I was looking for a good video for a friend of mine on how to pull this off. Thank you very much for making a indepth tutorial. Coming from an IT guy you didn't under or over explain anything. Solid content
Glad we could help. Be sure to stop by our Discord. We have a community of knowledgeable people in case you have questions or need help with anything in the tutorials.
Dude thank you so much. Ive been stuck for the past few days. I made the new partition and kept trying install windows to that. Then I find your video and see that you delete the partition and make a new one in the installer, so I try that and low and behold it worked! I appreciate it man
Awesome! Glad we could help. We also have an updated version of this guide just posted the other day and it goes over even more... ua-cam.com/video/IraA82T1bxE/v-deo.html
Hi man it's me again ,just to tell you Thanks you so much for all the effort you put in your channel, I did 1st dual boot on SD after you reply me in another video and recommend me partition on the SSD I did and you just make me to love more my steam deck, is sooo fast, stable and I can play my MW2 , thank you so much bro and I hope you keep going with your success in your channel, I always watch your videos when you upload a new one, greatings from Norway 🇳🇴👍🏼
Hey Juan, it makes us happy that we were able to help you get the most out of your Steam Deck. Definitely more tips to come and we definitely appreciate the support. Feel free to stop by our Discord to vibe with the growing community of people just like you.
Thanks very much for this guide. Really good idea to use the SD card for steam OS games so spilt SSD exactly like you did. I’m a gamespass subscriber but with a fairly large steam os library of older titles so this works well for me. Having a NexDock makes things easier too. Top tip if you just press enter on the password screen for a local windows 10 installation you don’t have to bother with security questions.
I've been thinking about doing that too bro. I have the 512 GB version but I have been toying with the idea of installing a 2 TB stick in my steam deck. If I do, there will be a video for sure.
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 it's really helped! My main game is World Of Warcraft, I use an MMO mouse, but couldn't configure it in SteamOS, and I couldn't for the life of me get Libratbag to install using Konsole, it turned into a real nightmare! But I've used your vid to partition and install Windows pretty much just for wow, and loads of software I use for the game, and I'll use SteamOS with my 1tb SD card for my steam stuff, best if both worlds 😃
Nice work! Excellent tutorial. Thank you for the effort and help. I skipped re-imaging the steam deck OS since mine was brand new out of the box. Other than that it was a smooth process following your video.
Awesome,glad everything worked out for you. We also put out an updated video with a few more tips to help with performance as well as set up a dual boot options menu...ua-cam.com/video/HkX_AJZwGdk/v-deo.html
Nice! Make sure to check out the SWICD video to help get your controls up and running for Non-Steam Games as well. I have it set to enabled upon Windows Startup so it works seamlessly.
just for those of you wondering, you don't need an external keyboard and mouse unless youre changing the defaulted language. its a little awkward but triggers are left and right mouse (reversed) and 'A' will but your 'enter' when on the prompt. I also just bought a usb/usbc style thumbdrive and and followed this amazing mans instructions and it worked great!
Took a hot min but it's working well on my deck even after 9 months. I personally skipped the whole steam os recovery part cause I read somewhere on reddit that steam os recovery is optional. Thank you for the tutorial
TY GMG(got mine going) I stopped right before you said to delete the partition and remake it as NTFS because I was getting the Windows error. I spent some time searching for the solution and found I could go back in gparted and make the partion NTFS there. I commence watching and you tell us we can just delete it and remake it NTFS during the windows install. Opps, that would have saved some time. Anyway, I suppose the moral of the story is you could just make it NTFS at the start in gparted. Thanks for the turorial, I was hoping to get Win on the SSD and now I do. Thumbs up!
Just followed this tutorial for the 2nd time in 4 days. First time took me about 9 hours (to upgrade the hard drive, create the USBs, and do the full install), this time I just did it in 1 hour 34 minutes! I guess it does get better with practice! (I got a SSD from micro center and it didnt perform well, so I got one from amazon. That's why 2 full upgrade/installs). Super thanks again!
@@imstupidbut I had heard it was not as good, and I had some issues, so I wanted to try out the Sabrent, and I haven't had any issues with it, so personally I don't know how they compare as far as metrics, but I'm happy I went with the Sabrent.
ur legit a lifesaver. i tried factory resetting the normal way a few days ago after the recent update so my steam deck got stuck in the fatal error loop. had it sitting overnight and woke up to it still looping :l i went christmas shopping rn and realized i could buy a usb c adapter and usb hub to recover it and followed ur video and it worked. i decided i could try installing windows now and dual booting but couldnt find any tutorials with a one usb process till i came across urs. it worked like a charm and im so grateful as someone with adhd im super impatient when it comes to situations like this lmao. i couldve waited till next week or christmas to fix it and do much more but ur video helped speed up the process. ur legit a lifesaver u have no idea how grateful i am for this tutorial. very easy to follow as well. wish u the best and i subscribed after u said u stayed up all night working on the video lmao. happy holidays!
I'm glad we were able to help. Feel free to drop by our Discord also. Lots of smart people there in case you have questions or need help with anything.
Thanks for the guide, I had dual booted from a Sd card for windows but it was terrible, I upgraded to a 1TB ssd just so I can get game pass games and bypass anti cheats that don’t work on Linux. I got cought up on another guided using the built in partition manager in steam OS. But now we good
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 I'm having a little hicup, my steam app won't let me install a game on the 1tb micro sd that's on the steam deck slot it's also formatted, only internal drive instal. Is there's a windows fix for that?
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 I fixed it! For some folks if they have a problem trying to install on the micro sd card on the steam deck thru Windows you have to go to the Steam App then Settings, a pop up window will show up then on the list in the left panel go to the one that says Downloads once clicked you'll see on the right the Steam Library Folder button, click there and that's where you can make the Steam App recognize that you can add and external drive and then the micro sd will show! Hope it helps! 🙏
I don't think the reimaging is necessary. You could simply resize the partition. It's true Linux tampers a lot with partitions and it's safer this way, but even so you could just do a factory reset and it would have the same effect. Also there's no need to create a new ext4 partition as the windows installer should be able to see the unallocated space. Either way, thank you so much for the video. It was clear and easy to follow.
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 And how can I do to delete these partitions in the future? Because you said that even formatting from the factory the partitions continue
I'm about to attempt this today I don't have any partitions at the min so could i just factory reset instead of reimaging? I brought a 1tb external ssd just for window as I got 256gb model plus 512sd card for steam os so could I skip partitioning the ssd as well?
@@19woody88 If you're installing Windows on an external drive, you don't need to do anything but booting from the ssd while it's connected and then installing it. No need for a factory reset either. You'll depend on having it connected when you want to use Windows tho... And might not be able to charge the deck at the same time unless you have a power pass dock or something..
Wow! Thank You! If you enjoyed this video, then you should check out the updated video that we recently posted. Thanks again.. ua-cam.com/video/IraA82T1bxE/v-deo.html
Hey, appreciate the super detailed videos. I just got my steam deck 512gb and I’m looking to use this method to utilize all of the storage i have vs having to buy an additional micro SD. Question about downloading games, do you have to download them specifically to the windows side of the partition if that’s a thing? I’m wondering because if I’m using the steam os and download a game from the steam store that is incompatible, would it be a simple power down and swap os to make it work?
Hey V Nizzle, yes. For example, lets say you download Gears 5 in SteamOS and then realize that the game will not launch because of the Easy Anti-Cheat. You could then delete that game from your SteamOS partition and then download it on the Windows side where it will launch without an issue. I am using SteamOS specifically for those games that have been verified and are playable. Everything else is downloaded on the Windows side. I am also going to be working on a video showing how to share a single SD card between SteamOS and Windows. This will allow us to be able to download games once to the SD card and then launch them in either OS. So, for example you download Gears 5 in SteamOS, you realize it won't launch, and then all you will have to do is reboot into Windows and launch the same game in Steam in Windows with no problems. By the way, if you have any questions do not hesitate to ask. If I have the answer to the question I will gladly share it or research and follow up as time permits. Welcome to the Steam Deck Family!
it wouldnt work more than likely, because steamos uses an ext4 filesystem which is not compatable with windows, it may be possible however to partition the windows into a fat32 or exfat, download your steam games on the windows side, then possibly run them on the steamos side by mounting that partition and adding the game files as a non steam game
Great content! Followed along and succeeded! Question: which sd format can be both accessible by Steam OS & Windows? Not sure if I partition SD into two for each. Or simply share one if possible.
