18 Aug 28 '11 at 11:24
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If you want to play with no bugs, you'll be hard pressed to find a game that will suit that need. Anyway, the asker was asking about Wine, so I don't think 'use Windows' is a good answer. – Arda Xi Aug 28 '11 at 11:36
By "no bugs", I meant "bugs which does not exist when playing the game natively". Anyway, he did not mention Wine, it was me. He asked "I have two partitions, one with Windows 7 and all my games, and other with Ubuntu. I want to play my Windows Steam games without having to download all the games in my Linux Steam. Is it possible ?" So my answer is "Yes, but because he have a dual/boot, playing on Windows is a better solution." – Atem18 Aug 28 '11 at 11:53
Yes he did. Look at the tags. And what does it matter whether the bugs exist when playing natively? Every game has bugs, it's just a matter of whether they are game-breaking or not. Even in Wine, a lot of games are very playable. – Arda Xi Aug 28 '11 at 12:09
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I have answered this already, and other people did too.

I recommend you to use plain Wine without PlayOnLinux. Winetricks is helpful, however.

Steam Games on Linux website has detailed information about which games can be played successfully, and what you have to do for that.

  • First you have to Install the latest Wine.
  • Make sure to configure Wine (look at STEAM + WINE CONFIGURATION section) How to use Winetricks:
    • Select the default wineprefix OK
    • Install a Windows DLL or component OK
    • It is important to mark d3dx9 here. Optional packages that may be needed for some games: d3dx10, vb6run, vcrun2005, vcrun2008, vcrun2010, physx. OK
    • Install a font OK
    • Mark corefonts and tahoma. OK
  • Next, download Steam and go through the installer.
  • When you create an account or just log in, you should have no trouble downloading Team Fortress 2 your games through Steam and playing it.
  • Make sure to change video settings in the game to lowest ASAP (don't miss the "advanced" video settings). Windowed mode is mostly better. It is good to restart the game after this.
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It would be great to have that answer here: askubuntu.com/questions/1784/how-can-i-run-steam – Jorge Castro Aug 28 '11 at 14:24
@JorgeCastro: Done... – BlaXpirit Aug 28 '11 at 14:55
PlayOnLinux is far from stupid, and I would suggest avoiding writing answers with such a personal slant. If you think it is "stupid" then you need to explain why. For one thing, it provides management of Wine versions and also allows you to use/manage the system version. – RolandiXor♦ Aug 28 '11 at 18:42
But I dont want to install Steam and the games, I know how to do it, I just want to play my installed Win7 games from Linux, without having to install them twice PS: I'm using Arch Linux – dysoco Sep 2 '11 at 18:41
@dysoco: You can install Steam and put a symlink for "Steam\steamapps" from Windows to Linux, but then you'd have to automount the NTFS partition, and the performance may be negatively affected. Another way is to copy the steamapps folder. – BlaXpirit Sep 2 '11 at 20:17

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