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Issue tracking for the Steam for Linux beta client
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"Start Minimized on Boot" GUI option is missing #5806

Open Yowlen opened 5 years ago

Yowlen commented 5 years ago

Your system information

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

When booting, Steam starts up in the window, with no option in the Settings to start minimized. I could've sworn Steam used to behave this way at one point in Linux and I know it still behaves that way in Windows, but I can't for the life of me figure out why this functionality was removed.

The only possible explanation I can think of on my end is that I had to remove the Status Notifier Plugin on my panel due to crashes relating to a bug in another app, forcing the other app & Steam to use the legacy Notification Plugin stuff. But Steam minimizes to the Notification tray icon just fine, so I don't see why this option would not be present. Unfortunately, I can't test this without uninstalling the other app, and I can't really do that right now.

Steps for reproducing this issue:

  1. Install Steam and set it up via the additional installer.
  2. (Maybe remove the Status Notifier Plugin from the panel?)
  3. Reboot.
kisak-valve commented 5 years ago

Hello @Yowlen, running steam -silent should give this behavior. Adjusting the Exec= line of ~/.config/autostart/steam.desktop to end with -silent should also give that behavior when Steam starts with the user session.

Yowlen commented 5 years ago

Okay, that works, but the functionality should still match the Windows client. The Windows client has this option in the GUI, so the Linux one should too.

Yowlen commented 5 years ago

Okay. I take it back. It worked for literally one reboot. Steam actually reset the ~/.config/autostart/steam.desktop launcher when it started up. I'd have to put the option back in every time before shutting down the computer for this to work, so this is not an effective workaround.

kisak-valve commented 5 years ago

Can you try adjusting /usr/share/applications/steam.desktop instead?

Yowlen commented 5 years ago

I edited the config one again just to see what would happen and it seems to be sticking now. I think the other one had to do with an issue I was experiencing with a malfunctioning game which prevented me from closing Steam, forcing me to reboot without letting Steam shut down properly. I guess the crash recovery routine resets everything - including the startup thing.

So the first workaround does work, but this still needs to be put as a proper option within the GUI.

sorsasampo commented 5 years ago

@kisak-valve:

Hello @Yowlen, running steam -silent should give this behavior. Adjusting the Exec= line of ~/.config/autostart/steam.desktop to end with -silent should also give that behavior when Steam starts with the user session.

This is what I do, and I have the file in version control. But Steam keeps overwriting it:

-Exec=/usr/games/steam -silent %U                                       
+Exec=/usr/games/steam %U

/usr/share/applications/steam.desktop is not the right place to modify for user-specific configuration, either.

@kisak-valve:

  1. Steam should stop messing with the Exec line of ~/.config/autostart/Steam.desktop
  2. ... with the exception of adding/removing -silent, which should have an option in the GUI as @Yowlen pointed out.
Yowlen commented 5 years ago

Just to be clear, I figured out why it resets. Whenever a client update is released, the ~/.config/autostart/Steam.desktop file gets reset. And with me being in the beta program now, it updates every day, sometimes more than once. (I wasn't in the beta program 2 months ago when I wrote those other replies.)

This makes it impossible to use this workaround anymore unless I were to back out of the beta program and essentially forfeit my ability to test other issues I'm currently vested in getting fixed.

sorsasampo commented 5 years ago

Yeah, either Steam or the user modifies that ~/.config/autostart/Steam.desktop, but clearly not both.

@kisak-valve: another angle for this:

  1. Install /usr/share/applications/steam.desktop pristine as usual.
  2. Allow people to manually copy this to ~/.local/share/applications/steam.desktop to override the system-wide configuration (to add -silent for example). This is the de facto way to overriding .desktop files, and I think for example update-desktop-database considers it.
  3. Make ~/.config/autostart/Steam.desktop just a wrapper that starts steam.desktop, using the overridden file if it exists. I imagine there ought to be an existing command for this, but can't remember one.

Additionally maybe just add a toggleable GUI option that is used as default when no -silent is passed (for completeness, add -no-silent too).

