It is 2023 - is there not a siple guide to sharing files between linux and windows in dual boot?

[tenspd1370]

Title says it all - there are like 100 different discussions on this with no do X,Y,Z to get this to work. I have a Steam Library with some games, and I don't want to have copies because downloading sucks. I want to do it once and never again. I prefer to play in linux, but have windows dual boot just in case there is that game that doesn't work. How do you tell steam to use a library on a disk, formatted exfat, without a zillion gotchas?

[𝚖𝚒𝚊𝚞]

create a partition and use it as your library?

[Yujah]

exFAT is too primitive a filesystem type; specifically doesn't support symlinks and can as such only be made to work for a Steam library shared with Linux/Proton by jumping through a few hoops. NTFS is also not a general great idea for use with Linux (since it just like FAT and exFAT doesn't support proper per file/directory UNIX-type ownership and permissions) but can seemingly nowadays be made to work for the purpose of a Steam library: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/wiki/Using-a-NTFS-disk-with-Linux-and-Windows

A note is that if you do the "compatdata" symlink from the above link that you may as well do the same for "shadercache" and that if you do, exFAT may in fact also work for the purpose after all (the symlinks then redirect those folders onto a proper filesystem) but -- untested.

Finally note that if also the above is seen as "zillion gotchas" that you are not the type of person that can use Linux.

[happy]

1

[tenspd1370]

`Finally note that if also the above is seen as "zillion gotchas" that you are not the type of person that can use Linux.`

LOL - I have used it exclusively as my daily driver for I don't know how long. My point is - since I have created a separate partition - you would think at this point this would be a common use case and I wouldn't have to dig around creating symlinks all over the place. How about "import library from X" - now wouldn't that be simple. Don't know - I don't write the code for steam.

All I want to do is make it so that Steam doesn't keep trying to redownload stuff. Right now, I have a partition that both systems see (although it is exfat) - BUT - it keeps trying to reverify and redownload games.

I'll try the NTFS partition - right now I am trying this with one game that does not take long to download.

[Yujah]

Well, going to again grumpily note then that certainly experienced Linux users shouldn't aim to use Microsoft's most decidedly primitive DOS-level (extended...) crap, but oh well. Hope the above NTFS link is/was useful in any case (and while again noting then that if you additionally redirect "shadercache" onto some halfway useful filesystem that Google implies even exFAT may "work" for the purpose).

[tenspd1370]

Actually - btrfs on windows and linux seems to work pretty well. No - I didn't WANT to use any of that, but the guides I found made it sound like exFAT was what you had to do. I installed btrfs for windows, created a partition with it and created a Library. Then mounted in linux and pointed second library to it as well. Seems to work fine.