Remote Desktop From PC client to steamdeck

[Cookiebot]

Problem:
I want to install mods / tinker with the game files on my deck. I do not like the Virtual keyboard, and using the trackpads feels cumbersome in this regard. I also do not have the situation where a USB-C hub would be easy to setup so I could use my PC mouse, keyboard and monitor to do this tinkering.

Proposed solution:

Allow me to do a Remote desktop like session on my deck from my steam client. That way I would not need to have a hub, and I could use my current setup easily for it.

[Cypherous]

You can already do this using steam link

Install it on the deck and both PC's, open steam while in desktop mode on the deck and go to settings > remote play and click your PC then click pair, on the PC you click other computer and it will give you a 4 digit pin which you then enter on the deck, then begin a remote play session and you'll see the deck's desktop on your PC and can control it as normal

[TrueDPS]

You can add a non-steam game like the Discover app to your Steam Deck. Then you can easily stream it to your PC by just having your Steam Deck and main PC logged onto Steam. Search for the app (in this case Discover) on your desktop and click Stream.

[H2O | mεητσr]

Or you can use Google Remote Desktop (they have Linux build) I use it all the time, allows me to remote into deck from any of my PCs and remote into my PC from my deck.

[thefunkygibbon]

Originally posted by Big Sτελm Deck Energy:

Or you can use Google Remote Desktop (they have Linux build) I use it all the time, allows me to remote into deck from any of my PCs and remote into my PC from my deck.

hi, how do you get this working? i've just tried to use the google remote desktop but it just downloads a .deb file it expects you to install which you obviously can't on a non-debian linux.

[derram]

You could setup a vnc server on the deck and then install a client on your desktop.

You can use Remmina if your desktop is running Linux, not sure what options exist for windows.

If all you want to do is file management, you could enable the SSH server on the deck and then use a client on your desktop that supports sftp. On a Linux desktop it would be as easy as going to sftp://[e-mail] in a file browser. Just make sure to disable the ssh server when you're done.

Originally posted by thefunkygibbon:

hi, how do you get this working? i've just tried to use the google remote desktop but it just downloads a .deb file it expects you to install which you obviously can't on a non-debian linux.

[thefunkygibbon]

Originally posted by derram:

You could setup a vnc server on the deck and then install a client on your desktop.

You can use Remmina if your desktop is running Linux, not sure what options exist for windows.

If all you want to do is file management, you could enable the SSH server on the deck and then use a client on your desktop that supports sftp. On a Linux desktop it would be as easy as going to sftp://[e-mail] in a file browser. Just make sure to disable the ssh server when you're done.

Originally posted by thefunkygibbon:

hi, how do you get this working? i've just tried to use the google remote desktop but it just downloads a .deb file it expects you to install which you obviously can't on a non-debian linux.

yeah, vnc was what I was hoping for but I cannot see any flatpak version of any brand of vnc server available. which do you use?

[derram]

I've actually always gone with the sftp route since I use Linux on my desktop, so the vnc thing was just me listing ideas.

In order to set up a vnc server you'll have to enable writing to the OS and install through pacman. Someone wrote a guide to it on reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/ul8uvu/install_vnc_server/i8gdk3n/

Originally posted by thefunkygibbon:

yeah, vnc was what I was hoping for but I cannot see any flatpak version of any brand of vnc server available. which do you use?

[maxRunner]

Agree, I am not aware of any flatpak that allows for an easy to install remote desktop server. There are a bunch of clients. I haven't looked to deep into this yet as I haven't needed this feature so far, but my plan was to try nix/guix if it came up.