Hey Howie, the answer to your question is planned for an upcoming video. We are currently exploring how to share an SD card between both OS's. So, stay tuned for that. I can assure you that it is possible. Just trying to understand the process before passing on the information to the community. More than likely it will come in the form of a partition rather than a universal shared file system. Happy to hear it worked out for you!
Great tutorial. I hve a question about the reimaging of SteamOS. Is this only necessary if any additional partitioning was previously performed on the Steamdeck? I followed another UA-camr's tutorial that was nearly identical with the exception of this step and during the installation of Windows I receive an error "Windows could not prepare the compute to boot into the next phase of installation." I was wondering if you thought that following your process would address this issue? Also, great channel. I have saved several of the videos to watch later
Yeah, the re-imaging step is optional. If you have a fairly new Steam Deck then it is good to know how to reimage, but not required. If you have previously set up partitions like myself and want to re-arrange things, then you may want to include this step.
I had already done the dual boot like in this video and then after the latest steamos update the option to boot into steamos in the bootloader was gone. It would only boot into windows. Also the touch screen stopped responding. I had to press power and vol+ then set it to deep sleep mode in power options and set it to auto wake when plugged in. That made the touchscreen start working again. To get it to boot into steamos I had to press power and vol+ then manually launch steam through the bottom left option. It still isn't showing steam in the boot options. I am now just setting it back to steam only because its my sons and he just wants it to work. I installed a 2tb nvme ssd. Hope this helps if anyone else has this problem.
Need help when I have installed windows 10 and shut it down and press power and volume down the only option I have is windows can't find my steam os any advice please on what to do thanks
Hi Lee, the case that I use on my Steam Deck is the JSAUX Kickstand Protective Case for Steam Deck. I show it off here in my accessories video: ua-cam.com/video/r9u76mXJMcI/v-deo.html
wow out of all the reviews this was one of the easiest and straightforward to follow! Any suggestion on storing windows games on SD card? I heard its not good? My 256Gb should be arriving tomorrow and I have a good mix between steam and windows games. So i'd like to split it in half and was thinkign of storing games on SD when I run out of room
I haven't experienced any issues with storing games on an SD card. We do also have a tutorial up on how to split the SD card to use with windows and SteamOS
Hey love all the videos!! Sorry for all the questions but will I lose all my games, apps, and plugins if I do this? Will I have to re-download and set everything back up? Also does the steam controls on the steam deck work when using Windows? And if I have a game downloaded in steam os if I switch to windows can I still play that game? Do games transfer between steam os and windows? Or you download a game in windows and its just in windows? Thank you for the help!!
So, you asked... will I lose all my games, apps, and plugins if I do this? Will I have to re-download and set everything back up? If you do a full re-imaging prior to installing Windows, everything on the Steam Deck will be set back to the factory state (like new). The re-image is optional. I need to know more about how much space you have available on your deck vs how much you want to allocate for Windows. If you have a 512 GB deck and you are using the full capacity, something will at least have to be deleted to make room for Windows. You asked... Also does the steam controls on the steam deck work when using Windows? By Steam controls I assume you mean the User Interface that is present in SteamOS and its features. The UI is available for Windows but does not include all of the features, such as the ability to control FSR, the HZ, or TDP. You can see a video of it running here: ua-cam.com/video/81uQFmDtFx4/v-deo.html You asked... And if I have a game downloaded in steam os if I switch to windows can I still play that game? Do games transfer between steam os and windows? Or you download a game in windows and its just in windows? Thank you for the help!! So, the main purpose of dual booting Windows and SteamOS is to be able to play games that aren't compatible with SteamOS. For example, if you wanted to play COD or Fortnite you would download those games in Windows because they will not play in SteamOS. Games that work fine in SteamOS are downloaded into SteamOS. This will give the user the ability to play any game without limitations. Also, some games may run better in Windows than in SteamOS and vice versa. But to answer your question, a dual boot with a partition is basically like having a wall between two operating systems. So, the games are only accessible by the OS on either side of the wall. You cannot download a game to the Windows partition and then play it on SteamOS side because they use different file systems. Windows uses NTFS and SteamOS uses EXT4. They will be invisible to each other. Feel free to drop by our Discord and we can see exactly what you have and tell you the best course of action for your specific needs. And thanks for your support!
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 Wow bro you are amazing!!! Thank you so much. I want to do this to my 512gb tonight. I have lots of space left on it. I also have a 1tb sd card as well. My biggest thing is I just dont want to lose my games, and decky loader and stuff. But if i dont have to reimage and lose all my stuff im in!!! I want to play the new cod modern warfare 2 so thats perfect. Thank you!
Question for ya. If I set up my internal SSD this way will Windows be able to install games to a SD card? Or are you limited to the internally SSD? I would essentially want to have one SD card for steam is and one for windows. Thanks in advance!
Hey Dustin, you would be able to install to both the SSD and the SD card. Having one SD card for both operating systems is a great idea. I recommend getting one with a fast/write speed like the Sandisk Extreme, which is what I use.
Yes, you can. But if you also want to use the SD card for steamOS games also then we recommend partitioning the SD card also. We have a video tutorial on that as well
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 got everything installed followed your step by step everything working great! Question, I did the dual boot to internal ssd with windows 10, now…to upgrade to windows 11….do I have to start it all over??
With the microSD card as storage for games, can you save both steam deck compliant games and then games youve downloaded through steam on the windows side? I want to play BF2042 but cant yet on just steam OS
We have a video showing how to share an SD card between Windows and SteamOS, but this uses a partititon method rather than sharing the same space. The reason we chose this method over others is because when you switch between operating systems Steam will update the games to match the OS which means more unnecessary writing to the SD card. We recommend partitioning the SD card and downloading the game to the Windows side since that is where it will be played. ua-cam.com/video/VVoodxlO3oA/v-deo.html
Hey Mark, you're very welcome. I chose to reimage just to show others how, just in case they are not starting with a new Steam Deck. I prefer to have nothing on it other than the OS so that there are no problems with the partitioning. Its really just an optional step.
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 that's what I figured, just thought I'd double check. Thanks again. Your video is truly a great resource. I hope you didn't lose toouch sleep!
been subscribed to you and want to try but i’m a little hesitant. what’s the best usb drive you’d recommend i use to try this so that it can be fast? can you also do a video on how to download fifa after installing windows? Thank you so much my ❤️
Any USB should do. I usually use a 32 GB USB or SD card. Unfortunately I do not own fifa because I don't follow soccer. But you can come to our Discord and ask our members about it. I think a few of them play the game
Is there any way to get the dual boot to prioritize which OS it launches by pressing the power button without volume? Mine chooses windows as the default each time but I want it to be steam os instead.
I did some research and this is what I found on Reddit. I have not tried any of this myself, because I don't really have an issue with holding volume down + power to boot into SteamOS. Take a look at this post on Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/WindowsOnDeck/comments/x96bvq/comment/inwez32/?context=3
ur video helped so much but how come i don’t see steam OS in boot menu and he keeps booting into windows did my steam OS just disappear? i have them both on 1 tb split ssd now i don’t know what to do and also do we update windows when we are in?
Hi, later after you install windows can you still need a mouse and keyboard or you can manage with a touchscreen and steampad? How hard is it to use steamdeck with windows on the go?'
Hey Aaron, I can get by 99% of the time with just the touchscreen and trackpads, especially after installing SWICD for Non-Steam Games and having it enabled at startup. I also went into the windows settings and enabled the on-screen keyboard as well. It pops up whenever I click on a text field. With all of that, I find that don't need to use my keyboard most of the time.
When I get to the part where you install windows i get a message that the amount of disk space is less than recommended. Then after it is installed it says there is no space to download them. I have the 64 gb model. What size should the partition be?
Unfortunately, you can only dual boot on the internal storage if you have the 256 or larger steam deck. I put together a Windeck (Windows Only) video specifically for 64 GB users. There is also the option of upgrading the internal storage. We have a video tutorial showing that as well.
If you add a game on windows, is there anyway to add it as a non-steam on SteamOS? I’m assuming it’s not possible since they are separate partitions. Great video!
If the game is on the SteamOS partition, then Windows will not be able to see the files on the other partition. You would have to download the game to the same partition as Windows or to an SD Card or other media that has a file system that is readable by Windows (i.e. NTFS)
When I try to open up Rufus it asks me to choose an application to open it in and i’m not sure which to choose. also, should i stick to the 3.20 version or use the latest version?
