Steam sends me back to display manager when opened from the panel

I’m on fedora 41, using the xfce-4 spin.
When I try to search for the app on the task bar, and launch it, it takes me back to the display manager and closes. I then need to put my password and login again. Everything is flushed.
I already reinstalled drivers. I made sure nouveau is blacklisted. I downloaded the right nvidia proprietary driver from the free & non free repos. I checked Xorg logs for erros. Nothing seems to work or give me any clue until I found out that it wasn’t being able to run as root from the terminal. It has a problem running as root. If u dig into the steam binary at /usr/bin/steam it goes:

Don’t allow running as root

if [ “$(id -u)” == “0” ]; then
show_message --error $“Cannot run as root user”
exit 1
fi

I checked all of this out. rebooted. And still keep getting the same thing. Back to the display manager, every time.
However if I run the simple command “steam” on the terminal, it opens up perfectly. I can play games and everything.
I’m just trying to understand what the heck is going on, why it doesn’t work from the panel. I’m thankful if can try to help.

Appreciate anyone’s help.

Is the link to Steam on the taskbar located in either /usr/share/applications or in [your-home]/.local/share/applications?
Have a look at the file and see if it is trying to boot as sudo.

At least you have a workaround.

If Steam is launched as root, will it pass root access to the games it launches? I would not want Steam having root, and certainly not the software it launches. It seems quite good that Steam wont launch as root.

On the task bar, when I click to edit it:
The command is pulling the binary from “/usr/bin/steam %U”

all of the xfce-4.desktop files are in
blacksheep@fedora:/usr/share/applications$ ls
asunder.desktop
atril.desktop
blueman-adapters.desktop
blueman-manager.desktop
catfish.desktop
claws-mail.desktop
discord.desktop
firewall-config.desktop
galculator.desktop
gcr-prompter.desktop
gcr-viewer.desktop
geany.desktop
geoclue-demo-agent.desktop
gnome-disk-image-mounter.desktop
gnome-disk-image-writer.desktop
gparted.desktop
ibus-setup-anthy.desktop
ibus-setup-chewing.desktop
ibus-setup-hangul.desktop
ibus-setup-libbopomofo.desktop
ibus-setup-libpinyin.desktop
ibus-setup-m17n.desktop
ibus-setup-typing-booster.desktop
im-chooser.desktop
liveinst.desktop
mimeapps.list
mimeinfo.cache
nm-applet.desktop
nvidia-settings.desktop
org.freedesktop.GnomeAbrt.desktop
org.freedesktop.IBus.Panel.Emojier.desktop
org.freedesktop.IBus.Panel.Extension.Gtk3.desktop
org.freedesktop.IBus.Panel.Wayland.Gtk3.desktop
org.freedesktop.IBus.Setup.desktop
org.freedesktop.problems.applet.desktop
org.freedesktop.Xwayland.desktop
org.gnome.DiskUtility.desktop
org.gnome.seahorse.Application.desktop
org.gnome.Tecla.desktop
org.gnome.Zenity.desktop
org.gnumeric.gnumeric.desktop
org.mageia.dnfdragora.desktop
org.mageia.dnfdragora-localinstall.desktop
org.mageia.dnfdragora-updater.desktop
org.mozilla.firefox.desktop
org.pulseaudio.pavucontrol.desktop
org.xfce.mousepad.desktop
org.xfce.mousepad-settings.desktop
org.xfce.PanelProfiles.desktop
org.xfce.Parole.desktop
org.xfce.ristretto.desktop
org.xfce.xfdashboard.desktop
org.xfce.xfdashboard-settings.desktop
panel-desktop-handler.desktop
panel-preferences.desktop
pidgin.desktop
pragha.desktop
screensavers
setroubleshoot.desktop
steam.desktop
system-config-language.desktop
system-config-printer.desktop
thunar-bulk-rename.desktop
thunar.desktop
thunar-settings.desktop
thunar-volman-settings.desktop
transmission-gtk.desktop
xarchiver.desktop
xdg-desktop-portal-gtk.desktop
xfburn.desktop
xfce4-about.desktop
xfce4-accessibility-settings.desktop
xfce4-appfinder.desktop
xfce4-clipman.desktop
xfce4-clipman-settings.desktop
xfce4-color-settings.desktop
xfce4-dict.desktop
xfce4-file-manager.desktop
xfce4-im-chooser.desktop
xfce4-mail-reader.desktop
xfce4-mime-settings.desktop
xfce4-notifyd-config.desktop
xfce4-power-manager-settings.desktop
xfce4-run.desktop
xfce4-screensaver-preferences.desktop
xfce4-screenshooter.desktop
xfce4-session-logout.desktop
xfce4-settings-editor.desktop
xfce4-taskmanager.desktop
xfce4-terminal.desktop
xfce4-terminal-emulator.desktop
xfce4-terminal-settings.desktop
xfce4-web-browser.desktop
xfce-backdrop-settings.desktop
xfce-display-settings.desktop
xfce-keyboard-settings.desktop
xfce-mimeapps.list
xfce-mouse-settings.desktop
xfce-session-settings.desktop
xfce-settings-manager.desktop
xfce-ui-settings.desktop
xfce-wm-settings.desktop
xfce-wmtweaks-settings.desktop
xfce-workspaces-settings.desktop
xterm.desktop

