Possible to run Windows-installed games on Linux with Proton?

[daemon47]

On my computer I have both Ubuntu and Windows installed. Is it possible to install games on Windows, then run them on Ubuntu using Proton (without installing them twice)?

[Ettanin]

No, because Windows Steam and Linux Steam use different directory structures and locations.

What you however can do if you have a separate drive or partition: Create a Steam library on it, then you can add that library to your different OS specific installations. Be however aware that this will cause issues for games that have a linux specific version that doesn't require Proton. Those might not work in one of the two OS installations.

This requires the ability to mount NTFS partitions.

[Lady of Terror]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Ettanin:

No, because Windows Steam and Linux Steam use different directory structures and locations.

What you however can do if you have a separate drive or partition: Create a Steam library on it, then you can add that library to your different OS specific installations. Be however aware that this will cause issues for games that have a linux specific version that doesn't require Proton. Those might not work in one of the two OS installations.

This requires the ability to mount NTFS partitions.

As someone who is using both AtlasOS (ameliorated Windows 11) and Linux Mint 21.3 (derived from Ubuntu) on the one system for gaming - this is just wrong.

Modern Linux generally comes with NTFS-3G (or similar) to allow you to mount NTFS-formatted drives in Read/Write - You just need to use the "Disks" system software (Ubuntu/Mint name. basically like "Disk Management" under Windows) to set the NTFS partitions to automatically mount with full Read/Write permissions in {/mnt/} with a human-readable folder name (eg: /mnt/2TB_NVMe or /mnt/8TB_Games - both which I use on my system).

All you need to do is point Linux Steam to the "Steam" folder on the NTFS drive using Settings -> Storage -> Add Drive -> Let me choose another location -> {filepath to the "Steam" folder on the NTFS drive. eg: /mnt/8TB_Games/Games/Steam} in order to add a folder with Windows-installed Steam games to a Linux install of Steam; even if the "Steam" folder you're pointing Linux Steam to look at for games is the Windows Steam install.

This is the same method as adding a Steam library folder on *any* drive in a system beyond the drive where Steam is installed (Steam defaults to installing games in the "steamapps" folder where the program is installed) on *both* Windows and Linux (even on MacOS).

Additionally; using Ext2 Volume Manager (with Ext2Fsd 0.71 from 2024/03/01 and Ext2Mgr 3.00 from 2024/03/02) to mount a EXT2/EXT3/EXT4 folder in Windows (setting a drive letter and all that jazz); you can point Windows Steam to a folder that had been created under Linux - again, this is something I'm currently using on AtlasOS.

[Crust]

I was trying to access my games on Linux Mint when dual booting my PC. I went to add a drive but just selected my other drives (which are fully NTFS formatted holding windows files and SteamLibrary folders) should I then just instead of clicking the drive and calling it that, navigate to the SteamLibrary folder on each drive? Every time I would try to play a game it would just try to launch the game and just not launch. I ended up just uninstalling Mint for the time being but I am willing to try again