When you click on the exe it should open the RUFUS application, just as shown in the video. I use the most recent version of RUFUS. I don't think I have ever been asked what application should be used to open RUFUS because it is an exe file. I just tested this by downloading version 4.2 to my desktop and launching it and it opened the app... github.com/pbatard/rufus/releases/download/v4.2/rufus-4.2.exe
I have two extra drives labeled "efi". They both are only 31.2MB but I hate seeing two extra drives. Can I delete them? or just remove drive letter/path in disk management so i no longer see them? or will this impact the dual boot?
Thanks for the video. dont have my steam deck yet but I still have a question.. If I do this on a 64gig steam deck can I use a single 1tb SDcard for both steam os and windows? many thanks
Hey Jason, the file system for Windows and SteamOS will be different. This is so that they are isolated from each other and do not affect each other. When you format the SD Card for one, it will become inaccessible for the other. There may be a way to partition the SD card with two different file systems so that you can use it for both. I will test this out and make a video. Make sure you are subscribed so you don't miss that video.
Adding to this: so you CAN partition on just the 64 GB version? I think steam os is 10 GB and Windows 10 is like 20 Gb, right? I have two SD cards that I can just swap out as needed
Would it be possible to partition my internal steam deck space without factory resseting it? I see most videos show it with a freshly installed recovery steam os and then use gnome to partition. Is it possible to skip installing the recovery steam os to keep my current data on steam and simply reallocate space for a windows installation?
I tried reimaging steamdeck like 8 times and waited for it to boot up the linux looking desktop for over an hour several times...literally all day.. I was using an old 64gb usb2.0 flash drive. I went to walmart and bought a usb3.0 flash drive and it completed the entire process including reimaging the steamdeck in under 5 minutes after I got home.
You can resize later, but not in a completely dynamic sense, because Windows will install immovable files. So, you will be able to resize, but will be limited in terms of how much you can resize it. So, you will want to think carefully about how big you will want each partition to be. Here is an example of what I mean. Let's say you decide to partition your SSD 70/30 and then later you decide you want a 50/50 partition. Chances are you will not be able to go from 70/30 to 50/50 because of the immovable files. For that big of a change, you will have to delete the Windows partition and resize the SteamOS partition and then reinstall Windows. It would take about an hour of your time.
Yes. If you don't want to lose anything then you will probably will want to back up Windows and then reinstall SteamOS, partition as shown in the video and then you can restore Windows back the same as you had it. Here is my video showing how to back up your Windows or SteamOS install and how to restore it. ua-cam.com/video/IF6UAVfWKDs/v-deo.html. If you are okay with losing your data, then you can just follow the steps in this video. I will be putting out an updated version of this video soon.
Gparted crashes after I click apply after hitting the green check it doesn't apply changes it just crashes to the g party home screen that shows exit screenshot terminal g party and when you go back into g party none of the changes have been saved
I have 3 1tb sd cards. Can I keep 1 for steam verified games and the other 2 for all others? If so do I need to change the partition sizes on the Deck?
Yeah, you have plenty of options. You can have one card for SteamOS and another for Windows or you can use one card and share it between both operating systems. I have a video on how to do that as well. ua-cam.com/video/VVoodxlO3oA/v-deo.html
When I got to downloading windows it did the same thing as yours did so when I tried restarting it, it still wouldn’t boot and I tried going back to the boot menu and it still stays on the steam symbol
Here is the updated version of this tutorial. If you need assistance feel free to drop by our Discord for help... ua-cam.com/video/IraA82T1bxE/v-deo.htmlsi=hOOMEdQ8ITUyEQCa
HeLP....So I just swapped out my ssd, I reimaged my steam os but reached an error during update " an error was encountered during he update process, please try again later" ? Any ideas on how to fix this issue? thx man
Sorry for the bother, but I have a question from your video. I ran into a issue around partitioning the SSD. After using RUFUS to create an image for GParted to my usb drive, I go through all the steps on the steam deck, but then I run into the issue when it supposed to load up the same amount partitions from the video @ 15:38 (just to clarify I have the same model steam deck as you) but mine loads on 1 with unallocated space. So what I'm trying to get at is could you please help me if you can?
Hey TGOD. So, just to make sure I am understanding correctly, when you launch GParted and get to the part where you see the partitions it only shows one partition of unallocated space? If you have SteamOS installed on the Steam Deck you should not be seeing one partition of unallocated space. You should see several small partitions and one large one. The large partition, which is the one at the bottom of the list is the main partition where your apps and games are stored. That is the partition that gets resized. After we resize it the remaining space becomes unallocated and then we convert that to an ext4 partition. This is the partition that later becomes the Windows partition. That is very strange if you are seeing something other than the above. You may just want to start over with a reimage of the Steam Deck and then try the partition steps.
Hey TGOD, I got your email. Do you have Discord? On Discord you can add me: Overkill Gaming #4571. I think it would be much easier to help you there. I see the pic and the partition we want to resize is the primary partition that shows 476.71 GB. I'm not sure exactly how you want your partition to look (for example 256 for SteamOS and 256 for Windows), but you only have 83.23 GB of unused space on the primary partition that we need to split.
Can steam os and windows share the same installed games? Lets say i have a game installed in steam os, and i install steam on windows. Can i point steam to look in the folder on steam os? And then run it in windows trough steam Or are the files not readable then? , or would it be possible to make 3 partitions 2 big enough to hold windows and steamos and room for updates and create a 3rd one just to hold games from both steam and windows?
Hey Passius, so the way that we have our partition set up is with two different file systems so that both operating systems are isolated from each other. The games installed installed on the partitions are also isolated as well.
Hey Alvin, you should be able to do this by deleting the Windows partition using either the KDE partition manager or GParted. Or you can use the recovery software provided by Valve on the Steam website and reimage the Steam Deck. You will have to reinstall your games afterwards
You can actually pull this off with one USB. When I did this tutorial I did the whole thing with one USB. I mentioned that it would be preferable to have two because it would make the process go by faster, but it isn't required. And yes, the hub is for mouse and keyboard. You can complete the process without a mouse and keyboard but it may take a bit longer
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 thank you, another question is what do I do differently if i only have one flash drive, and if i have an sd card put in, can I still use it to download steam os games on it?
After of doing this... it runs 1(!) times. after windows updates the system now never comes up the bootmenu. in the bios Bootmenu there is the rEFInd Bootmanager listed. what is that ?
rEFInd is a boot manager. But we didn't go over rEFInd in this video. You must've installed it watching another video. In our updated SSD dual boot video we show how to use the Clover script to install the boot manager
Please help me, I installed the drivers, everything was perfect, just like yours. But the trackpads don't work, the right and left mouse buttons are the trigger buttons, but I want to play on the right and left trackpad. I don't like it being on triggers. Help me ;(
Come to my discord. I can help you there. I need more details of what you're trying to do. Contact me directly on Discord in my DM: Overkill Gaming #4571 Join the Overkill Gaming Community on Discord: discord.gg/dCBMy6gFCk
People say that installing windows on a sd card (for dual booting) will deteriorate the card over time. Will this be the same on the internal ssd or even a external ssd? Can't find anything on reddit or youtube
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 appreciate the answer G 🙏. Also, I want to install Windows 10 to my internal ssd, I would need to reimage my steamdeck back to stock so im transferring all my SteamOS games to my steamdeck SD card, will these be available to play when I finish installing everything or will the sd card need to be reformatted🤔
A better software would be the KDE Partition Manager. It comes bundled in SteamOS and also in the SteamOS recovery software. You will want to use it with the recovery software. Also, here is a more up to date Dual Boot Tutorial Video... ua-cam.com/video/IraA82T1bxE/v-deo.htmlsi=8XTImLGzjm6XSPAg
Question: I had my 1TB SSD set up for a few months, and due to the 400MHz bug on the Steam deck Valve told me to put it in battery storage mode. I did that, exactly following their step by step (even though it isn't hard), and after plugging it in it auto booted (chimed and the fan kicked on), but the screen remained black. I told Valve and they set up RMA for it. I was getting it ready to RMA, which meant I needed to put the original SSD in, and for kicks I booted it with that SSD and it booted up fine. So I put the upgraded SSD back in and it booted like normal. I'm assuming unplugging the battery was the fix, though I'm not completely sure. The only issue I have to deal with now is that since it was dual boot with windows 10 being the primary, steam OS is not an option to boot to now, and I did have some things not backed up, such as emulator saves and stuff. Not a huge deal, but still, any idea why the SteamOS boot is just "gone"? The drive partitions still show in windows like always, albeit unaccessable via windows, so I don't think the data is gone, but the deck doesn't see it. Any ideas how to "get it back"?
