Is there any way to enable Steam Deck to PC game data transfer?

[Invghost]

I know you can do PC to Steam Deck, however my internet situation is spotty for the next few months, having just moved. The main way I can currently download games is through visiting friends/family and downloading then, with my Steam Deck.

So I need to transfer from Steam Deck to my PC, but from what I've read, that isn't possible. Are there any Decky Plugins or other ways of doing it? I don't really WANT to, but I can dual boot if that's the only way.

I do have internet where I am currently, however it's borderline unusable for anything short of text forums. Even loading YouTube 240p requires buffering, that tells you how bad the situation is lol.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

It is possible. I went through this with another user who figured out what to to.

Both PC and Deck must be in desktop mode, with nothing else running and the Deck must be plugged in.

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/4030223998574748931/

[FireFlame]

There's a couple ways I've done this,

One is installing Decky and installing the cloud sync applet, signing into a cloud service, and syncing between PC and Deck using OneDrive or Google Drive.

The other way is on Desktop Mode, in a flat pack app (from the discover store) called FreeFileSync, and that one you set a directory on the system and one on a cloud service like Google drive or onedrive.

You might need to move files manually once they are in the cloud on the other device you want them on. I do this for Retroarch saves.

[Invghost]

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

It is possible. I went through this with another user who figured out what to to.

Both PC and Deck must be in desktop mode, with nothing else running and the Deck must be plugged in.

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/4030223998574748931/

:winterbunny2023:

Plugged in via ethernet, plugged into the computer or just plugged into the power?

[NimrodX]

I would probably just use WinSCP and copy files into steamapps\common from the deck. On the deck, the games are installed in /home/deck/.steam/steam/steamapps/common but I think you normally need to be able to tell the client on the windows pc to "install" the game at which point it will check for existing files, use them, and add the game to the local database as being installed.

But if you can just get "Settings->Downloads->Game File Transfers Over Local Network" to work with no internet connection then I think the steam deck will act as a download peer these days.

[eighthgrader]

from what I've read, that isn't possible

It is possible - just a regular SFTP transfer[decovar.dev], which comes out of the box on SteamOS (as it's just a GNU/Linux distribution). The configuration procedure isn't very user-friendly though.

No need to install any additional software on Steam Deck itself, but you'll need an SFTP client on your PC.

Both PC and Deck must be in desktop mode

There is no such requirement in case of SSH/SFTP, it will work just fine in Gaming mode too.

[NimrodX]

You do need to enable sshd on the deck with sudo systemctl start sshd though. WinSCP is the easiest scp/sftp client to use and can be installed with "winget install winscp".

[Prezidentas]

There are two easy ways: first is the steam local game transfer, all you need to do is plug the deck in and make sure that two computers are on the same network

And backup/restore feature within steam desktop, which packages up your game and then you can take the files and restore.

[PopinFRESH]

Originally posted by Invghost:

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

It is possible. I went through this with another user who figured out what to to.

Both PC and Deck must be in desktop mode, with nothing else running and the Deck must be plugged in.

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/4030223998574748931/

:winterbunny2023:

Plugged in via ethernet, plugged into the computer or just plugged into the power?

Via power.

Here is the actual Steam Support page for how it works

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/46BD-6BA8-B012-CE43

Boot your Steam Deck into Desktop mode and launch the Steam Client (in normal mode, not using big picture).

Go to Settings and change the local transfers setting to either "Only my own devices" or "Only my friends". Then save the settings and restart Steam.

Do the same thing on your other PC (the setting is bi-directional; meaning it applies for both transferring to other devices and from other devices).

Then you just have to make sure you're on the same LAN and both systems are in Desktop mode, connected to power, and the games being transferred are up to date.

[Prezidentas]

Originally posted by PopinFRESH:

Originally posted by Invghost:

Plugged in via ethernet, plugged into the computer or just plugged into the power?

Via power.

Here is the actual Steam Support page for how it works

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/46BD-6BA8-B012-CE43

Boot your Steam Deck into Desktop mode and launch the Steam Client (in normal mode, not using big picture).

Go to Settings and change the local transfers setting to either "Only my own devices" or "Only my friends". Then save the settings and restart Steam.

Do the same thing on your other PC (the setting is bi-directional; meaning it applies for both transferring to other devices and from other devices).

Then you just have to make sure you're on the same LAN and both systems are in Desktop mode, connected to power, and the games being transferred are up to date.

the official guide is very misleading. even the port in the guide that is used for the transfer is incorrect... you don't need desktop mode.

[PopinFRESH]

Originally posted by Škoda 14Tr:

Originally posted by PopinFRESH:

Via power.

Here is the actual Steam Support page for how it works

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/46BD-6BA8-B012-CE43

Boot your Steam Deck into Desktop mode and launch the Steam Client (in normal mode, not using big picture).