Yowlen commented 5 years ago

There's no reason a user should have to do any of that, though. Any startup options should be toggleable in the GUI, barring an emergency debug command line option or whatever. No hacky workarounds, no command line unless absolutely necessary. We need to start holding Linux's user-friendliness to the same standards as Windows if we ever hope to have Linux not be an outlier in the desktop/laptop OS market. Steam is pushing their Linux-based SteamOS, so I would hope that they understand this necessity.

The Windows version has this option in the GUI, so the Linux version should have it too. That's all there is to it.

cminnoy commented 5 years ago

This still seems to be an open issue, a very much appreciated one! Please add it soon.

viggy96 commented 5 years ago

There should be a GUI option to start Steam minimised on startup, just like the Windows client.

Yowlen commented 5 years ago

Which is why this issue is still open. It's not that hard to add, either. They would only need to add logic to the autostart shortcut creation subroutine to add the -silent switch to it if the GUI option is checked, or remove it if it's not.

I have no idea how to do GUI stuff, but even with my own limited skillset, I can make a bash script that can toggle this at will, so unless the GUI change is really that hard, or there's another piece of Steam's code that's getting in the way somewhere, it's no more than a 5 minute fix.

viggy96 commented 5 years ago

Yeah, its pretty annoying to have to edit the ~/.config/autostart/steam.desktop file every time Steam updates to add the -silent flag. The Linux GUI should have the same options as the Windows one, especially simple features like this.

viggy96 commented 5 years ago

Is there any motion on this issue?

viggy96 commented 5 years ago

Is there any movement on this issue?

TriMoon commented 5 years ago

In case steam developers stay LAZY to add this, one might consider creating a CRON job that runs every min to check and add the option back to the USER CONFIG desktop file...

That cronjob could run a script that uses grep to check for the option and sed to modify it inline if needed 😉

cddouma commented 4 years ago

Thanks for the suggestions how to work around this issue. Let me share the non-interactive command to apply the workaround (as suggested by @TriMoon). sed -i '/Exec/ { /-silent/! s/steam\>/steam -silent/ }' ~/.config/autostart/steam.desktop Make this into a cronjob or a script until the steam settings GUI provide support for this.

cminnoy commented 4 years ago

I want't to add to this that I have been monitoring the power consumption of my NVIDIA graphics card. When Steam is NOT minimized the card consumes about 31 Watt (as measured by the driver) and the clocks stay very active. When Steam minimizes power goes down to 8 Watt and the clock frequency drops to 400 Mhz on my card. To conclude, while you are working on your desktop it is best to keep Steam minimized to the tray on not have the window open. But it clearly indicates that the Steam client is doing something which it ain't supposed to do. There is no reason why it should consume that amount of power from the GPU. As a side note, BigPicture mode also consumes a lot of power even when you don't interact with the screen.

TriMoon commented 4 years ago

@cminnoy That's because it has a browser window process active when shown, which ofcourse has javascript running... More reason to start it minimized on startup :wink:

cminnoy commented 4 years ago

Maybe so.

Large Window Mode and Big Picture mode have similar power consumption issues, even you go to your games library, which is just a bunch of icons. If you select just one game, then the power goes back to normal. So you may be right.

Small Window Mode doesn’t have the issue, neither when you minimise Steam or close it to tray.

As a side note there is another issue with big picture mode:

When I use a Windows client and open there big picture mode, then select a game to stream from my Linux host, Steam on the host stays in big picture mode even after closing the game on the client. And as Steam consumes quite a bit of power extra in big picture mode, your game machine might be not so power efficient when idle.

We may wonder why Steam on the host switches to big picture at all when you stream to a Windows/Linux client, as it serves no purpose at that time I think.

Only using SteamLink as client it has a purpose, as then you get to see the Steam screen of the host on the client.