There is Nothing on My $HOME path. “.local” on my /home is inexistent.

What file are you talking about?
thanks

A bit of a stab in the dark really :slight_smile: but I think I am talking about steam.desktop or the command /usr/bin/steam % U
I am trying to determine if either is trying to boot Steam as root. Does anyone know what the %U means?

Can you see what is in the steam.desktop file with an editor?
The contents of a random desktop entry I found on my system are

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Value=1.0
Type=Application
Name=Ara Fell
GenericName=Ara Fell
Comment=Ara Fell
Icon=/home/name/GOG Games/Ara Fell/support/icon.png
Exec=“/home/name/GOG Games/Ara Fell/start.sh” “”
Categories=Game;
Path=/home/name/GOG Games/Ara Fell

Maybe you can change the command on the taskbar link?

blacksheep@fedora:~$ cat /usr/share/applications/steam.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Steam
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 %U
Icon=steam
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Network;FileTransfer;Game;
MimeType=x-scheme-handler/steam;x-scheme-handler/steamlink;
Actions=Store;Community;Library;Servers;Screenshots;News;Settings;BigPicture;Friends;
PrefersNonDefaultGPU=true
X-KDE-RunOnDiscreteGpu=true

Maybe you can change the command on the taskbar link?

I have tried changing to simply steam, or the absolute path of the binary with no success. It is like anytime this app gets launched from the panel it automatically tries to sudo it. That’s what I’m getting from it

There were more entries on this but I dont think they are any relevant, just a lot of comment lines with different languages

Looking at the differences between our two .desktop files, mine has

Exec=“/home/name/GOG Games/Ara Fell/start.sh” “”

Yours has

Exec=/usr/bin/steam %U

Can you find the full link to the location where Steam is installed and change your command to run Steam from that location?

How did you install Steam, from the rpmfusion repo via terminal or via Flatpak?

%U	A list of URLs. Each URL is passed as a separate argument to the executable program. Local files may either be passed as file: URLs or as file path.

@dani7575
In a terminal what happens if you run
gtk-launch steam

You may want to take a look at the journal after it crashes
journalctl --since -5m --no-pager --no-hostname
would get you the last 5 minutes of logs.

I installed it with dnf install

gtk-launch steam

this launches steam with no errors, it’s a good way to launch it because I can close the terminal. Thanks for this.

journalctl --since -5m --no-pager --no-hostname

kind of difficult for me to read all the entries and make something out of it, I tried greping steam but still it’s kind of odd I don’t make much sense out of it. Would it be ok to post the whole thing here? It’s kind of cryptic I think.

If we can’t find a solution for it , I can live with it . It’s just that feeling of being stuck that bugs me you know? Hahah
but thanks for the help so far guys

What happens if you:
cp /usr/share/applications/steam.desktop ~/Desktop

And try to launch it from the desktop?

It may give you a prompt for an untrusted application launcher.
For the purposes of testing you can select launch anyway, if it works and you want to continue to use it you can mark it as executable.

Tried that. Same thing happens. Back to the display manager.
Maybe I should download steam from flatpak or from the rpmfusion repo, because at this point I feel like I did everything. On the GNOME Fedora version, It would launch from the panel. I’m thinking maybe it’s something with xfce4.

Already tried changing the permissions and everything. It’s cool tho. I think I’m just gonna call it

Can you try making a new user and launching it?

