How to Install Steam on Chromebook

When it comes to PC gaming, Steam is the biggest name around. It is a gaming platform where you can buy games, download, install and play games on your computer, regardless of the operating system. What’s even better is the fact that because of Linux’s popularity in gaming, it has opened the door to the abilities of playing games on numerous other devices. One of those devices is Chromebook. Here we will go through the steps of installing and running Steam on your Chromebook.

Related: Steam Not Opening? Try These Fixes

Getting Started

One question I have gotten in the past is, “Why would I want to put Steam on a Chromebook?” My answer is always, “Well, why not?” When looking at it, the Chromebook is the most simple of any mobile computing devices. As a technical enthusiast, I want my device to do things that it might not have been intended to do.

Although I might not be able to play all the games my desktop allows me to, I can take this highly-mobile platform with me in my travels. Now with that as a thought, there are some limitations beyond your typical hardware specs.

First, you will have to determine whether your device is actually supported or not. Now in may cases this may not be an issue, as if your Chrome OS is up to date, the ability should be there. With that being said, if there is an issue and it is not supported, you will be on you own. To find information on whether your device is supported or not, it can be found here.

Installing Linux (Beta)

Obviously, to install Steam for Linux, you need to have Linux app model enabled on Chromebook. If you have not done so, follow the tutorial here to enable Linux app mode for your Chromebook.

Installing Steam

Once you have successfully implemented the requirements, you are now ready to install Steam on your Chromebook. In order to do this you will have to follow these steps.

1. From your Chromebook, press Ctrl + Alt + T. This shortcut sequence will properly launch a Linux Terminal without searching for it.

2. Enter the following commands:

echo 'deb http://httpredir.debian.org/debian/ jessie main contrib non-free' | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt update
sudo apt install steam

Once the final command has been executed, you will need to press Y for Yes to complete the requested install.

During this process you will also be prompted to accept the Steam system license agreement. Do this by navigating down to “I Agree” and pressing Enter.

3. To launch Steam, run a simple command:

steam

Conclusion

You’re Done! You are now able to play Steam games whenever you can with your Chromebook. As the future permits, Steam support will increase with options for hardware / graphics acceleration, so that may be initially lacking. But the biggest question still awaits, “What game are you going to play first?”