Steam Installation

This will require enabling an external repository.
If you enabled "Third Party Software" (rpmfusion Nonfree) at installation you can skip to installing Steam.

Using the terminal

Enabling the external repository (rpmfusion Nonfree)

  • Launch The terminal prompt of your choice

  • Run the following command with a user that has root acess or can use the sudo command

sudo dnf install https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm -y
sudo dnf config-manager setopt fedora-cisco-openh264.enabled=1

For older versions (Fedora 40 and lower):

sudo dnf config-manager --enable fedora-cisco-openh264 -y

Installing Steam

  • Run the following command with a user that has root acess or can use the sudo command

sudo dnf install steam -y

Using Software GUI Package Manager

Open Software under the Activities in the top left corner.

Software

Enabling the external repository (rpmfusion Nonfree)

  • Click the Menu Button (☰) on upper right corner and choose Software Repositories. (Circled red for visual aide)

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  • Scroll down to the bottom of the new window till you see “Fedora Third Party Repositories”.

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  • Enable "RPM Fusion for Fedora XX - Nonfree - Steam".

  • Close the window.

  • Click on the upper left corner (search icon).

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Installing Steam

Following installation requires you to be online.

  • Search for Steam and install it.

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  • Launch Steam.

Installing Steam on Atomic Desktops

If you enabled "Third Party Software" (rpmfusion Nonfree) at installation you can skip to installing Steam.

Enabling the external repository (rpmfusion Nonfree)

  • Launch The terminal prompt of your choice

  • Run the following command with a user that has root acess or can use the sudo command

rpm-ostree install https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm

  • Reboot the system to apply the changes

  • Also run the following command to remove the “lock” on the versioned packages that were installed previously. This will enable the RPM Fusion repos to be automatically updated and versioned correctly across major Fedora version rebases:

rpm-ostree update \
    --uninstall rpmfusion-free-release \
    --uninstall rpmfusion-nonfree-release \
    --install rpmfusion-free-release \
    --install rpmfusion-nonfree-release

For more information, see this thread on Fedora Discussion.

Installing Steam

  • Run the following command with a user that has root acess or can use the sudo command

rpm-ostree install steam

  • Reboot once again to apply changes

you can append --apply-live at the end of the command above to not need a reboot

Troubleshooting

Steam does not start after initial installation

In case you are not able to run Steam application after initial installation, please try running it from terminal via following command:

__GL_CONSTANT_FRAME_RATE_HINT=3 steam

Certain games have missing textures

Games that have linux native versions are sometimes poorly maintained. You can force Steam to use Proton in such cases.

  • Right-click the game in your library

  • Open Properties

  • Click Compatibility

  • Check Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool

  • Select your desired Proton version

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Flathub installation

With Fedora 38 there is an issue where Steam installed from Flathub will not start. This issue is being tracked on the Fedora Discussion page

Changing Proton engine versions

As of 2026, Steam enables Proton by default for every game in your library (unless it has a linux native version). Only follow this section if you have problems, or want to change Proton versions

  • Open Steam and click Steam on the menu bar (upper left corner) and click Settings.

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  • Click Compatibility.

  • Click on the dropdown menu to change to your desired Proton version

  • Close the window

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Next steps

Install available title from the Library menu and play it.

It is recommended that games are checked on ProtonDB. This will give an idea of how well a game might run under Steam on Fedora.

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