If it is still there we may be able to get access to it by booting into the BIOS holding volume up + power until we hear the chime. This is different from holding volume - and power. From here we can select Boot from File. On the next screen you should see the boot partitions. On my Steam Deck SteamOS is the top option. When I click on it I see SteamOS ---> efi --> steamcl.efi. I click on that and it takes me into SteamOS.
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 Yes, that does boot it up! It didn't automatically add it to the boot menu though. I was able to find this, and it did add it back to the boot loader! Go to desktop mode. Open Konsole. EDIT: if you never used sudo then type passwd and press Enter. Then set up your password that you will have to use whenever you run sudo. Run following command: sudo efibootmgr -c -L "SteamOS" -l "\EFI\steamos\steamcl.efi" -d /dev/nvme0n1p1 This will add a boot menu option for SteamOS. EDIT: If you're typing the command by hand, 2 remarks: it is one line command (in mobile apps it might be seen as multiple lines) the third flag, between "SteamOS" and "\EFI... is a dash and lowercase L (it might look like number one or uppercase i)
I'm about to attempt this today I don't have any partitions at the min so could i just factory reset instead of reimaging? I brought a 1tb external ssd just for window as I got 256gb model plus 512sd card for steam os so could I skip partitioning the ssd as well
Hey Nathan, i'm not sure I understand what you are wanting to do. You said that you are attempting to do this (I assume you mean an SSD partition), but you say that you bought a 1 TB external SSD for Windows. If you are planning to install Windows on an external SSD then there is no need to reimage the deck or partition it. Please let me know if I understood your question correctly. It sounds like you want to install Windows on an external SSD and also have your games for Windows there. If so, then the process will be different. This tutorial is for the internal SSD. What you are trying to do (if I am understanding correctly) is more like installing to an SD card, except you will be using an external SSD rather than an SD card. You will be using Windows2Go on the external SSD. If that is the case, then you might want to watch the other tutorial for SD card dual booting. That is closer to what you are wanting to do.
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 Thanks for reply apologies I see the ssd image in thumbnail when watching your other videos and automatically assumed external even tho it clearly says internal above it 🤣🤦🏻♂️. I want to install to external ssd as apparently it runs better than an sd card according to forums so I will use your other video thanks for the reply appreciate it. When I follow the other video will everything be exactly the same just using external ssd instead of micro sd card? Also in your opinion which windows would you recommend to install 10 or 11? I've seen mixed reviews regarding this subject some say 10 is best others say 11?
Yes, definitely an SSD will be much better than an SD card and more durable long term. As far as which Windows I prefer... I started out with Windows 10 and had good results. People kept asking me which was better so I installed Windows 11 to compare. After having used them both I will definitely say that I prefer Windows 11. It is much smoother and faster than 10 from my observations. I have only had 11 for a week but I am impressed with it and I think I will stick with it
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 Hi brought a WD_BLUE SN570 1TB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 NVMe and casing for hardrive but windows is not recognising the ssd when I plug in to laptop and nore is rufus any idea how to get laptop to show external ssd
when you boot from the usb to image the steamdeck it takes a really, really long time... Like when the little mouse cursor pops up it has been 5 or 10 minutes and it still hasn't loaded up. It might be because it's an old slow usb 2.0 thumb drive IDK.
It gets hung up during the installation. All you have to do is hit 'B' to go back and then hit 'A' to go forward again and it will install very quickly, like in less than 3 mins.
Just followed your steps and boom i’m now mighty! thanks to you. if i want to recover back my steam Os with full memory size prior to the partitioning with windows how do i do that?
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 thank you very much! so this will give me back the memory size i had before doing the splitting right? and also SWICD and GLOSC which do you think is better?
Hey Harrison, yes. If you reimage the deck it will completely wipe everything you currently stored on it and restore it to its factory state. You can also perform this process without reimaging your Steam Deck.
Hey Elvin, the USB hub does not have to be powered. You'll just wanna make sure that you have plenty of battery in case you do use a hub for mouse and key and can't charge during the process. You can also perform this process without a mouse and keyboard using the trackpads. But, using a mouse and keyboard makes it a bit easier.
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 thank you for the info. Another question, did i understand you right that if after successfully creating partitions and dual booting the Steam deck, if i want to delete the partitions, i just need to reimage the steamOS to the ssd and it will delete the partitions automatically?
Im getting an error with rufus installing gparted. "this image uses syslinux 6.03/20171018 but this application only includes the instialltion files for 6.04/pre1... addition files must bne downloaded from the internet" when i press yes, it fails. im stuck here.
Here is our most updated video on how to set up an SSD dual boot. We used the KDE Partition Manager that comes with the SteamOS recovery image software which is a bit easier. Give this a try instead. ua-cam.com/video/IraA82T1bxE/v-deo.html
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 got it to work, would have been a bit helpful to make it clear that reimaging does not backup my current steam OS, just lost a shitload of linux files like powertools and emulator data.
Check out the entire Steam Deck Playlist Here: ua-cam.com/play/PLHR7H690ynSi8RhmDia5mzssgNrXlCjXg.html
I was looking for a good video for a friend of mine on how to pull this off. Thank you very much for making a indepth tutorial. Coming from an IT guy you didn't under or over explain anything. Solid content
Just bought my steam deck and I'm trying to learn everything about it while I wait. You video was the most helpful of all. Thanks.
Glad we could help. Be sure to stop by our Discord. We have a community of knowledgeable people in case you have questions or need help with anything in the tutorials.
Keep it up💪🏾. I like the time stamps and how thorough your videos are
Hey, thanks Demarcus!
Dude thank you so much. Ive been stuck for the past few days. I made the new partition and kept trying install windows to that. Then I find your video and see that you delete the partition and make a new one in the installer, so I try that and low and behold it worked! I appreciate it man
Awesome! Glad we could help. We also have an updated version of this guide just posted the other day and it goes over even more... ua-cam.com/video/IraA82T1bxE/v-deo.html
You've been putting a ton if work into these videos I definitely respect the grind brother keep it up
Thanks bro. Appreciate the support!
Hi man it's me again ,just to tell you Thanks you so much for all the effort you put in your channel, I did 1st dual boot on SD after you reply me in another video and recommend me partition on the SSD I did and you just make me to love more my steam deck, is sooo fast, stable and I can play my MW2 , thank you so much bro and I hope you keep going with your success in your channel, I always watch your videos when you upload a new one, greatings from Norway 🇳🇴👍🏼
Hey Juan, it makes us happy that we were able to help you get the most out of your Steam Deck. Definitely more tips to come and we definitely appreciate the support. Feel free to stop by our Discord to vibe with the growing community of people just like you.
Best tutorial on UA-cam tried 4 others this is the only one that worked thank you
Thanks very much for this guide. Really good idea to use the SD card for steam OS games so spilt SSD exactly like you did. I’m a gamespass subscriber but with a fairly large steam os library of older titles so this works well for me. Having a NexDock makes things easier too. Top tip if you just press enter on the password screen for a local windows 10 installation you don’t have to bother with security questions.
Brother, I finally installed windows 10 into my steam deck, thank you for the awesome tutorial, AGAIN! :D
appreciate the guide...will def be using this once I upgrade my SSD
I've been thinking about doing that too bro. I have the 512 GB version but I have been toying with the idea of installing a 2 TB stick in my steam deck. If I do, there will be a video for sure.
Thank you bro I watched video once again and it was actually pretty clear now. I appreciate it.
Dude! exceptional video! so well explained and the step by step walk through really helped =), Kudos to you sir! thank you so much
Hey thanks! Glad we could help
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 it's really helped! My main game is World Of Warcraft, I use an MMO mouse, but couldn't configure it in SteamOS, and I couldn't for the life of me get Libratbag to install using Konsole, it turned into a real nightmare! But I've used your vid to partition and install Windows pretty much just for wow, and loads of software I use for the game, and I'll use SteamOS with my 1tb SD card for my steam stuff, best if both worlds 😃
Thanks a lot man, great tutorial, right to the point. Blessings my brother 🙏🏽
Great video worked flawlessly!
Nice work! Excellent tutorial. Thank you for the effort and help. I skipped re-imaging the steam deck OS since mine was brand new out of the box. Other than that it was a smooth process following your video.
Awesome,glad everything worked out for you. We also put out an updated video with a few more tips to help with performance as well as set up a dual boot options menu...ua-cam.com/video/HkX_AJZwGdk/v-deo.html
@@OVERKILLGAMING786this isn’t even the same topic? you said it’s an updated video about dual booting but it’s really a video about chikai…
Pure Content. Learned a lot from you keep it up mm Guy!
