SteamVR-for-Linux [BUG] Cannot use desktop overlays in SteamVR

Describe the bug Steam VR launches with no issues after I installed KDE Plasma desktop. However, I cannot use the deskotp/winow overlays. It only shows one of my 3 monitors, and when I click on it, while the mouse does work and I can see it move on the desktop when pointing at where the display should be in steamvr, there is no display of the desktop. I already have the latest version of the mesa drivers installed.

To Reproduce Steps to reproduce the behavior:

Open SteamVR
Open SteamVR Overlay
Click on desktop icon on the bottom
See error

Expected behavior I expect to be able to use the desktop and window pinning feature that I can on windows, as this is currently the main thing keeping me from ditching windows entirely

System Information (please complete the following information): Please use the latest Steam beta client and SteamVR beta for your bug reports!

Steam client version (build number or date): 1721173382
SteamVR version: 15141130
Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): Ubuntu (Linux Mint latest version)
Steam runtime diagnostics: [generate via Help -> Steam Runtime Diagnostics in the Steam client] logs.docx
Steam and SteamVR logs: [generate by running this command in a terminal tar -zcvf ~/Desktop/steam-logs.tar.gz ~/.steam/steam/logs] logs.tar.gz
Minidumps: [run the following command: tar -zcvf ~/Desktop/steam-minidumps.tar.gz /tmp/dumps] steam-minidumps.tar.gz

Additional context Add any other context about the problem here.

System:
  Kernel: 6.8.0-40-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.2.0
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.27.11 Distro: Linux Mint 22 Wilma
    base: Ubuntu 24.04 noble
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: Micro-Star model: MPG B550 GAMING PLUS (MS-7C56) v: 1.0
    serial: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends LLC. v: 1.I1
    date: 04/30/2024
CPU:
  Info: 8-core model: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 3+
    rev: 2 cache: L1: 512 KiB L2: 4 MiB L3: 32 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2203 high: 2254 min/max: 2200/4850 boost: enabled cores:
    1: 2200 2: 2200 3: 2200 4: 2200 5: 2198 6: 2200 7: 2200 8: 2200 9: 2200
    10: 2199 11: 2200 12: 2200 13: 2200 14: 2200 15: 2200 16: 2254
    bogomips: 121605
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Navi 31 [Radeon RX 7900 XT/7900 XTX/7900M]
    vendor: Sapphire PULSE driver: amdgpu v: kernel arch: RDNA-3 bus-ID: 2d:00.0
  Device-2: Lenovo 500 RGB Camera driver: uvcvideo type: USB bus-ID: 3-3:5
  Device-3: Valve 3D Camera driver: uvcvideo type: USB bus-ID: 4-4.1:6
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6 driver: X:
    loaded: amdgpu unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,radeon,vesa dri: radeonsi
    gpu: amdgpu resolution: 1: 2560x1440~240Hz 2: 1080x1920~60Hz 3: 1920x1080
  API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: radeonsi,swrast platforms:
    active: x11,surfaceless,device inactive: gbm,wayland
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 24.0.9-0ubuntu0.1
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (radeonsi
    navi31 LLVM 17.0.6 DRM 3.57 6.8.0-40-generic)
  API: Vulkan v: 1.3.275 drivers: N/A surfaces: xcb,xlib devices: 2
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD Navi 31 HDMI/DP Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
    bus-ID: 2d:00.1
  Device-2: AMD Starship/Matisse HD Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 2f:00.4
  Device-3: HP HyperX Cloud II Wireless
    driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid type: USB bus-ID: 1-9:7
  Device-4: Valve VR Radio driver: cdc_acm,hid-generic,usbhid type: USB
    bus-ID: 3-4.3.2:15
  Device-5: Valve VR Radio & HMD Mic
    driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid type: USB bus-ID: 3-4.3.3:16
  API: ALSA v: k6.8.0-40-generic status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.5 status: active
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel bus-ID: 05:00.0
  IF: wlp5s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    vendor: Micro-Star MSI RTL8111/8168/8411 driver: r8169 v: kernel port: f000
    bus-ID: 2a:00.0
  IF: enp42s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Device-3: ASIX AX88179 Gigabit Ethernet driver: cdc_ncm type: USB
    bus-ID: 4-2.3:5
  IF: enxf8e43bf08fb8 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX200 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB
    bus-ID: 1-2.1:8
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 2 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 5.2
    lmp-v: 11
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 3.68 TiB used: 23.76 GiB (0.6%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 980 PRO with Heatsink 2TB
    size: 1.82 TiB temp: 39.9 C
  ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 vendor: Intel model: SSDPEKNW020T8 size: 1.86 TiB
    temp: 38.9 C
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 1.83 TiB used: 23.73 GiB (1.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme1n1p1
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 96 MiB used: 32.5 MiB (33.9%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found.
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 43.1 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 49.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 0
Info:
  Memory: total: 32 GiB available: 31.26 GiB used: 4.56 GiB (14.6%)
  Processes: 399 Uptime: 39m Init: systemd target: graphical (5)
  Packages: 2625 Compilers: gcc: 13.2.0 Shell: Bash v: 5.2.21 inxi: 3.3.34

Aug 16 '24 11:08 GLaDOS-lab

I am having the same issue here.

Dec 15 '24 20:12 EliAgne

I have the same issue, and i see a cursor in the black "desktop".

My theory: SteamVR looking for Windows via X11 and talks to the XWayland, which only gives back other "X" windows, which are typically none..

Guess they need to migrate that functionality to use xdg-desktop-portals instead of directly talking to X.

Mar 01 '25 00:03 Spacefish

same issue here steamvr doesnt have support for xdg-desktop-portal

Jul 17 '25 05:07 birdguy-cs