[Bug]: Steam Installer only launches an invisible window

[pugly-tech]

Describe the Bug

Steam doesn't properly launch, only showing a window that reflects what the pixel last saw

Steps to Reproduce

set up folders and compose file, then run docker compose up -d

Expected Behavior

Steam to launch

Screenshots

Relevant Settings

---

services:
  steam-headless:
    image: josh5/steam-headless:latest
    container_name: steam
    restart: unless-stopped
    shm_size: 2G
    ipc: host # Could also be set to 'shareable'
    ulimits:
      nofile:
        soft: 1024
        hard: 524288
    cap_add:
      - NET_ADMIN
      - SYS_ADMIN
      - SYS_NICE
    security_opt:
      - seccomp:unconfined
      - apparmor:unconfined

    # NETWORK:
    ## NOTE:  With this configuration, if we do not use the host network, then physical device input
    ##        is not possible and your USB connected controllers will not work in steam games.
    network_mode: host
    hostname: SteamHeadless
    extra_hosts:
      - "SteamHeadless:127.0.0.1"
    # ENVIRONMENT:
    ## Read all config variables from the .env file
    environment:
      # System
      - TZ=America/Edmonton
      - USER_LOCALES=en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8
      - DISPLAY=:55
      # User
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1002
      - UMASK=000
      - USER_PASSWORD=password
      # Mode
      - MODE=primary
      # Web UI
      - WEB_UI_MODE=vnc
      - ENABLE_VNC_AUDIO=true
      - PORT_NOVNC_WEB=8083
      - NEKO_NAT1TO1=192.168.0.2
      # Steam
      - ENABLE_STEAM=true
      - STEAM_ARGS=-silent
      # Sunshine
      - ENABLE_SUNSHINE=true
      - SUNSHINE_USER=graham
      - SUNSHINE_PASS=1234
      # Xorg
      - ENABLE_EVDEV_INPUTS=true
      - FORCE_X11_DUMMY_CONFIG=true
      # Nvidia specific config
      - NVIDIA_DRIVER_CAPABILITIES=all
      - NVIDIA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=all
      - NVIDIA_DRIVER_VERSION=

    # DEVICES:
    devices:
      # Use the host fuse device [REQUIRED].
      - /dev/fuse
      # Add the host uinput device [REQUIRED].
      - /dev/uinput
      # Add AMD/Intel HW accelerated video encoding/decoding devices [REQUIRED].
      # NOTE: See documentation for determining which devices to configure here if you have multiple GPUs
      - /dev/dri/card1
      - /dev/dri/renderD129
    # Ensure container access to devices 13:*
    device_cgroup_rules:
      - 'c 13:* rmw'

    # VOLUMES:
    volumes:
      # The location of your home directory.
      - /mnt/docker/SteamHeadless/home:/home/default:rw

      # The location where all games should be installed.
      # This path needs to be set as a library path in Steam after logging in.
      # Otherwise, Steam will store games in the home directory above.
      - /mnt/games/SteamHeadless/:/mnt/games/:rw

      # The Xorg socket.
      - /mnt/docker/SteamHeadless/sockets/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix:rw

      # Pulse audio socket.
      - /mnt/docker/SteamHeadless/sockets/pulse:/tmp/pulse:rw

Version

Build: [2026-03-07 03:16:05] [master] [f9836a5] [debian]

Platform

Debian GNU/Linux - 13 (trixie)
6.12.73+deb13-amd64 unknown unknown GNU/Linux
intel GPU
Docker version 29.2.1, build a5c7197
Docker Compose version v5.0.2

Relevant log output

See following comment

[pugly-tech]

dockerlog.txt
pulseaudio.err.log
x11vnc.log
audiostream.log
desktop.log
xorg.err.log
desktop.err.log
audiostream.err.log
novnc.err.log
xorg.log
novnc.log
sunshine.log
x11vnc.err.log
sunshine.err.log

[pugly-tech]

Also I do intend to get a better GPU eventually, but with the price of GPUs that's contingent on me being sastisfied with the performance of game streaming. I tried Games on Whales and while it works it's a pain in the ass because it does so much crap when i just want the Steam container.

[pugly-tech]

Would using a Nvidia GPU fix this?

[Mikec78660]

seeing similar issue with nvidia gpus. 200x200 invisible window is all steam will do. No errors, steam and steamwebhelper startup fine. Just will not render the steam UI for some reason. I am trying driver version 550.163.01, I think some of the newer nvidia drivers might work but I am trying to get this running on a proxmox system with like 2 dozen lxc containers with GPUs passed through using this driver so changing will be a pain in the butt.

[jr551]

I hit something very close to this while debugging a live Proxmox deployment.

In my case it was not an Intel-vs-NVIDIA problem. The underlying issue was Steam's hidden Debian installer / first-run bootstrap path, which made it look like Steam was "there" but not really launching correctly.

So I would specifically check whether this invisible/small/broken-looking window is actually the Steam installer / license/bootstrap flow getting stuck rather than the final client UI.

What helped me was treating it as a first-run/bootstrap problem instead of a rendering problem.