Go to Settings and change the local transfers setting to either "Only my own devices" or "Only my friends". Then save the settings and restart Steam.

Do the same thing on your other PC (the setting is bi-directional; meaning it applies for both transferring to other devices and from other devices).

Then you just have to make sure you're on the same LAN and both systems are in Desktop mode, connected to power, and the games being transferred are up to date.

the official guide is very misleading. even the port in the guide that is used for the transfer is incorrect... you don't need desktop mode.

If you say so... but i'm gonna believe Valve on this one. Oh and also my personal experience.

Installing games on my Steam Deck from my Desktop PC works in Gamemode; but trying to use the local game transfer from my Steam Deck to my Desktop PC doesn't work when the Steam Deck is in Gamemode, but works fine when booted into Desktop mode with the desktop Steam client launched.

I haven't done this going in that direction in a bit (at least not since they released SteamOS 3.5.5+ for the Steam Deck so it is possible that has changed and they just haven't updated that doc yet. But the last time I tried it on SteamOS 3.4.6 which was shortly after they launched the Steam Local Network Game Transfers feature (back in March or April iirc?) it didn't work.

[Prezidentas]

Originally posted by PopinFRESH:

Originally posted by Škoda 14Tr:

the official guide is very misleading. even the port in the guide that is used for the transfer is incorrect... you don't need desktop mode.

If you say so... but i'm gonna believe Valve on this one. Oh and also my personal experience.

Installing games on my Steam Deck from my Desktop PC works in Gamemode; but trying to use the local game transfer from my Steam Deck to my Desktop PC doesn't work when the Steam Deck is in Gamemode, but works fine when booted into Desktop mode with the desktop Steam client launched.

I haven't done this going in that direction in a bit (at least not since they released SteamOS 3.5.5+ for the Steam Deck so it is possible that has changed and they just haven't updated that doc yet. But the last time I tried it on SteamOS 3.4.6 which was shortly after they launched the Steam Local Network Game Transfers feature (back in March or April iirc?) it didn't work.

I'm on beta branch so it's possible your experience is different. Did test it though, I ain't making this up.

[PopinFRESH]

Originally posted by Škoda 14Tr:

...
I'm on beta branch so it's possible your experience is different. Did test it though, I ain't making this up.

Which version/build is it?

Did they add these options in the Gamemode settings? or do you need to boot into Desktop mode on the Steam Deck and enable local transfers, then it works in Gamemode?

I don't have my Steam Deck handy and like I noted I haven't tried it going that direction since around 3.4.6 (or it might have been 3.6.8). Obviously it is something I'd definitely expect Valve would eventually implement as a default option, at least as set to "for all of my devices", since this is something that is not only an improved experience for Steam users but it can substantially reduce the bandwidth requirements for Valve.

[Prezidentas]

Originally posted by PopinFRESH:

Originally posted by Škoda 14Tr:

...
I'm on beta branch so it's possible your experience is different. Did test it though, I ain't making this up.

Which version/build is it?

Did they add these options in the Gamemode settings? or do you need to boot into Desktop mode on the Steam Deck and enable local transfers, then it works in Gamemode?

I don't have my Steam Deck handy and like I noted I haven't tried it going that direction since around 3.4.6 (or it might have been 3.6.8). Obviously it is something I'd definitely expect Valve would eventually implement as a default option, at least as set to "for all of my devices", since this is something that is not only an improved experience for Steam users but it can substantially reduce the bandwidth requirements for Valve.

just have it enabled (isn't it the default?) and plugged in, for me it works on both the desktop and the game mode. both my pc and the deck are on beta branch.

[PopinFRESH]

Originally posted by Škoda 14Tr:

Originally posted by PopinFRESH:

Which version/build is it?

Did they add these options in the Gamemode settings? or do you need to boot into Desktop mode on the Steam Deck and enable local transfers, then it works in Gamemode?

I don't have my Steam Deck handy and like I noted I haven't tried it going that direction since around 3.4.6 (or it might have been 3.6.8). Obviously it is something I'd definitely expect Valve would eventually implement as a default option, at least as set to "for all of my devices", since this is something that is not only an improved experience for Steam users but it can substantially reduce the bandwidth requirements for Valve.

just have it enabled (isn't it the default?) and plugged in, for me it works on both the desktop and the game mode. both my pc and the deck are on beta branch.

I'll have to test it again when I get home. If that is the case then the OP doesn't need to do anything other than plug in their Steam Deck to power, leave it booted up, and ensure it is on the same network as their Desktop PC.

[S01itUde]

I personally am a huge fan of "Anydesk". It's cross platform so it will work on pretty much any computer you have. While it's primarily a VNC (remote desktop) it also has a built in file transfer.

Anytime I want to use my deck in desktop mode I just fire up anydesk and control it from my desktop, and any time i need to transfer files from one or the other you select the files and hit copy (ctrl+c) and then there's an icon in anydesk's window to transfer the selected files.