Thank you sir!
Thank you so much! I'm a novice at these things but this video helped me so much. You're awesome!
Hey, you're welcome Ronnie. Glad we could help you out. Feel free to drop by our discord if you have any questions or need help.
I tapped the discord link it says it was expired or invalid. What should I search for in discord app?
Brilliant tutorial! Thank you very much!!
Thanks, I just got this up and running!
Nice! Make sure to check out the SWICD video to help get your controls up and running for Non-Steam Games as well. I have it set to enabled upon Windows Startup so it works seamlessly.
just for those of you wondering, you don't need an external keyboard and mouse unless youre changing the defaulted language. its a little awkward but triggers are left and right mouse (reversed) and 'A' will but your 'enter' when on the prompt. I also just bought a usb/usbc style thumbdrive and and followed this amazing mans instructions and it worked great!
Took a hot min but it's working well on my deck even after 9 months. I personally skipped the whole steam os recovery part cause I read somewhere on reddit that steam os recovery is optional. Thank you for the tutorial
Awesome,.glad you got it working. I have a more updated video showing even more tips...ua-cam.com/video/B4-p0ptsRnI/v-deo.html
I subscribed. thanks for all the info my man
You're welcome bro. Thanks for the sub
Another fire vid buddy, getting caught up today
Thanks Gene. Good to see you back. Hope you're feeling better bro
awesome tutorial thank you!
this is awesome. thanks for the tutorial, cheers!
Happy to help!
Brother overkill love the video
TY GMG(got mine going)
I stopped right before you said to delete the partition and remake it as NTFS because I was getting the Windows error. I spent some time searching for the solution and found I could go back in gparted and make the partion NTFS there. I commence watching and you tell us we can just delete it and remake it NTFS during the windows install. Opps, that would have saved some time.
Anyway, I suppose the moral of the story is you could just make it NTFS at the start in gparted.
Thanks for the turorial, I was hoping to get Win on the SSD and now I do. Thumbs up!
Glad you got it working!
Awesome tutorial dude
Hey thanks Jayson!
Thank you for all your hard work. 🙏
My pleasure!
Just followed this tutorial for the 2nd time in 4 days. First time took me about 9 hours (to upgrade the hard drive, create the USBs, and do the full install), this time I just did it in 1 hour 34 minutes! I guess it does get better with practice! (I got a SSD from micro center and it didnt perform well, so I got one from amazon. That's why 2 full upgrade/installs). Super thanks again!
Next time you do it, it will take only 30 mins! I got very fast with lots of practice... 😂
the inland ssd is bad?
@@imstupidbut I had heard it was not as good, and I had some issues, so I wanted to try out the Sabrent, and I haven't had any issues with it, so personally I don't know how they compare as far as metrics, but I'm happy I went with the Sabrent.
ur legit a lifesaver. i tried factory resetting the normal way a few days ago after the recent update so my steam deck got stuck in the fatal error loop. had it sitting overnight and woke up to it still looping :l i went christmas shopping rn and realized i could buy a usb c adapter and usb hub to recover it and followed ur video and it worked. i decided i could try installing windows now and dual booting but couldnt find any tutorials with a one usb process till i came across urs. it worked like a charm and im so grateful as someone with adhd im super impatient when it comes to situations like this lmao. i couldve waited till next week or christmas to fix it and do much more but ur video helped speed up the process. ur legit a lifesaver u have no idea how grateful i am for this tutorial. very easy to follow as well. wish u the best and i subscribed after u said u stayed up all night working on the video lmao. happy holidays!
I'm glad we were able to help. Feel free to drop by our Discord also. Lots of smart people there in case you have questions or need help with anything.
Thanks for the guide, I had dual booted from a Sd card for windows but it was terrible, I upgraded to a 1TB ssd just so I can get game pass games and bypass anti cheats that don’t work on Linux. I got cought up on another guided using the built in partition manager in steam OS. But now we good
Awesome. Glad we could help
Well done!!! It works! Thank you!
You're welcome!
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 I'm having a little hicup, my steam app won't let me install a game on the 1tb micro sd that's on the steam deck slot it's also formatted, only internal drive instal. Is there's a windows fix for that?
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 I fixed it! For some folks if they have a problem trying to install on the micro sd card on the steam deck thru Windows you have to go to the Steam App then Settings, a pop up window will show up then on the list in the left panel go to the one that says Downloads once clicked you'll see on the right the Steam Library Folder button, click there and that's where you can make the Steam App recognize that you can add and external drive and then the micro sd will show!
Hope it helps! 🙏
Thank you, my steam deck shows up next week. I'm gonna leave 64gb for my steam os and the other 400 something for windows 10
Tnx bro your the best
Nice 💯
I don't think the reimaging is necessary. You could simply resize the partition. It's true Linux tampers a lot with partitions and it's safer this way, but even so you could just do a factory reset and it would have the same effect.
Also there's no need to create a new ext4 partition as the windows installer should be able to see the unallocated space.
Either way, thank you so much for the video. It was clear and easy to follow.
Hey Javier. Yea, I tried a factory reset at first but it didn't undo the partitions that I had.
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 And how can I do to delete these partitions in the future? Because you said that even formatting from the factory the partitions continue
I'm about to attempt this today I don't have any partitions at the min so could i just factory reset instead of reimaging?
I brought a 1tb external ssd just for window as I got 256gb model plus 512sd card for steam os so could I skip partitioning the ssd as well?
@@19woody88 If you're installing Windows on an external drive, you don't need to do anything but booting from the ssd while it's connected and then installing it. No need for a factory reset either.
You'll depend on having it connected when you want to use Windows tho... And might not be able to charge the deck at the same time unless you have a power pass dock or something..
@@aqui3711 you can use the gparted usb or even windows usb to delete all the partitions and then either exit the installer or install windows
Thanks!
Wow! Thank You! If you enjoyed this video, then you should check out the updated video that we recently posted. Thanks again.. ua-cam.com/video/IraA82T1bxE/v-deo.html
Hey, appreciate the super detailed videos. I just got my steam deck 512gb and I’m looking to use this method to utilize all of the storage i have vs having to buy an additional micro SD. Question about downloading games, do you have to download them specifically to the windows side of the partition if that’s a thing? I’m wondering because if I’m using the steam os and download a game from the steam store that is incompatible, would it be a simple power down and swap os to make it work?
Hey V Nizzle, yes. For example, lets say you download Gears 5 in SteamOS and then realize that the game will not launch because of the Easy Anti-Cheat. You could then delete that game from your SteamOS partition and then download it on the Windows side where it will launch without an issue. I am using SteamOS specifically for those games that have been verified and are playable. Everything else is downloaded on the Windows side.
I am also going to be working on a video showing how to share a single SD card between SteamOS and Windows. This will allow us to be able to download games once to the SD card and then launch them in either OS. So, for example you download Gears 5 in SteamOS, you realize it won't launch, and then all you will have to do is reboot into Windows and launch the same game in Steam in Windows with no problems.
By the way, if you have any questions do not hesitate to ask. If I have the answer to the question I will gladly share it or research and follow up as time permits. Welcome to the Steam Deck Family!
it wouldnt work more than likely, because steamos uses an ext4 filesystem which is not compatable with windows, it may be possible however to partition the windows into a fat32 or exfat, download your steam games on the windows side, then possibly run them on the steamos side by mounting that partition and adding the game files as a non steam game
Great content! Followed along and succeeded! Question: which sd format can be both accessible by Steam OS & Windows? Not sure if I partition SD into two for each. Or simply share one if possible.
Hey Howie, the answer to your question is planned for an upcoming video. We are currently exploring how to share an SD card between both OS's. So, stay tuned for that. I can assure you that it is possible. Just trying to understand the process before passing on the information to the community. More than likely it will come in the form of a partition rather than a universal shared file system. Happy to hear it worked out for you!
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 Awesome!
Thanks bro
Great tutorial. I hve a question about the reimaging of SteamOS. Is this only necessary if any additional partitioning was previously performed on the Steamdeck? I followed another UA-camr's tutorial that was nearly identical with the exception of this step and during the installation of Windows I receive an error "Windows could not prepare the compute to boot into the next phase of installation." I was wondering if you thought that following your process would address this issue?
Also, great channel. I have saved several of the videos to watch later
Yeah, the re-imaging step is optional. If you have a fairly new Steam Deck then it is good to know how to reimage, but not required. If you have previously set up partitions like myself and want to re-arrange things, then you may want to include this step.
awsome!
