Summary

  • Valve has released Windows drivers for all Steam hardware, letting users install Windows.
  • Valve won't support Windows on Steam Hardware; use the provided recovery instructions if you need to revert.
  • Dual-boot isn't available yet; swapping OSes requires wiping the drive; Valve plans dual-boot support later.

While SteamOS on Steam devices definitely gets the job done, some people just prefer to run Windows on them instead. There's plenty of evidence that SteamOS offers much better in-game performance than Windows, but hey, it's your device, and you can install Windows on it if they want.

Valve has now released drivers that better allow Windows to run on all Steam hardware, including the Deck and Machine. However, if you do make the change, Valve has stated that it can't help you out if something goes wrong.

Valve releases Windows drivers for its Steam hardware, but you're on your own if you use them

Valve won't be coming to your rescue

An image showing a Steam Deck displaying Windows desktop.

As spotted by Tom's Hardware, Valve has released a new Steam Support page with advice on installing Windows on your Steam hardware. This includes all the drivers you need to get it running, along with instructions for installing Windows on it.

However, if you're planning to daily-drive Windows on your Steam hardware, it's worth noting that Valve starts its article by warning us about the downsides:

We are providing these resources as is and are unfortunately unable to offer 'Windows on Steam Hardware' support. If you get stuck and need a way back to the default SteamOS, please follow these recovery instructions.

Unfortunately, if you want to get around this problem by dual-booting SteamOS and Windows, Valve says it's not possible yet and that you'll need to wipe the whole drive when swapping operating systems. Valve states that it will work on dual-boot support for SteamOS's proper launch, so keep an eye out for that if you're interested.