Transferring files from Windows PCs to Steam Deck and vice versa

[PXL]

Please can you look at providing a way to transfer files from our main Windows PCs, to the Steam Deck?

I have some emulator stuff on my windows PC and I'm pulling my hair out trying to get it transferred onto the SD Card.

[PXL]

96% of steam users are Windows users so I imagine there will be quite a few people
wanting to move files onto their Steam Decks.

Out of everything suggested … Warpinator does sound the most useful/reliable. My only concern is installing niche software on either the Deck or my main PC and risking either piece of hardwares’ security.

If the Steam Deck is as popular as a retro handheld emulation machine as I imagine it will be then I’m certain those 96% of Windows users will need user-friendly and safe options to move over the roms and other software downloaded on windows main machines.

Maybe another option is I boot my surface pro using a Linux distro and re-download the roms and then move onto the SD card …

[Marlock]

fortunately you don't need to worry much about warpinator security... the original linux version was developed by the Linux Mint devs (LM is a solid distro based on Ubuntu) as a handy tool for their distro (but they are good at making their things perfectly usable on other distros)...

...and the unnofficial variants for windows and android are also 100% opensource and changed only as little as needed from their parent project (which is simple, privacy-conscious and secure by design)

[Fazza]

I agree that it might be nice for Valve to automate this process or setup a default SMB share that can be enabled quickly. I imagine there are reasons that they haven't or wont enable it by default for valid security reasons and the fact a password is not set by default.

That said, as others have mentioned. I think SFTP is always your best option (especially for mass file transfers into specific folders on internal or SD storage) It's quick transfer also has the advantage of being cross-platform in the fact that linux and macos have clients as part of the core OS and lots of free clients exist for windows. It does require some linux commands to be run from console (konsole within steamOS) but its very easy so you should give it a go.
For the benefit of others, here are the steps. - Remember you can open the onscreen keyboard at any time in desktop mode if steam is running by pressing STEAM button + X

1) Set a password for your 'deck' (default) user account. Open up 'konsole' from the desktop menu and type: passwd

2) Start sshd - in konsole type: sudo systemctl start sshd
(Using the password you just set when prompted)

3) OPTIONAL - Set sshd to always run (sshd will be shut down on system sleep or restart otherwise). Do this by typing in konsole: sudo systemctl enable sshd
(You can disable this in the future by replacing 'enable' with 'disable' in the above command. Make sure you set a decent complex password if you keep this enabled, especially when using 3rd party wireless networks)

4) Find your steamdeck's IP address and take a note by typing in konsole: ip addr

Then its just a case of grabbing an SFTP client (for windows) and connecting to your deck's IP address if you're on the same network. WinSCP would be my recommendation although other fine clients exist. Just create a new session and put the IP in. Ensure that SFTP is selected as the file protocol on port 22. The username will be 'deck' and the password will be the one you set in step 1.

You should then have access to the filesystem and can drag and drop files to anywhere the 'deck' user account can. If you wish to access the SD card, then it should be found mounted under /RUN/MEDIA in the filesystem.


On a decent wifi network (eg. 5ghz wifi6), you should find that the transfer rate will be capped by your SD card's write speed so there would be little speed advantage to direct writing using a USB card reader...etc.


Hope this helps.

[cheater]

I've requested something similar here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1675200/discussions/2/6117591738157800523/