Thank you! Cheers!
Thank you very much. I just can pay you with my sub and my likes... it's working perfectly...
Awesome brother.
I had already done the dual boot like in this video and then after the latest steamos update the option to boot into steamos in the bootloader was gone. It would only boot into windows. Also the touch screen stopped responding. I had to press power and vol+ then set it to deep sleep mode in power options and set it to auto wake when plugged in. That made the touchscreen start working again. To get it to boot into steamos I had to press power and vol+ then manually launch steam through the bottom left option. It still isn't showing steam in the boot options. I am now just setting it back to steam only because its my sons and he just wants it to work. I installed a 2tb nvme ssd. Hope this helps if anyone else has this problem.
Need help when I have installed windows 10 and shut it down and press power and volume down the only option I have is windows can't find my steam os any advice please on what to do thanks
Great work I wish I could do this without a pc..
Btw what case do you have on your deck?
Hi Lee, the case that I use on my Steam Deck is the JSAUX Kickstand Protective Case for Steam Deck. I show it off here in my accessories video: ua-cam.com/video/r9u76mXJMcI/v-deo.html
wow out of all the reviews this was one of the easiest and straightforward to follow! Any suggestion on storing windows games on SD card? I heard its not good? My 256Gb should be arriving tomorrow and I have a good mix between steam and windows games. So i'd like to split it in half and was thinkign of storing games on SD when I run out of room
I haven't experienced any issues with storing games on an SD card. We do also have a tutorial up on how to split the SD card to use with windows and SteamOS
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 where can I find that?
Hey love all the videos!! Sorry for all the questions but will I lose all my games, apps, and plugins if I do this? Will I have to re-download and set everything back up? Also does the steam controls on the steam deck work when using Windows? And if I have a game downloaded in steam os if I switch to windows can I still play that game? Do games transfer between steam os and windows? Or you download a game in windows and its just in windows? Thank you for the help!!
So, you asked...
will I lose all my games, apps, and plugins if I do this? Will I have to re-download and set everything back up?
If you do a full re-imaging prior to installing Windows, everything on the Steam Deck will be set back to the factory state (like new). The re-image is optional. I need to know more about how much space you have available on your deck vs how much you want to allocate for Windows. If you have a 512 GB deck and you are using the full capacity, something will at least have to be deleted to make room for Windows.
You asked...
Also does the steam controls on the steam deck work when using Windows?
By Steam controls I assume you mean the User Interface that is present in SteamOS and its features. The UI is available for Windows but does not include all of the features, such as the ability to control FSR, the HZ, or TDP. You can see a video of it running here: ua-cam.com/video/81uQFmDtFx4/v-deo.html
You asked...
And if I have a game downloaded in steam os if I switch to windows can I still play that game? Do games transfer between steam os and windows? Or you download a game in windows and its just in windows? Thank you for the help!!
So, the main purpose of dual booting Windows and SteamOS is to be able to play games that aren't compatible with SteamOS. For example, if you wanted to play COD or Fortnite you would download those games in Windows because they will not play in SteamOS. Games that work fine in SteamOS are downloaded into SteamOS. This will give the user the ability to play any game without limitations. Also, some games may run better in Windows than in SteamOS and vice versa. But to answer your question, a dual boot with a partition is basically like having a wall between two operating systems. So, the games are only accessible by the OS on either side of the wall. You cannot download a game to the Windows partition and then play it on SteamOS side because they use different file systems. Windows uses NTFS and SteamOS uses EXT4. They will be invisible to each other.
Feel free to drop by our Discord and we can see exactly what you have and tell you the best course of action for your specific needs. And thanks for your support!
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 Wow bro you are amazing!!! Thank you so much. I want to do this to my 512gb tonight. I have lots of space left on it. I also have a 1tb sd card as well. My biggest thing is I just dont want to lose my games, and decky loader and stuff. But if i dont have to reimage and lose all my stuff im in!!! I want to play the new cod modern warfare 2 so thats perfect. Thank you!
Question for ya. If I set up my internal SSD this way will Windows be able to install games to a SD card? Or are you limited to the internally SSD? I would essentially want to have one SD card for steam is and one for windows. Thanks in advance!
Hey Dustin, you would be able to install to both the SSD and the SD card. Having one SD card for both operating systems is a great idea. I recommend getting one with a fast/write speed like the Sandisk Extreme, which is what I use.
Great! Thanks!
Great video! Question if the dual boot is installed in the internal ssd, can you install windows pc games on the sd card?
Yes, you can. But if you also want to use the SD card for steamOS games also then we recommend partitioning the SD card also. We have a video tutorial on that as well
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 got everything installed followed your step by step everything working great! Question, I did the dual boot to internal ssd with windows 10, now…to upgrade to windows 11….do I have to start it all over??
So do you recommend having a seperate windows account for the steam deck? Not linking windows accounts from PC and steam deck?
You can link the account or have a separate account. I don't really have a strong preference for either option.
With the microSD card as storage for games, can you save both steam deck compliant games and then games youve downloaded through steam on the windows side? I want to play BF2042 but cant yet on just steam OS
We have a video showing how to share an SD card between Windows and SteamOS, but this uses a partititon method rather than sharing the same space. The reason we chose this method over others is because when you switch between operating systems Steam will update the games to match the OS which means more unnecessary writing to the SD card. We recommend partitioning the SD card and downloading the game to the Windows side since that is where it will be played. ua-cam.com/video/VVoodxlO3oA/v-deo.html
love your videos! would you make one for emulation on windows?
Hey Sarah, yes. Emulation is definitely on the list of upcoming tutorials. Probably starting with Emudeck
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 cool that would be great. Is Emudeck better or the same as batocera?
Not sure. Still kinda new to emulation. So, i'm gonna be knee deep in research soon.
hey when you download steam APP on windows do you install it into the hardrive of the steam deck or on the sd card?
Directly to the internal storage, or what you call the hard drive. Its actually an SSD but I knew what you were referring to.
Thanks so much for putting this all together. Is there any reason to re image steam os if it's a brand new device?
Hey Mark, you're very welcome. I chose to reimage just to show others how, just in case they are not starting with a new Steam Deck. I prefer to have nothing on it other than the OS so that there are no problems with the partitioning. Its really just an optional step.
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 that's what I figured, just thought I'd double check. Thanks again. Your video is truly a great resource. I hope you didn't lose toouch sleep!
been subscribed to you and want to try but i’m a little hesitant. what’s the best usb drive you’d recommend i use to try this so that it can be fast? can you also do a video on how to download fifa after installing windows? Thank you so much my ❤️
Any USB should do. I usually use a 32 GB USB or SD card. Unfortunately I do not own fifa because I don't follow soccer. But you can come to our Discord and ask our members about it. I think a few of them play the game
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 thank you so much for the reply
Do you need to dl windows and use rufus or can you just the use the media creation tool and pop it into the steam deck to start?
If you want a Windows only setup then the Media Creation tool alone may be sufficient for that.
Is there any way to get the dual boot to prioritize which OS it launches by pressing the power button without volume? Mine chooses windows as the default each time but I want it to be steam os instead.
I did some research and this is what I found on Reddit. I have not tried any of this myself, because I don't really have an issue with holding volume down + power to boot into SteamOS. Take a look at this post on Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/WindowsOnDeck/comments/x96bvq/comment/inwez32/?context=3
Is that a MUST for the steamOS re-image? or can I just repartition with the current steamOS installed?
No. Not a must but definitely good to know. You can repartition without reimaging
Thankyou
ur video helped so much but how come i don’t see steam OS in boot menu and he keeps booting into windows did my steam OS just disappear? i have them both on 1 tb split ssd now i don’t know what to do and also do we update windows when we are in?
Drop by our Discord. We can help you there
Hi, later after you install windows can you still need a mouse and keyboard or you can manage with a touchscreen and steampad? How hard is it to use steamdeck with windows on the go?'
Hey Aaron, I can get by 99% of the time with just the touchscreen and trackpads, especially after installing SWICD for Non-Steam Games and having it enabled at startup. I also went into the windows settings and enabled the on-screen keyboard as well. It pops up whenever I click on a text field. With all of that, I find that don't need to use my keyboard most of the time.
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 cool!
When I get to the part where you install windows i get a message that the amount of disk space is less than recommended. Then after it is installed it says there is no space to download them. I have the 64 gb model. What size should the partition be?