Van: ©TriMoon™ [mailto:notifications@github.com] Verzonden: dinsdag 28 januari 2020 11:16 Aan: ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux steam-for-linux@noreply.github.com CC: cminnoy chris.minnoy@skynet.be; Mention mention@noreply.github.com Onderwerp: Re: [ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux] "Start Minimized on Boot" GUI option is missing (#5806)

@cminnoy https://github.com/cminnoy That's because it has a browser window process active when shown, which ofcourse has javascript running... More reason to start it minimized on startup 😉

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/5806?email_source=notifications&email_token=AE2CGAYV2HKYE7QRBDXWQC3RAAAWNA5CNFSM4FYMHIAKYY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGOEKCX5XY#issuecomment-579174111 , or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AE2CGAY6BD4UJYWEXR3G3F3RAAAWNANCNFSM4FYMHIAA .

bjoern-tantau commented 4 years ago

Just to be clear, I figured out why it resets. Whenever a client update is released, the ~/.config/autostart/Steam.desktop file gets reset. And with me being in the beta program now, it updates every day, sometimes more than once. (I wasn't in the beta program 2 months ago when I wrote those other replies.)

This makes it impossible to use this workaround anymore unless I were to back out of the beta program and essentially forfeit my ability to test other issues I'm currently vested in getting fixed.

Can't you just copy the ~/.config/autostart/steam.desktop file to ~/.config/autostart/steam-at.desktop or something similar and not use the GUI as a workaround? This should stop the file from being overwritten with every update.

Yowlen commented 4 years ago

Why would I not use the GUI? I can't install new games from Firefox, and updating to the latest GloriousEggroll Proton version on each new release so that music and stuff works in Warframe (among other things that get messed up due to official Proton versions not compiling FAudio with ffmpeg support) requires going into the GUI to change it.

There's a multitude of reasons to want to use the GUI but not have it pop up when you boot up the system, so that workaround is likely only gonna work for a select few people.

We need proper "Start Minimized on Boot" support, including a GUI checkbox. There's no reason the Linux version shouldn't have the same features as the Windows version.

bjoern-tantau commented 4 years ago

I meant, not use the GUI to set Steam to start on boot minimized. As a workaround. Until Valve has fixed this. Of course you should use the GUI for everything else.

Yowlen commented 4 years ago

But that's the whole problem. There's no GUI option for any of this in the first place. Adding the -silent flag has to be done manually.

And honestly, devs that make Linux apps have a bad habit of taking any "workarounds" that actually work and making it the official "solution" just to avoid having to implement it properly in their own code.

So leave the workarounds out of it. I don't wanna risk another bug report getting closed because the workaround was deemed "good enough". I've had more than enough of that from the DXVK devs, among others.

Edit: Just to be clear, I'm not saying Steam's Linux devs are like that. I'm just saying I don't wanna risk it.

Lycanite commented 4 years ago

It's a hack but setting the .desktop owner to root might do the job making it non-writable.

qaron84 commented 4 years ago

I repeat, THIS IS A HACK but it fixed the problem for me!! :D

  1. add the option inside the file /usr/share/applications/steam.desktop
  2. open steam>settings disable start at boot
  3. re-enable start at boot and check the file ~/.config/autostart/Steam.desktop

in my system it adds the options from /usr/share/applications/steam.desktop file and it keeps this setting for every boot after that consistently

Yowlen commented 4 years ago

I will say that adding the -silent option to the ~/.config/autostart/steam.desktop file, then making the file read-only to the user does work as a workaround, and is easier to accomplish than the rest of the workarounds that have been suggested, and unlike them, this doesn't require root to perform since chmod (or the GUI file manager equivalent) doesn't need root to work on the user's own files.

Still need the GUI option, ofc, but this has been working for me for a month or two now.

ghost commented 4 years ago

Disable the option within Steam "Run when my computer starts" then manually add the -silent option into a manually-made new/copied autostart.

Yes, Steam will also execute if you make a manual autostart and as far as I see, will not rewrite it if the option is disabled to continually monitor and remake it within Steam.

