Valve’s Steam Deck Gaming Console Can Now Run Windows 10

Afterlaunching the Steam Deck handheld gaming consoleto take on the Nintendo Switch OLED last year, Valve started shipping the device to customers recently. The consoleruns a new version of SteamOSout-of-the-box, and it can run Windows games without the need of porting them. However, if you want to run Windows on the Steam Deck, it’s now possible as Valve has released the necessary drivers and instructions to run Windows 10 (yes, Windows 10 and notWindows 11) on the Steam Deck.

Steam Deck Can Now Run Windows 10

Valve recently sharedan official blog postto announce the release of GPU, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi drivers for Steam Deck that are necessary to run Windows 10 on the device. However, there are still a few limitations that prevent users to get a full Windows experience on Valve’s latest handheld gaming console.

First of all, if users install Windows 10 on Steam Deck, they will lose all SteamOS functions. Although the Steam Deck supports dual-boot, Valve says that the SteamOS installer to provide the dual-boot wizard is not ready yet. Moreover,users can only run Windows 10 on the Steam Deck as of nowas Windows 11 requires a new BIOS withTPM support. And that is also not yet ready for the console just yet. However, Valve has confirmed that it is currently working on the same and will soon ship the necessary features to run Windows 11 on its gaming console.

Another thing to note is thatthe audio drivers for Windows 10 are not yet available for the Steam Deck. Hence, the speakers and headphone jack will become useless once you install Windows 10 on the device. Fortunately, you will have support for USB-C audio and Bluetooth-based audio while running Windows 10 on the Steam Deck.

You can find the Windows 10 GPU, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth drivers for the Steam Deck fromValve’s official website. The company has also provideddetailed instructions to recover the Steam Deckand bring it back to its default settings, in case you run into any issue during the Windows 10 installation process. So, what do you think about the Steam Deck running Windows 10? Do let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Dwaipayan Sengupta

A geek at heart, you’ll find me fidgeting with an iOS device or sitting in front of the laptop, scouring the internet to find interesting technological innovations. In my free time, you’d find me playing Valorant or listening to Pink Floyd.

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