Unfortunately, you can only dual boot on the internal storage if you have the 256 or larger steam deck. I put together a Windeck (Windows Only) video specifically for 64 GB users. There is also the option of upgrading the internal storage. We have a video tutorial showing that as well.
If you add a game on windows, is there anyway to add it as a non-steam on SteamOS? I’m assuming it’s not possible since they are separate partitions. Great video!
If the game is on the SteamOS partition, then Windows will not be able to see the files on the other partition. You would have to download the game to the same partition as Windows or to an SD Card or other media that has a file system that is readable by Windows (i.e. NTFS)
When I try to open up Rufus it asks me to choose an application to open it in and i’m not sure which to choose. also, should i stick to the 3.20 version or use the latest version?
When you click on the exe it should open the RUFUS application, just as shown in the video. I use the most recent version of RUFUS. I don't think I have ever been asked what application should be used to open RUFUS because it is an exe file. I just tested this by downloading version 4.2 to my desktop and launching it and it opened the app... github.com/pbatard/rufus/releases/download/v4.2/rufus-4.2.exe
I have two extra drives labeled "efi". They both are only 31.2MB but I hate seeing two extra drives. Can I delete them? or just remove drive letter/path in disk management so i no longer see them? or will this impact the dual boot?
I don't think you can delete them because efi files are there for helping the system boot up properly. There may be a way to hide them though
Thanks for the video. dont have my steam deck yet but I still have a question.. If I do this on a 64gig steam deck can I use a single 1tb SDcard for both steam os and windows? many thanks
Hey Jason, the file system for Windows and SteamOS will be different. This is so that they are isolated from each other and do not affect each other. When you format the SD Card for one, it will become inaccessible for the other. There may be a way to partition the SD card with two different file systems so that you can use it for both. I will test this out and make a video. Make sure you are subscribed so you don't miss that video.
Adding to this: so you CAN partition on just the 64 GB version?
I think steam os is 10 GB and Windows 10 is like 20 Gb, right?
I have two SD cards that I can just swap out as needed
Bro off subject where you find that “I wanna rock you beat” that thang whammmin!!
Its from a local Bay Area artist. Young Slobe I think
Would it be possible to partition my internal steam deck space without factory resseting it? I see most videos show it with a freshly installed recovery steam os and then use gnome to partition. Is it possible to skip installing the recovery steam os to keep my current data on steam and simply reallocate space for a windows installation?
I tried reimaging steamdeck like 8 times and waited for it to boot up the linux looking desktop for over an hour several times...literally all day.. I was using an old 64gb usb2.0 flash drive. I went to walmart and bought a usb3.0 flash drive and it completed the entire process including reimaging the steamdeck in under 5 minutes after I got home.
Can i resize the partition at a later time? Or can i decide for the partition to be dynamic so it exapnds if it uses more space?
You can resize later, but not in a completely dynamic sense, because Windows will install immovable files. So, you will be able to resize, but will be limited in terms of how much you can resize it. So, you will want to think carefully about how big you will want each partition to be. Here is an example of what I mean. Let's say you decide to partition your SSD 70/30 and then later you decide you want a 50/50 partition. Chances are you will not be able to go from 70/30 to 50/50 because of the immovable files. For that big of a change, you will have to delete the Windows partition and resize the SteamOS partition and then reinstall Windows. It would take about an hour of your time.
I see, thanks for the response! hyped to get mine in a few days, gonna follow your guide then 🤞
I'm hyped for you bro
Drop a like my friend Overkill 👍💯
Is this process different if I’m already currently on windows os ? What steps do I have to do differently?
Yes. If you don't want to lose anything then you will probably will want to back up Windows and then reinstall SteamOS, partition as shown in the video and then you can restore Windows back the same as you had it. Here is my video showing how to back up your Windows or SteamOS install and how to restore it. ua-cam.com/video/IF6UAVfWKDs/v-deo.html. If you are okay with losing your data, then you can just follow the steps in this video. I will be putting out an updated version of this video soon.
Gparted crashes after I click apply after hitting the green check it doesn't apply changes it just crashes to the g party home screen that shows exit screenshot terminal g party and when you go back into g party none of the changes have been saved
Come see us over on Discord. We'll help you out
Hey man probably late question but everytike I try to download the amd software my steam deck goes to a black scream and stays there
Hmmm.....I think that happened to me once. I redownloaded the drivers, rebooted the Steam Deck and it went through fine after that
I have 3 1tb sd cards. Can I keep 1 for steam verified games and the other 2 for all others? If so do I need to change the partition sizes on the Deck?
Yeah, you have plenty of options. You can have one card for SteamOS and another for Windows or you can use one card and share it between both operating systems. I have a video on how to do that as well. ua-cam.com/video/VVoodxlO3oA/v-deo.html
When I got to downloading windows it did the same thing as yours did so when I tried restarting it, it still wouldn’t boot and I tried going back to the boot menu and it still stays on the steam symbol
Here is the updated version of this tutorial. If you need assistance feel free to drop by our Discord for help... ua-cam.com/video/IraA82T1bxE/v-deo.htmlsi=hOOMEdQ8ITUyEQCa
HeLP....So I just swapped out my ssd, I reimaged my steam os but reached an error during update " an error was encountered during he update process, please try again later" ? Any ideas on how to fix this issue? thx man
Come to our support section on our Discord. We can take a look at it
Sorry for the bother, but I have a question from your video. I ran into a issue around partitioning the SSD. After using RUFUS to create an image for GParted to my usb drive, I go through all the steps on the steam deck, but then I run into the issue when it supposed to load up the same amount partitions from the video @ 15:38 (just to clarify I have the same model steam deck as you) but mine loads on 1 with unallocated space. So what I'm trying to get at is could you please help me if you can?
Hey TGOD. So, just to make sure I am understanding correctly, when you launch GParted and get to the part where you see the partitions it only shows one partition of unallocated space? If you have SteamOS installed on the Steam Deck you should not be seeing one partition of unallocated space. You should see several small partitions and one large one. The large partition, which is the one at the bottom of the list is the main partition where your apps and games are stored. That is the partition that gets resized. After we resize it the remaining space becomes unallocated and then we convert that to an ext4 partition. This is the partition that later becomes the Windows partition. That is very strange if you are seeing something other than the above. You may just want to start over with a reimage of the Steam Deck and then try the partition steps.
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 it is I sent you an email with the photo of my partition problem
Hey TGOD, I got your email. Do you have Discord? On Discord you can add me: Overkill Gaming #4571. I think it would be much easier to help you there. I see the pic and the partition we want to resize is the primary partition that shows 476.71 GB. I'm not sure exactly how you want your partition to look (for example 256 for SteamOS and 256 for Windows), but you only have 83.23 GB of unused space on the primary partition that we need to split.
@@girlgamer411 Hey, i have the same problem, did you get it resolved?
Great to know how if so
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 Hi man, i have exactly the same issue, grateful for any help
Can steam os and windows share the same installed games? Lets say i have a game installed in steam os, and i install steam on windows. Can i point steam to look in the folder on steam os? And then run it in windows trough steam Or are the files not readable then? , or would it be possible to make 3 partitions 2 big enough to hold windows and steamos and room for updates and create a 3rd one just to hold games from both steam and windows?
Hey Passius, so the way that we have our partition set up is with two different file systems so that both operating systems are isolated from each other. The games installed installed on the partitions are also isolated as well.
Hi, How about already have dual OS and wish to allocate back the Ssd storage from Window 10 back to Steam OS Operating system.. 🤔
Hey Alvin, you should be able to do this by deleting the Windows partition using either the KDE partition manager or GParted. Or you can use the recovery software provided by Valve on the Steam website and reimage the Steam Deck. You will have to reinstall your games afterwards
i want to do this but do i need two flash drives? and is the hub just for the keyboard or can i skip out on it
You can actually pull this off with one USB. When I did this tutorial I did the whole thing with one USB. I mentioned that it would be preferable to have two because it would make the process go by faster, but it isn't required. And yes, the hub is for mouse and keyboard. You can complete the process without a mouse and keyboard but it may take a bit longer
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 thank you, another question is what do I do differently if i only have one flash drive, and if i have an sd card put in, can I still use it to download steam os games on it?
I just got the steam deck and want to dual boot it. can i go straight to the process of resizing the partition? skip reimaging steam os process
Hey G Privat.. Yes, you can. The reimaging step is optional. Just something I like to do, but you can go straight to resizing the partition.