You can also be extra sure and just give the autostart a different name, like I did. I don't make sense of how Steam would detect such a 'rogue' autostart with a different name and delete it.

karypid commented 3 years ago

This is every annoying. It should just be added to the code rather than asking Linux users to manually run periodic jobs that update the desktop shortcut. There should be a preference that gets saved to disk, as well as code that reads it at startup and decides whether to show the main window or not.

viggy96 commented 3 years ago

Will this option ever be added to the Linux client? Its simple enough to add, the "-silent" argument just has to be included in the steam.desktop file when the option is enabled.

inviktus commented 3 years ago

I repeat, THIS IS A HACK but it fixed the problem for me!! :D

  1. add the option inside the file /usr/share/applications/steam.desktop
  2. open steam>settings disable start at boot
  3. re-enable start at boot and check the file ~/.config/autostart/Steam.desktop

in my system it adds the options from /usr/share/applications/steam.desktop file and it keeps this setting for every boot after that consistently

Works - Will have to wait and see if it persists after updates which it seems it should.

Shameful that this is still an issue in January 2021, years after it was initially raised given how simple of a fix it must be to implement.

jsmithdev commented 3 years ago

using that hack as well, thanks qaron84, but it will be nice when there's a checkbox to add -silent

qaron84 commented 3 years ago
  1. disable the autostart steam when system boots from the steam client
2. create a file inside /home/user/.config/autostart/SteamSilent.desktop with the following contents:

``` [Desktop Entry] Name=Steam (Runtime) Comment=Application for managing and playing games on Steam Comment[pt_BR]=Aplicativo para jogar e gerenciar jogos no Steam Comment[bg]=Приложение за ръководене и пускане на игри в Steam Comment[cs]=Aplikace pro spravování a hraní her ve službě Steam Comment[da]=Applikation til at håndtere og spille spil på Steam Comment[nl]=Applicatie voor het beheer en het spelen van games op Steam Comment[fi]=Steamin pelien hallintaan ja pelaamiseen tarkoitettu sovellus Comment[fr]=Application de gestion et d'utilisation des jeux sur Steam Comment[de]=Anwendung zum Verwalten und Spielen von Spielen auf Steam Comment[el]=Εφαρμογή διαχείρισης παιχνιδιών στο Steam Comment[hu]=Alkalmazás a Steames játékok futtatásához és kezeléséhez Comment[it]=Applicazione per la gestione e l'esecuzione di giochi su Steam Comment[ja]=Steam 上でゲームを管理＆プレイするためのアプリケーション Comment[ko]=Steam에 있는 게임을 관리하고 플레이할 수 있는 응용 프로그램 Comment[no]=Program for å administrere og spille spill på Steam Comment[pt_PT]=Aplicação para organizar e executar jogos no Steam Comment[pl]=Aplikacja do zarządzania i uruchamiania gier na platformie Steam Comment[ro]=Aplicație pentru administrarea și jucatul jocurilor pe Steam Comment[ru]=Приложение для игр и управления играми в Steam Comment[es]=Aplicación para administrar y ejecutar juegos en Steam Comment[sv]=Ett program för att hantera samt spela spel på Steam Comment[zh_CN]=管理和进行 Steam 游戏的应用程序 Comment[zh_TW]=管理並執行 Steam 遊戲的應用程式 Comment[th]=โปรแกรมสำหรับจัดการและเล่นเกมบน Steam Comment[tr]=Steam üzerinden oyun oynama ve düzenleme uygulaması Comment[uk]=Програма для керування іграми та запуску ігор у Steam Comment[vi]=Ứng dụng để quản lý và chơi trò chơi trên Steam Exec=/usr/bin/steam-runtime %U -silent Icon=steam Terminal=false Type=Application Categories=Network;FileTransfer;Game; MimeType=x-scheme-handler/steam; Actions=Store;Community;Library;Servers;Screenshots;News;Settings;BigPicture;Friends; [Desktop