How to install Steam on Arch Linux

Want to play Steam games on Arch Linux? You can..all you need is steam installed on your machine.

Steam is supported on many Linux distros, including Arch Linux.

Steam is available in the multilib repository in Arch Linux, which means, to be able to install Steam on Arch Linux, you must have the multilib repository enabled on your system.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install Steam on Arch Linux.

Install Steam on Arch Linux

In this tutorial, we'll install Steam on Arch Linux, by using the terminal to download the steam package from the multilib repository in Arch Linux.

Step 1 - Enable Multilib repository in Arch Linux

Multilib repository needs to be enabled so that you can install Steam on Arch Linux.

To enable multilib repository in Arch Linux, you can do so by following our tutorial : How to enable multilib on Arch Linux

Once you enable multilib repository, you can proceed to the next step.

Step 2 - Update pacman database

Now that multilib repository is enabled, you need to update the pacman database in your system, so that you can use the multilib repository to download Steam on your machine.

Pacman can be easily updated in Arch Linux, by using the -Syu option.

To do so, simply execute the command below.

sudo pacman -Syu

Step 3 - Install Steam

Now that your Arch Linux system is updated, and multilib repository ready to be used, you can now proceed to install Steam.

Installing Steam on Arch Linux is quite simple, and you can do so by using pacman.

To install Steam, simply execute the following command.

sudo pacman -S steam

Once you run the command above to install Steam, you will be prompted to choose GPU drivers.

Press the number depending the GPU type that you are using. If you are unsure what GPU you are using, press 'ENTER' to use the default drivers.

Finally, press 'Y' to confirm and proceed installing Steam.

And the installation process for Steam will begin as shown in the screenshot below. Now all you have to do is wait for Steam to be installed.

Once Steam is installed on your Arch Linux machine, you should see a similar output on your terminal.

Step 4 - Launch Steam

There are two methods to launch Steam on Arch Linux.

Method 1: Launch Steam via terminal

To launch Steam via terminal on Arch Linux, simply execute the command below.

steam

Method 2: Launch Steam using GUI

To launch Steam by using GUI, you can do so by launching Steam from the Applications menu on your Arch Linux machine.

Depending the Desktop Environment that you are using, you should be able to find Steam under the "Internet" category, or by simply searching for "Steam".

For example, we are using Gnome in Arch Linux, and we can launch Steam via

Activities> Show apps > Steam

or

Activities > Search: Steam > Steam

Uninstall Steam on Arch Linux

When you no longer need Steam on your Arch Linux machine, and want to completely remove from your system.

You can easily do so, by using pacman package manager.

To remove Steam and its dependencies, simply run the following command.

sudo pacman -Rsc steam

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned how to install Steam on Arch Linux, by downloading and installing steam package from the multilib repository.