How to get steam to run on Ubuntu 20.04

Question

Steam won't run =( Here's what I've tried:

I have a fresh install of Ubuntu 20.04 (via Ubuntu Server Live Installer + ubuntu-desktop package) with nvidia drivers:

$ nvidia-smi
Mon Jun 22 10:26:49 2020       
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 440.64       Driver Version: 440.64       CUDA Version: 10.2     |
|-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| GPU  Name        Persistence-M| Bus-Id        Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan  Temp  Perf  Pwr:Usage/Cap|         Memory-Usage | GPU-Util  Compute M. |
|===============================+======================+======================|
|   0  GeForce RTX 2070    Off  | 00000000:01:00.0  On |                  N/A |
| 28%   31C    P8    22W / 175W |    303MiB /  7981MiB |      2%      Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
                                                                               
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes:                                                       GPU Memory |
|  GPU       PID   Type   Process name                             Usage      |
|=============================================================================|
|    0      1542      G   /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg                            53MiB |
|    0      7835      G   /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg                           124MiB |
|    0      8086      G   /usr/bin/gnome-shell                         111MiB |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Attempt 1: .deb

1. Download deb from https://store.steampowered.com/about/
2. $ sudo dpkg -i steam_latest.deb

$ steam
Steam needs to install these additional packages:
    libgl1-mesa-dri:i386, libgl1:i386, libc6:i386 

4. Enter sudo password and to install them, and it installs a 49 *:i386 packages
5. "Updating Steam..." windows pops up and downloads and runs stuff for a bit, then!
6. CRASH!

[2020-06-22 17:00:18] Installing update...
[2020-06-22 17:00:19] Cleaning up...
[2020-06-22 17:00:19] Update complete, launching...
[2020-06-22 17:00:19] Shutdown
Restarting Steam by request...
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/steamdeps", line 484, in <module>
    sys.exit(main())
  File "/usr/bin/steamdeps", line 460, in main
    if dep.is_available():
  File "/usr/bin/steamdeps", line 96, in is_available
    return is_provided(self.name)
  File "/usr/bin/steamdeps", line 68, in is_provided
    (name, version) = provider.split()
ValueError: too many values to unpack (expected 2)
Running Steam on ubuntu 20.04 64-bit
STEAM_RUNTIME has been set by the user to: /home/username/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime
Found newer runtime version for 64-bit libGLU.so.1. Host: 1.3.1 Runtime: 1.3.8004
Found newer runtime version for 64-bit libdbusmenu-glib.so.4. Host: 4.0.12 Runtime: 4.0.13
Found newer runtime version for 64-bit libvulkan.so.1. Host: 1.2.131 Runtime: 1.2.135
Forced use of runtime version for 64-bit libcurl.so.4. Host: 4.6.0 Runtime: 4.2.0
Found newer runtime version for 32-bit libvulkan.so.1. Host: 1.2.131 Runtime: 1.2.135
Steam client's requirements are satisfied
/home/username/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam
[2020-06-22 17:00:34] Startup - updater built Jun  4 2020 05:50:42
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1591251555)
libGL error: No matching fbConfigs or visuals found
libGL error: failed to load driver: swrast
SteamUpdateUI: An X Error occurred
X Error of failed request:  GLXBadContext
SteamUpdateUI: An X Error occurred
X Error of failed request:  BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation)
Major opcode of failed request:  152 (GLX)
Minor opcode of failed request:  3 (X_GLXCreateContext)
Value in failed request:  0x0
Serial number of failed request:  51
xerror_handler: X failed, continuing
Major opcode of failed request:  152 (GLX)
Minor opcode of failed request:  6 (X_GLXIsDirect)
Serial number of failed request:  52
xerror_handler: X failed, continuing
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1591251555)
[2020-06-22 17:00:34] Verifying installation...
[2020-06-22 17:00:35] Verification complete
Loaded SDL version 2.0.13-5893924
Gtk-Message: Failed to load module "gail"
Gtk-Message: Failed to load module "atk-bridge"

(steam:32777): Gtk-WARNING **: Unable to locate theme engine in module_path: "adwaita",
/usr/share/themes/Yaru/gtk-2.0/main.rc:775: error: unexpected identifier `direction', expected character `}'

