r/SteamDeck•
PearOfJudes

How to reflash SteamOS to Steamdeck with Bazzite?

Tech Support

Installed Bazzite on my steamdeck thinking it would fix some of the issues I was having with SteamOS, turns out Bazzite is basically a SteamOS clone with Fedora, and in my experience has the same issues with more downsides. I'll talk about this more after explaining my current issue.

Trying to reflash SteamOS, using a Debian Desktop, running KDE's ISO flashing tool, Balena etcher doesnt work on Intel. The download for SteamOS has a .img.bz2 file which when flashed using kde ISO tool and dd in terminal (following SteamOS instructions) doesn't work when plugging into Steam Deck, via same USB I installed Bazzite on.

I have also tried downloading the file and removing the .bz2 which also didn't work as a straight .img.

Anyway that took a few hours and I'm not sure what to do, so I'm posting here.

My issues with the Steam Deck have been plenty.

Can't stream my screen in discord when in game mode.

Issues with game controls when not running Proton GE I'm game mode can't use controls on other games without touchscreen, which also presses buttons on the game causing this issue.

If I switch to desktop mode, there is no easy way with controller to switch tabs, locking me into a game unless I close it, go into settings and turn off fullscreen, (then have to turn it back on when back in game) navigation is overall terrible.

Touchpads don't work unless you open steam, same with touch keyboard. When in desktop mode I have to use touchscreen to press steam icon to make it load faster than 30 seconds.

One time I had an internet issue where my steam deck couldn't connect to internet, but could scan internet. Tried clearing steam app cache, restarted the computer and went to game mode, I had to sign in to switch to desktop mode again. I couldn't sign in, because I had no internet, so I had to wipe my steam deck, as well as a 10s of hours on offline games to access my computer again. This was my final straw with SteamOS, and why I moved to Bazzite, but Bazzite requires a steam login as well in steam deck.

Honestly, if there were a linux OS which allowed for easy navigation on steam controller, (the only upside I see to steam game mode) that worked on steam deck, where I didn't have to sign in to an account to use it that would be great, any recommendations welcome. Since Steam OS Is so hard to install again.

Thanks for any help.

Posted May 8, 2026, 3:54 PM UTC

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