Action Store] Name=Store Name[pt_BR]=Loja Name[bg]=Магазин Name[cs]=Obchod Name[da]=Butik Name[nl]=Winkel Name[fi]=Kauppa Name[fr]=Magasin Name[de]=Shop Name[el]=ΚΑΤΑΣΤΗΜΑ Name[hu]=Áruház Name[it]=Negozio Name[ja]=ストア Name[ko]=상점 Name[no]=Butikk Name[pt_PT]=Loja Name[pl]=Sklep Name[ro]=Magazin Name[ru]=Магазин Name[es]=Tienda Name[sv]=Butik Name[zh_CN]=商店 Name[zh_TW]=商店 Name[th]=ร้านค้า Name[tr]=Mağaza Name[uk]=Крамниця Name[vi]=Cửa hàng Exec=steam steam://store [Desktop Action Community] Name=Community Name[pt_BR]=Comunidade Name[bg]=Общност Name[cs]=Komunita Name[da]=Fællesskab Name[nl]=Community Name[fi]=Yhteisö Name[fr]=Communauté Name[de]=Community Name[el]=Κοινότητα Name[hu]=Közösség Name[it]=Comunità Name[ja]=コミュニティ Name[ko]=커뮤니티 Name[no]=Samfunn Name[pt_PT]=Comunidade Name[pl]=Społeczność Name[ro]=Comunitate Name[ru]=Сообщество Name[es]=Comunidad Name[sv]=Gemenskap Name[zh_CN]=社区 Name[zh_TW]=社群 Name[th]=ชุมชน Name[tr]=Topluluk Name[uk]=Спільнота Name[vi]=Cộng đồng Exec=steam steam://url/SteamIDControlPage [Desktop Action Library] Name=Library Name[pt_BR]=Biblioteca Name[bg]=Библиотека Name[cs]=Knihovna Name[da]=Bibliotek Name[nl]=Bibliotheek Name[fi]=Kokoelma Name[fr]=Bibliothèque Name[de]=Bibliothek Name[el]=Συλλογή Name[hu]=Könyvtár Name[it]=Libreria Name[ja]=ライブラリ Name[ko]=라이브러리 Name[no]=Bibliotek Name[pt_PT]=Biblioteca Name[pl]=Biblioteka Name[ro]=Colecţie Name[ru]=Библиотека Name[es]=Biblioteca Name[sv]=Bibliotek Name[zh_CN]=库 Name[zh_TW]=收藏庫 Name[th]=คลัง Name[tr]=Kütüphane Name[uk]=Бібліотека Name[vi]=Thư viện Exec=steam steam://open/games [Desktop Action Servers] Name=Servers Name[pt_BR]=Servidores Name[bg]=Сървъри Name[cs]=Servery Name[da]=Servere Name[nl]=Servers Name[fi]=Palvelimet Name[fr]=Serveurs Name[de]=Server Name[el]=Διακομιστές Name[hu]=Szerverek Name[it]=Server Name[ja]=サーバー Name[ko]=서버 Name[no]=Tjenere Name[pt_PT]=Servidores Name[pl]=Serwery Name[ro]=Servere Name[ru]=Серверы Name[es]=Servidores Name[sv]=Servrar Name[zh_CN]=服务器 Name[zh_TW]=伺服器 Name[th]=เซิร์ฟเวอร์ Name[tr]=Sunucular Name[uk]=Сервери Name[vi]=Máy chủ Exec=steam steam://open/servers [Desktop Action Screenshots] Name=Screenshots Name[pt_BR]=Capturas de tela Name[bg]=Снимки Name[cs]=Snímky obrazovky Name[da]=Skærmbilleder Name[nl]=Screenshots Name[fi]=Kuvankaappaukset Name[fr]=Captures d'écran Name[de]=Screenshots Name[el]=Φωτογραφίες Name[hu]=Képernyőmentések Name[it]=Screenshot Name[ja]=スクリーンショット Name[ko]=스크린샷 Name[no]=Skjermbilder Name[pt_PT]=Capturas de ecrã Name[pl]=Zrzuty ekranu Name[ro]=Capturi de ecran Name[ru]=Скриншоты Name[es]=Capturas Name[sv]=Skärmdumpar Name[zh_CN]=截图 Name[zh_TW]=螢幕擷圖 Name[th]=ภาพหน้าจอ Name[tr]=Ekran Görüntüleri Name[uk]=Скріншоти Name[vi]=Ảnh chụp Exec=steam steam://open/screenshots [Desktop Action News] Name=News Name[pt_BR]=Notícias Name[bg]=Новини Name[cs]=Zprávy Name[da]=Nyheder Name[nl]=Nieuws Name[fi]=Uutiset Name[fr]=Actualités Name[de]=Neuigkeiten Name[el]=Νέα Name[hu]=Hírek Name[it]=Notizie Name[ja]=ニュース Name[ko]=뉴스 Name[no]=Nyheter Name[pt_PT]=Novidades Name[pl]=Aktualności Name[ro]=Știri Name[ru]=Новости Name[es]=Noticias Name[sv]=Nyheter Name[zh_CN]=新闻 Name[zh_TW]=新聞 Name[th]=ข่าวสาร Name[tr]=Haberler Name[uk]=Новини Name[vi]=Tin tức Exec=steam steam://open/news [Desktop Action Settings] Name=Settings Name[pt_BR]=Configurações Name[bg]=Настройки Name[cs]=Nastavení Name[da]=Indstillinger Name[nl]=Instellingen Name[fi]=Asetukset Name[fr]=Paramètres Name[de]=Einstellungen Name[el]=Ρυθμίσεις Name[hu]=Beállítások Name[it]=Impostazioni Name[ja]=設定 Name[ko]=설정 Name[no]=Innstillinger Name[pt_PT]=Definições Name[pl]=Ustawienia