[thefunkygibbon]

AnyDesk works ok but i'm unsure if its going to badger me to pay for it at some point. (and its flatpak)

[d[-_-]b]

if you want to a full remote desktop vnc is prob your best bet or teamviewer.
However without having to install extras, if you just want to tinker with files or run specific applications then you can use ssh and ssh X forwarding (to display the gui on your pc)
This works as is on linux and with a terminal application like mobaxterm on windows/

[thefunkygibbon]

yeah i already use SSH for things that require that. But I haven't seen or used X forwarding before. I'll look into that, thanks

[Ymetro]

Try NoMachine . Fastest that I know of and for all PC platforms. Download is one package that contains server and client. For Deck you can download the Linux 64-bit version tar.gz file and follow the instructions on https://kb.nomachine.com/AR03L00789. For Windows its is even easier.
You do first need set the file system on the Deck in writable mode, so check if your comfortable with that.
Currently it is running fine when I'm remoting into the Deck from my Windows 10 PC, but the other way around (remoting into WinPC from Deck) gives me artifacts (blackouts) that makes it unusable. Maybe it's because the Linux version is 7.10.1 and the Windows one is 7.10.2 or maybe the 32-bit version for the Deck is working better.
So instead to remote in to the Windows PC from my Steam Deck I use Remmina with the RDP protocol for desktop work (also very fast to interact with, but compression artifacts on remote video's) and for playing custom games Sunshine (server app on Windows) and Moonlight (NVIDIA Stream client derivative). X2Go was a no-go albeit it also being a NX server like NoMachine.
Partly I used Google Remote Desktop in combination with NoMachine, because RDP in Remmina on Windows messed up - separate login sessions not closing etc. Weird stuf.
Only nag with Google Remote is that you'd have to go back and forth between server and client, to get it working with a given code and confirm access on the server side. And after a while the Google app asks if you still want the connection to interact with your computer. So you'd have to login over another service like NoMachine or Moonlight to dismiss that prompt. Yeah, I'm not a fan of the stairs... my studio is on the first and my grande game PC is in the living on the floor below connected to the TV.
Haven't tried TeamViewer yet. But that also seems like a good option for some desktop work.
VNC should work just fine, because it's a common graphical remote desktop protocol, but its performance doesn't feel snappy.
- just my 50 bucks

[Ratteler50]

Originally posted by thefunkygibbon:

Originally posted by Big Sτελm Deck Energy:

Or you can use Google Remote Desktop (they have Linux build) I use it all the time, allows me to remote into deck from any of my PCs and remote into my PC from my deck.

hi, how do you get this working? i've just tried to use the google remote desktop but it just downloads a .deb file it expects you to install which you obviously can't on a non-debian linux.

I'm curious as well, this is as far as I've gotten

[Ymetro]

Originally posted by Ratteler50:

Originally posted by thefunkygibbon:

hi, how do you get this working? i've just tried to use the google remote desktop but it just downloads a .deb file it expects you to install which you obviously can't on a non-debian linux.

I'm curious as well, this is as far as I've gotten

I'm not using it at the moment, but there is a Google Remote Desktop package in the AUR.
I have paru installed for easy AUR package management.
As far as I can recall from memory: as long as you set the filesystem to enable writing to it, you can install paru with pacman -S paru. Then install GRD with paru -S chrome-remote-desktop. If not please post in this thread.
My best experience is remoting into Steam Deck with nomachine. Even got to show both the Deck's screen and the connected ultrawide in one view that the mouse scrolls the parts not in view.
You could search for howto's for installation in Arch Linux and Manjaro, as Steam Deck is also based on Arch.
And also I like to reccomend Remmina, which is installable from within the Discovery appstore, and use the RDP protocol to remote into a Windows (10/11) machine from the Steam Deck, when it is in Desktop Mode.

[Ymetro]

I need to remind myself to do more back-reading on the opening post itself.
If you set your Steam Deck in Desktop Mode, set a static IP address, in the System settings under Connections. Choose your Wi-Fi connection and set Method to Manual under the IPv4 tab and fill in a unused local IP address and maybe some DNS servers (Cloudflare: 1.1.1.1 & 1.0.0.1 or Google: 8.8.8.8 & 8.8.4.4 - not sure if you can leave this blank so that it copies your router ISP's DNS numbers). You can use the Steam Decks IP to connect to from your PC/laptop over Wi-Fi and tinker with the mod-files over Chrome Remote Desktop (CDR) or NoMachine (NM). Good luck!