Thanks.

I did that too. Same thing.
I used strace to try and find out the error.
It is precisely this that I get

“Cannot run as root user”

Hence why I thought maybe deleting that line from the binary would work.
I then thought it might have not have had an effect because I only changed the symbolic link to the original binary and then I changed the original one and tried again. No luck still.

It’s just odd. Maybe it’s a thing we can’t solve at this point, some sort of incompatibility between the steam app and xfce4. All my other apps open up just fine.

what does ps -ef | grep xfce show.

This is odd.

blacksheep@fedora:~$ ps -ef | grep xfce
blacksh+ 1402 1349 0 13:04 ? 00:00:00 xfce4-session
blacksh+ 1554 1402 0 13:04 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/ssh-agent /bin/sh -c exec -l /bin/bash -c “startxfce4”
blacksh+ 1628 1402 0 13:04 ? 00:00:02 xfce4-panel
blacksh+ 1661 1402 0 13:04 ? 00:00:00 /usr/libexec/xfce-polkit
blacksh+ 1663 1402 0 13:04 ? 00:00:00 xfce4-power-manager
blacksh+ 1668 1385 0 13:04 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib64/xfce4/notifyd/xfce4-notifyd
blacksh+ 1669 1402 0 13:04 ? 00:00:00 xfce4-screensaver
blacksh+ 1676 1628 0 13:04 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib64/xfce4/panel/wrapper-2.0 /usr/lib64/xfce4/panel/plugins/libsystray.so 6 16777228 systray Plug-in da bandeja de status Fornece itens notificadores de status (indicadores de aplicativos) e itens legado da bandeja do sistema
blacksh+ 1677 1628 0 13:04 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib64/xfce4/panel/wrapper-2.0 /usr/lib64/xfce4/panel/plugins/libpulseaudio-plugin.so 8 16777229 pulseaudio Plug-in do PulseAudio Ajusta o volume de áudio do sistema de som PulseAudio
blacksh+ 1681 1628 0 13:04 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib64/xfce4/panel/wrapper-2.0 /usr/lib64/xfce4/panel/plugins/libxfce4powermanager.so 9 16777230 power-manager-plugin Plug-in Gerenciador de energia Exibe os níveis de bateria dos seus dispositivos e controla o brilho do seu monitor
blacksh+ 1685 1628 0 13:04 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib64/xfce4/panel/wrapper-2.0 /usr/lib64/xfce4/panel/plugins/libnotification-plugin.so 10 16777231 notification-plugin Plug-in de Notificações Plug-in de Notificações para o painel do Xfce
blacksh+ 1938 1628 0 13:04 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib64/xfce4/panel/wrapper-2.0 /usr/lib64/xfce4/panel/plugins/libactions.so 14 16777232 actions Botões de ação Sair, bloquear a tela ou outras ações do sistema
blacksh+ 3475 1 0 13:16 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/xfce4-mime-helper --launch TerminalEmulator
blacksh+ 3476 3475 9 13:16 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/xfce4-terminal
blacksh+ 3483 1385 0 13:16 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib64/xfce4/xfconf/xfconfd
blacksh+ 3518 3490 0 13:16 pts/0 00:00:00 grep --color=auto xfce

It’s in Portuguese because I chose my native language in the installation. I just didn’t realize it would compromise core outputs as such. I hope that’s not a problem

Nope that’s fine it doesn’t look like anything is running as root.
If you edit that desktop file and change the command to bash -c "/usr/bin/steam %U; id -u | tee ~/steam.log"
Is there anything interesting in the created log file?

Can you also check:
ls -l /usr/lib/steam/bin_steam.sh
id -u

What are you using for the shell?

blacksheep@fedora:~$ cat ~/steam.log
1000

blacksheep@fedora:~$ ls -l /usr/lib/steam/bin_steam.sh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 blacksheep blacksheep 6972 jan 20 12:49 /usr/lib/steam/bin_steam.sh

blacksheep@fedora:~$ id -u
1000

blacksheep@fedora:~$ echo $SHELL
/bin/bash

blacksheep@fedora:~$ which bash
/usr/bin/bash

I’m using the standard shell that comes with xfce4

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It would be interesting to see if the flatpak works.
Did you use the rpmfusion repos for steam or did you use another repo? I assumed rpmfusion when you said you installed via dnf.