After of doing this... it runs 1(!) times. after windows updates the system now never comes up the bootmenu. in the bios Bootmenu there is the rEFInd Bootmanager listed. what is that ?
rEFInd is a boot manager. But we didn't go over rEFInd in this video. You must've installed it watching another video. In our updated SSD dual boot video we show how to use the Clover script to install the boot manager
Please help me, I installed the drivers, everything was perfect, just like yours. But the trackpads don't work, the right and left mouse buttons are the trigger buttons, but I want to play on the right and left trackpad. I don't like it being on triggers. Help me ;(
Come to my discord. I can help you there. I need more details of what you're trying to do.
Contact me directly on Discord in my DM: Overkill Gaming #4571
Join the Overkill Gaming Community on Discord: discord.gg/dCBMy6gFCk
Hi, what happen if i just press the power button? Does it go automatically to stram os or windows?
It will automatically boot into Windows
People say that installing windows on a sd card (for dual booting) will deteriorate the card over time. Will this be the same on the internal ssd or even a external ssd? Can't find anything on reddit or youtube
I heard the same, but I had no issues with the SD Card. Should be fine on the internal SSD or external SSD
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 appreciate the answer G 🙏. Also, I want to install Windows 10 to my internal ssd, I would need to reimage my steamdeck back to stock so im transferring all my SteamOS games to my steamdeck SD card, will these be available to play when I finish installing everything or will the sd card need to be reformatted🤔
Is gparted still a via program to use to partition the SSD? or is there a better method/program?
A better software would be the KDE Partition Manager. It comes bundled in SteamOS and also in the SteamOS recovery software. You will want to use it with the recovery software. Also, here is a more up to date Dual Boot Tutorial Video... ua-cam.com/video/IraA82T1bxE/v-deo.htmlsi=8XTImLGzjm6XSPAg
Hi there, I have used part of my SSD and I was wondering if there is a way to download Windows without factory resetting the deck?
Yes. You can partition the SSD without resetting the deck and install Windows on the remaining space
Question: I had my 1TB SSD set up for a few months, and due to the 400MHz bug on the Steam deck Valve told me to put it in battery storage mode. I did that, exactly following their step by step (even though it isn't hard), and after plugging it in it auto booted (chimed and the fan kicked on), but the screen remained black. I told Valve and they set up RMA for it. I was getting it ready to RMA, which meant I needed to put the original SSD in, and for kicks I booted it with that SSD and it booted up fine. So I put the upgraded SSD back in and it booted like normal. I'm assuming unplugging the battery was the fix, though I'm not completely sure. The only issue I have to deal with now is that since it was dual boot with windows 10 being the primary, steam OS is not an option to boot to now, and I did have some things not backed up, such as emulator saves and stuff. Not a huge deal, but still, any idea why the SteamOS boot is just "gone"? The drive partitions still show in windows like always, albeit unaccessable via windows, so I don't think the data is gone, but the deck doesn't see it. Any ideas how to "get it back"?
If it is still there we may be able to get access to it by booting into the BIOS holding volume up + power until we hear the chime. This is different from holding volume - and power. From here we can select Boot from File. On the next screen you should see the boot partitions. On my Steam Deck SteamOS is the top option. When I click on it I see SteamOS ---> efi --> steamcl.efi. I click on that and it takes me into SteamOS.
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 Yes, that does boot it up! It didn't automatically add it to the boot menu though. I was able to find this, and it did add it back to the boot loader!
Go to desktop mode.
Open Konsole.
EDIT: if you never used sudo then type passwd and press Enter. Then set up your password that you will have to use whenever you run sudo.
Run following command:
sudo efibootmgr -c -L "SteamOS" -l "\EFI\steamos\steamcl.efi" -d /dev/nvme0n1p1
This will add a boot menu option for SteamOS.
EDIT: If you're typing the command by hand, 2 remarks:
it is one line command (in mobile apps it might be seen as multiple lines)
the third flag, between "SteamOS" and "\EFI... is a dash and lowercase L (it might look like number one or uppercase i)
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 Thabks for always responding and helping! I love your channel for your videos, but especially dor your help!
@@TheCHRISCaPWN Awesome. Glad I could help. Thanks for the support
Would I still need to to have a hub if my mouse and key board are wireless?
During the installation, yes. Once all of your drivers are installed for Windows then you can use them wirelessly.
I'm about to attempt this today I don't have any partitions at the min so could i just factory reset instead of reimaging?
I brought a 1tb external ssd just for window as I got 256gb model plus 512sd card for steam os so could I skip partitioning the ssd as well
Hey Nathan, i'm not sure I understand what you are wanting to do. You said that you are attempting to do this (I assume you mean an SSD partition), but you say that you bought a 1 TB external SSD for Windows. If you are planning to install Windows on an external SSD then there is no need to reimage the deck or partition it. Please let me know if I understood your question correctly. It sounds like you want to install Windows on an external SSD and also have your games for Windows there. If so, then the process will be different. This tutorial is for the internal SSD. What you are trying to do (if I am understanding correctly) is more like installing to an SD card, except you will be using an external SSD rather than an SD card. You will be using Windows2Go on the external SSD. If that is the case, then you might want to watch the other tutorial for SD card dual booting. That is closer to what you are wanting to do.
@@OVERKILLGAMING786
Thanks for reply apologies I see the ssd image in thumbnail when watching your other videos and automatically assumed external even tho it clearly says internal above it 🤣🤦🏻♂️.
I want to install to external ssd as apparently it runs better than an sd card according to forums so I will use your other video thanks for the reply appreciate it.
When I follow the other video will everything be exactly the same just using external ssd instead of micro sd card?
Also in your opinion which windows would you recommend to install 10 or 11? I've seen mixed reviews regarding this subject some say 10 is best others say 11?
Yes, definitely an SSD will be much better than an SD card and more durable long term. As far as which Windows I prefer... I started out with Windows 10 and had good results. People kept asking me which was better so I installed Windows 11 to compare. After having used them both I will definitely say that I prefer Windows 11. It is much smoother and faster than 10 from my observations. I have only had 11 for a week but I am impressed with it and I think I will stick with it
@@OVERKILLGAMING786
Hi brought a WD_BLUE SN570 1TB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 NVMe and casing for hardrive but windows is not recognising the ssd when I plug in to laptop and nore is rufus any idea how to get laptop to show external ssd
when you boot from the usb to image the steamdeck it takes a really, really long time... Like when the little mouse cursor pops up it has been 5 or 10 minutes and it still hasn't loaded up. It might be because it's an old slow usb 2.0 thumb drive IDK.
It gets hung up during the installation. All you have to do is hit 'B' to go back and then hit 'A' to go forward again and it will install very quickly, like in less than 3 mins.
Just followed your steps and boom i’m now mighty! thanks to you. if i want to recover back my steam Os with full memory size prior to the partitioning with windows how do i do that?
To recover SteamOS just download the Steam Deck recovery software from valve and use the reimage option and you'll be back to factory settings
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 thank you very much! so this will give me back the memory size i had before doing the splitting right? and also SWICD and GLOSC which do you think is better?
So if I reimage the deck prior to creating the partitions, will I lose all my emus/roms that are already installed on the internal SSD?
Hey Harrison, yes. If you reimage the deck it will completely wipe everything you currently stored on it and restore it to its factory state. You can also perform this process without reimaging your Steam Deck.
Ok dope - so essentially skip that part and move to partition process
Why do you use gparted when KDE partition manager already came stock with steamOS
Because I like it
Does the usb hub need to be powered when doing this or a simple non-powered usb hub will do?
Hey Elvin, the USB hub does not have to be powered. You'll just wanna make sure that you have plenty of battery in case you do use a hub for mouse and key and can't charge during the process. You can also perform this process without a mouse and keyboard using the trackpads. But, using a mouse and keyboard makes it a bit easier.
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 thank you for the info. Another question, did i understand you right that if after successfully creating partitions and dual booting the Steam deck, if i want to delete the partitions, i just need to reimage the steamOS to the ssd and it will delete the partitions automatically?
Im getting an error with rufus installing gparted. "this image uses syslinux 6.03/20171018 but this application only includes the instialltion files for 6.04/pre1... addition files must bne downloaded from the internet" when i press yes, it fails. im stuck here.
Here is our most updated video on how to set up an SSD dual boot. We used the KDE Partition Manager that comes with the SteamOS recovery image software which is a bit easier. Give this a try instead. ua-cam.com/video/IraA82T1bxE/v-deo.html
@@OVERKILLGAMING786 got it to work, would have been a bit helpful to make it clear that reimaging does not backup my current steam OS, just lost a shitload of linux files like powertools and emulator data.