1.0 Getting Started - rcerrejon/Steamdeck-Ultimate-Windows11-Guide GitHub Wiki

Windows 11 Installation Info & Common Questions

Currently, the current recommended version of Windows 11 is 22H2

The recommended method to install Windows is to either install it onto the internal Solid State Drive(from a USB flash drive, or micro SD card), or connect an external Solid State Drive.

Using a microSD or USB Flash Drive is NOT recommended for running Windows. You can see more about that on the Home Page

What Exact Version of Windows Should I Get?

Typically the recommendation will be stock Windows 11 which can be obtained from Microsoft Here

What about a debloat script, or custom Windows installation?

I can't recommend a custom Windows version because of two reasons:

  • Custom Windows builds that you can download violate Microsoft's re-distribution terms
  • They often leave out important functionality that you may need later, or can cause un-expected issues with game compatibility, making it difficult to troubleshoot the exact issue

As an optional suggestion, you can go through this tutorial here when Windows is finished installing to de-bloat your system to your liking(The video is skipped to 9 minute marker because he just rants about Microsoft up to then) Debloat Windows 11 The Easy Way

How to Install Windows 11 in your Internal Storage

  • Go to the the official Microsoft Windows download page: Link
  • Scroll to "Create Windows 11 Installation Media" and download the installer
  • Prepare an 8Gb or higher USB flash drive and (optional) remove the microsd if you have one inside the console, to avoid it coming up in the list of drives.
  • Run the mediacreationtool.exe installer and follow the steps to create a Windows 11 bootable USB
  • Insert the bootable USB Flash Drive into the Steam Deck turned off
  • Turn On the Steam Deck pressing Vol - and Power buttons at the same time
  • You will see a drive selection screen, Select the USB Flash Drive, usually it will have the suffix: (USB)
  • You will see the installation process in portrait mode, you can change it later.
  • Follow the steps of a normal installation until you reach the partition selection, delete the partition with the largest storage space, select that partition and click "Next"
  • Finish the installation until the end, after reboot, you can remove the USB Flash Drive
  • Configure the screen to be displayed in landscape mode in: "System > Display > Screen orientation"
  • Windows 11 is installed, continue with the installation of the drivers in: Valve's Official SteamDeck Drivers

YouTube Tutorial for Dual Boot(READ COMPLETELY)

  • NOTE: you will need at least 1 USB flash drive, or micro SD card(the tutorial uses 2 Flash Drives, one for G-Parted and one for Windows, but you could use 1 flash drive/micro SD and complete the G-Parted portion of the tutorial, then flash Windows after) -- and should use a mouse and keyboard connect to the SteamDeck, or you're going to have a bad time adjusting the size of the partition(you can use the slider but it's less accurate):

Easy Dual Boot SteamOS & Windows on SteamDeck

Valve's Official SteamDeck Drivers

After installing Windows, please install all the latest drivers(except the wireless driver) from Valve. Follow all of their instructions, located here:

Fix Wireless Drivers

The stock wireless drivers from Valve function very poorly, lag spikes and low bandwidth. It is highly recommended that you follow the guide here to install custom unlocked drivers:

Additional Drivers to Consider

While not officially from Valve, these are official driver updates to the hardware that is in the SteamDeck and may have better performance/stability(NOTE: If you're on Windows 11 22H2, then running a Windows Update should retrieve and install the drivers listed below as well):

Proceed to next page of wiki: 1.1 UMA Buffer Size

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