Name[ro]=Setări Name[ru]=Настройки Name[es]=Parámetros Name[sv]=Inställningar Name[zh_CN]=设置 Name[zh_TW]=設定 Name[th]=การตั้งค่า Name[tr]=Ayarlar Name[uk]=Налаштування Name[vi]=Thiết lập Exec=steam steam://open/settings [Desktop Action BigPicture] Name=Big Picture Exec=steam steam://open/bigpicture [Desktop Action Friends] Name=Friends Name[pt_BR]=Amigos Name[bg]=Приятели Name[cs]=Přátelé Name[da]=Venner Name[nl]=Vrienden Name[fi]=Kaverit Name[fr]=Amis Name[de]=Freunde Name[el]=Φίλοι Name[hu]=Barátok Name[it]=Amici Name[ja]=フレンド Name[ko]=친구 Name[no]=Venner Name[pt_PT]=Amigos Name[pl]=Znajomi Name[ro]=Prieteni Name[ru]=Друзья Name[es]=Amigos Name[sv]=Vänner Name[zh_CN]=好友 Name[zh_TW]=好友 Name[th]=เพื่อน Name[tr]=Arkadaşlar Name[uk]=Друзі Name[vi]=Bạn bè Exec=steam steam://open/friends ```

  1. reboot system... now steam is always opening in silent mode!!!!!!!!!!!!!
K4LCIFER commented 3 years ago

For me, adding the -silent flag to ~/.config/autostart/steam.desktop used to work, but now it no longer does. Even with the -silent flag added, steam still shows up on boot. Not sure what's going on with that.

ghost commented 3 years ago

For me, adding the -silent flag to ~/.config/autostart/steam.desktop used to work, but now it no longer does. Even with the -silent flag added, steam still shows up on boot. Not sure what's going on with that.

Works for me on Arch, the key is Line 30 in qaron84's contents of SteamSilent.desktop:

Exec=/usr/bin/steam-runtime %U -silent

Directly having that is the only change needed in the original steam.desktop file. Make sure it is not --silent with two hyphens. I tried that as a typo and it does not work.

Yowlen commented 3 years ago

Also worth re-mentioning that Steam can potentially overwrite ~/.config/autostart/steam.desktop on updates, so you may need to set it to read-only in order to keep Steam from removing the -silent argument. (It's worked for me, at least, since finding out it was an option checks the clock over a year ago.)

But again, all of this could be solved once and for all if Steam simply added a GUI option to set the flag for us. 3 years without such a simple fix for a feature parity issue is a very strange thing to see. If people up above can write scripts for it, it can't be that much harder to implement it into Steam itself. If Steam for Windows doesn't bother us with the window on bootup, neither should Steam for Linux. >.>

hoxu commented 3 years ago

@Furvy

They don't fix these issues, I believe, because they are looking for new programmers to contribute to the free code rather than have a bunch of non-contributors demand essentially free customer service.

Ah, if only we got off our butts, learn programming and do it ourselves, eh? Maybe someday I will...

The Steam client is not open source and Valve does not take PRs to improve it. This repository is only for tracking issues, and contains no source code.

Steam is not exactly free either; Valve gets 30 % cut of sales, which can be used to support and develop the software that gets them paying customers in the first place.

This issue has a lot of subscribers, so let's stay on topic and focus on workarounds to this issue until it's properly fixed.

The UI option "[x] Run Steam when my computer starts" creates ~/.config/autostart/Steam.desktop, so to prevent it getting overwritten by Steam, a simple workaround is to:

  1. cp ~/.config/autostart/Steam.desktop ~/.config/autostart/Steam_custom.desktop.
  2. Change the Exec line of Steam_custom.desktop to: Exec=/usr/games/steam -silent %U
  3. Uncheck Run Steam when my computer starts.
ChaosBlades commented 3 years ago

