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Adding article for running Steam with Nvidia GPU on ParrotOS
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‎_posts/2026-01-01-running-steam-with-an-nvidia-gpu-on-parrotos.md‎

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---
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description: >-
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A guide on running Steam games with an Nvidia GPU on ParrotOS 6.4.
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title: "Running Steam games with an Nvidia GPU on ParrotOS 6.4"
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categories: [Walkthrough, Guide, Tutorial, ParrotOS, Gaming, Linux, Nvidia]
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tags: [walkthrough, guide, tutorial, parrotos, gaming, steam, linux, nvidia, gpu, discrete, dedicated]
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date: 2026-01-01 20:15 -0500
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---
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## Introduction
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This guide documents the steps that I took to install and run Steam games on my computer that has an integrated graphics card and a dedicated Nvidia graphics card.
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Historically, the easiest ways to install Steam were to use the official .deb package from Steam's website or use apt, but ParrotOS no longer supports 32-bit binaries which the traditional Steam installer requires. I installed and ran Steam using flatpak.
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While the steps that I took worked for me, your mileage may vary and I recommend that you properly back up your data before making any changes to your system!
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The ParrotOS discord server has some very knowledgeable people in there, and I recommend posting there if you have questions or run into a problem that you are stuck on.
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## Installing Nvidia drivers
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Before installing Steam, I installed drivers for my graphics card. I'm not entirely sure if it was necessary for me to use Nvidia's proprietary drivers instead of the open-source nouveau drivers, but I will explain why I did this later on.
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Create a config file to block the open-source nouveau driver from running
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```shell
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sudo bash -c 'echo -e -n "blacklist nouveau\noptions nouveau modeset=0\nalias nouveau off" > /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nouveau.conf'
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```
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Check for apt repository updates and install the proprietary Nvidia drivers
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```shell
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sudo apt update && sudo apt install nvidia-driver
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```
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Reboot your machine
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Display graphics card information and validate that the proprietary Nvidia drivers are in use
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```shell
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inxi -G
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```
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There should be a string that says "driver: nvidia" rather than "driver: nouveau"
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Make note of the version number that is specified after "v: " as this will be needed later
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If you would like to display additional information about your GPU and that applications that are using it, install and run the Nvidia System Management Interface
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```shell
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sudo apt install nvidia-smi
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watch nvidia-smi
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```
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## Geting GPU environment variables & switching between GPUs for applications
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switcheroo-control is a tool that can be used to list GPU-specific environment variables that can be set when running an application. It can also be used to execute a program using a specific GPU, however I was not able to get this working with flatpak and did not spend a lot of time troubleshooting this since using environment variables worked for me.
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Install switcheroo-control
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```shell
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sudo apt install switcheroo-control
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```
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List available GPUs and make a note of the environment variables listed for the Nvidia GPU
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```shell
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switcherooctl --list
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```
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In my case, the environment variables were
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```
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__GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia __NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 __VK_LAYER_NV_optimus=NVIDIA_only
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```
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## Installing Steam
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Install flatpak
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```shell
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sudo apt install flatpak
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```
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Install the flathub repository (this is where Steam and the Nvidia flatpak packages will be pulled from)
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```shell
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sudo flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
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```
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Install Steam
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```shell
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flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam
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```
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The Steam flatpak installer should prompt to install the necessary flatpak packages, including the Nvidia flatpaks.
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Confirm if the Nvidia flatpaks are installed
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```shell
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flatpak list --columns=application:f | grep org.freedesktop.Platform.GL.nvidia
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flatpak list --columns=application:f | grep org.freedesktop.Platform.GL32.nvidia
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```
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Output returned for both commands would indicate that the Nvidia flatpaks are installed.
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If no packages are returned in either of the above command outputs, this is where it comes in handy to know the Nvidia driver version that is installed on your system.