(steam:32777): Gtk-WARNING **: Unable to locate theme engine in module_path: "adwaita",
/usr/share/themes/Yaru/gtk-2.0/hacks.rc:28: error: invalid string constant "normal_entry", expected valid string constant
libGL error: No matching fbConfigs or visuals found
libGL error: failed to load driver: swrast
Steam: An X Error occurred
X Error of failed request:  GLXBadContext
Major opcode of failed request:  152
Serial number of failed request:  64
xerror_handler: X failed, continuing
Steam: An X Error occurred
X Error of failed request:  BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation)
Major opcode of failed request:  152
Value in failed request:  0x0
Serial number of failed request:  63
xerror_handler: X failed, continuing
Steam: An X Error occurred
X Error of failed request:  BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)
Major opcode of failed request:  152
Serial number of failed request:  65
xerror_handler: X failed, continuing
assert_20200622170034_1.dmp[32831]: Uploading dump (out-of-process)
/tmp/dumps/assert_20200622170034_1.dmp
/home/username/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh: line 750: 32777 Segmentation fault      (core dumped) $STEAM_DEBUGGER "$STEAMROOT/$STEAMEXEPATH" "$@"

7. Subsequent attempts to run steam result in the update window flashing and then same crash.

Attempt #2 via multiverse repo, per linuxconfig.org

1. $ sudo add-apt-repository multiverse 'multiverse' distribution component is already enabled for all sources.
2. $ sudo apt update

$ sudo apt install steam
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree      
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
  steam-launcher
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  steam:i386 steam-launcher
0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 2,980 kB of archives.
After this operation, 3,163 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
Get:1 http://repo.steampowered.com/steam precise/steam amd64 steam-launcher all 1:1.0.0.62 [2,972 kB]
Get:2 http://repo.steampowered.com/steam precise/steam i386 steam i386 1:1.0.0.62 [8,052 B]
Fetched 2,980 kB in 1s (3,294 kB/s)    
Selecting previously unselected package steam-launcher.
(Reading database ... 158744 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../steam-launcher_1%3a1.0.0.62_all.deb ...
Unpacking steam-launcher (1:1.0.0.62) ...
Selecting previously unselected package steam:i386.
Preparing to unpack .../steam_1%3a1.0.0.62_i386.deb ...
Unpacking steam:i386 (1:1.0.0.62) ...
Setting up steam-launcher (1:1.0.0.62) ...
Setting up steam:i386 (1:1.0.0.62) ...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.64ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.17-2) ...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.36.0-1ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.9.1-1) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.24-1ubuntu3) ...

4. $ steam
5. CRASH! Same errors as the first method.

Resolutive

the second leasult looks like the installation is complete. – Sizar

Install completes for both, but then running steam result in the errors I pasted. (same errors for both methods) – Resolutive

you ran that with root or normal user – Sizar

ran what with root? I put all the commands I ran in the question. – Resolutive

Answer 1

I recently had the same issue, but had a fix. I hope this works for you. Here is what I did:

1. Install steam from the steam website. https://store.steampowered.com/about/
2. Run this line in a terminal STEAM_RUNTIME=0 steam
3. You should get a line telling you the missing dependencies

Running Steam on ubuntu 20.04 64-bit STEAM_RUNTIME is disabled by the user

Error: You are missing the following 32-bit libraries, and Steam may not run:

libXtst.so.6

libXrandr.so.2

libXrender.so.1

libgobject-2.0.so.0

libglib-2.0.so.0

libgio-2.0.so.0

libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0

libpulse.so.0

libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0

libva.so.2

libbz2.so.1.0

libvdpau.so.1

libva.so.2

libva-x11.so.2

Can't find 'steam-runtime-check-requirements', continuing anyway
/home/timothy/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam

3. Once you get the missing dependencies run this line in the terminal for every missing dependency. sudo apt install (Dependency name)

EXAMPLE (sudo apt install libXtst.so.6) "libXtst.so.6" was part of the list of dependencies that was given to me by the terminal

4. Once you installed all those dependencies steam should open up.
5. Let steam install what it needs to and login in, it should work

If you have any issues just leave a reply. Other Forums/Community where I got most of the idea from https://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/0/530645446314818582/

Cranmer

After running your #2, I just did sudo apt install --reinstall libxtst6:i386 libxrandr2:i386 libgtk2.0-0:i386 libpipewire-0.3-0:i386 libbz2-1.0:i386 and it's working again. Prior to that I was getting "error code: e8" at login. – Bouquet

This is a helpful answer but it may not solve certain games from crashing/hanging (like CS GO 2) – Vie

Answer 2

As @Helper Shoes mentioned, it is highly probable that you have missing 32 bit libraries.

Installing the following libraries made it work for me:

$ sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install libxtst6:i386 libxrandr2:i386 libgtk2.0-0:i386 libsm6:i386 libpulse0:i386 ffmpeg:i386

Privateer