Why is this still an issue? It seems like this would take the absolute minimum effort for Valve to resolve. It has been 3 years!

DocBretti commented 2 years ago

@ kisak-valve This works like a charm, thnx.

ghost commented 2 years ago

Add the GUI option!

ghost commented 2 years ago

There's a start steam in big picture mode option, but no start steam minimized option. What the heck?

laichiaheng commented 2 years ago

It's 2022 now, the problem still exists.

pkly commented 2 years ago

Yes, please add a gui option for this, or at least a config parameter we can set somewhere without modifying the shortcut.

ChaosBlades commented 2 years ago

People have suggested a cron job but instead I just created a script (if you want to call these two lines a script) and added that to my startup processes so that steam can't tell there is an entry for it.

#!/bin/bash
steam -silent

I named it steam_silent.sh, made it executable, then added it to my Startup Application Preferences. Now Steam does not magically mark 'Run Steam when my computer starts' in settings upon detecting an entry for the command 'steam'.

Here you go Valve, I submit these two lines of code as a PR.

sol8712 commented 2 years ago

Replying to https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/5806#issuecomment-1096027594

This PR may also fix several other bugs related to starting on boot, and streamline the process.

howels commented 2 years ago

Please fix this. It's such a trivial change and would be so pleasant for the users. Incorporate the -silent argument into the GUI options so it can persist please.

Tired of huge steam window popping up every boot. Nice to have it running in the background but I don't want to see it until I got to launch a game.

MattSturgeon commented 2 years ago

Also worth re-mentioning that Steam can potentially overwrite ~/.config/autostart/steam.desktop on updates, so you may need to set it to read-only in order to keep Steam from removing the -silent argument.

Can also just use a different name, e.g. steam_silent.desktop but probably best to not have the autostart box ticked in Steam's preferences or you'll end up with a duplicate.

I named it steam_silent.sh, made it executable, then added it to my Startup Application Preferences.

This is effectively the same as creating your own .desktop file in ~/.config/autostart (that's what your Startup Application Preferences does under the hood). Just set Exec=steam -silent. As long as the file isn't named steam.desktop, steam won't edit it.

You could achieve the same thing without a separate script by adding steam -silent directly to your Startup Applications, no script required. (Assuming Startup Applications doesn't decide to name the desktop entry steam.desktop)

hueldoeu commented 1 year ago

UNCHECK "Run Steam when my computer starts" in the settings and put a shortcut of steam with -nochatui -nofriendsui -silent in run => shell:startup

csolisr commented 1 year ago

UNCHECK "Run Steam when my computer starts" in the settings and put a shortcut of steam with -nochatui -nofriendsui -silent in run => shell:startup

Oddly enough, Steam still overwrites the new shortcut anyway. I'm seriously considering to mark it read-only but who knows what might break if I do

hueldoeu commented 1 year ago

UNCHECK "Run Steam when my computer starts" in the settings and put a shortcut of steam with -nochatui -nofriendsui -silent in run => shell:startup

Oddly enough, Steam still overwrites the new shortcut anyway. I'm seriously considering to mark it read-only but who knows what might break if I do

i haven't been fooled by an overwriting steam, who replaces my shortcut, so far.