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For example, if you have driver version 535.247.01 installed, then you would want to install these flatpak packages:
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```shell
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flatpak install flathub org.freedesktop.Platform.GL.nvidia-535-247-01
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flatpak install flathub org.freedesktop.Platform.GL32.nvidia-535-247-01
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```
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The format of the Nvidia package naming is `org.freedesktop.Platform.GL.nvidia-` with the version appended, but the periods are replaced with hyphens
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## Running Steam
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There are at least a couple different ways to run Steam; each are valid and it really comes down to a matter of preference on which one you use (I personally use method 2).
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### Method 1: Setting environment variables at program execution
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This will temporarily set the GPU environment variables when running the flatpak Steam process:
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```shell
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__GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia __NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 __VK_LAYER_NV_optimus=NVIDIA_only flatpak run com.valvesoftware.Steam
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```
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**Note:** The environment variables that you need to use may be different. Refer to the earlier ```switcherooctl --list``` command.
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### Method 2: Setting environment variables in flatpak for the Steam package
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This will permanently configure the environment variables that need to be set when running Steam. Each environment variable is set using the ```--env``` parameter.
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```shell
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sudo flatpak override --env="__GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia" --env="__NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1" --env="__VK_LAYER_NV_optimus=NVIDIA_only" com.valvesoftware.Steam
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```
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**Note:** The environment variables that you need to use may be different. Refer to the earlier ```switcherooctl --list``` command.
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Verify that the environment variables have been set
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```shell
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flatpak override --show com.valvesoftware.Steam
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```
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Run Steam
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```shell
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flatpak run com.valvesoftware.Steam
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```
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To remove the environment variables
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```shell
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sudo flatpak override --reset com.valvesoftware.Steam
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```
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## Creating desktop shorcuts
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If you would like to create a desktop shortcut to run Steam, here are some examples. The important part is the `Exec` line which contains the command to run.
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### Method 1
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If you used method 1 in the Running Steam section above, use this to create a desktop shortcut
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```shell
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cat > ~/Desktop/Steam.desktop << EOF
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#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open
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[Desktop Entry]
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Version=1.0
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Type=Application
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Terminal=false
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Name[en_US]=Steam
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Exec=env __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia env __NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 env __VK_LAYER_NV_optimus=NVIDIA_only flatpak run com.valvesoftware.Steam
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Name=Steam
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EOF
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```
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### Method 2
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If you used method 2 in the Running Steam section above, use this to create a desktop shortcut
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```shell
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cat > ~/Desktop/Steam.desktop << EOF
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#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open
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[Desktop Entry]
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Version=1.0
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Type=Application
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Terminal=false
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Name[en_US]=Steam
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Exec=flatpak run com.valvesoftware.Steam
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Name=Steam
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EOF
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```
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## Running Steam games
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I did not experience any issues when attempting to download and install Steam games, however, when attempting to run them, I found that the Proton version used was crucial.
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I had to use Proton version 9 or version 10 to run my games, otherwise they would error out at runtime.
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To change the Proton version used for all Steam games:
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1. Click on the Steam menu in the top-left of your Steam window
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2. Choose Settings
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3. Go to the Compatibility tab
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4. Set the desired Proton version in the `Default compatibility list` drop-down menu
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To change the Proton version used for a specific game:
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1. Go to your Steam library
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2. Right-click on the game and click on Properties in the menu that appears
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3. Go to the Compatibility tab
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4. Check the `Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool` checkbox
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5. Set the desired Proton version in the drop-down menu
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## References
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[https://www.parrotsec.org/docs/configuration/nvidia-drivers/](https://www.parrotsec.org/docs/configuration/nvidia-drivers/)
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[ParrotOS Discord](https://discord.gg/j7QTaCzAsm)
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[https://docs.nvidia.com/datacenter/tesla/driver-installation-guide/optimus-laptops-and-multi-gpu-desktop-systems.html](https://docs.nvidia.com/datacenter/tesla/driver-installation-guide/optimus-laptops-and-multi-gpu-desktop-systems.html)
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[https://docs.flatpak.org/en/latest/](https://docs.flatpak.org/en/latest/)

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