# Steam and your game library

> Open Steam, sign in and play the games you already own. Windows games run through Steam's own compatibility tool, which Steam keeps up to date.

Source: https://wolos.org/manual/steam

## What it is

Steam is already on WolOS. You open it like any other app, sign in with your Steam account, and your library is there: the games you bought on Windows are the same games here. Most of them were made for Windows. Steam runs those through its own **compatibility tool** (Proton): a translator that sits between a Windows game and WolOS, so the game believes it is on Windows. Think of it as a travel adapter for a plug: the game does not change, the socket does.

## Why

Steam's compatibility tool is where the work to make Windows games run happens, every week, for thousands of titles. So WolOS does not add a second layer of its own on top. What WolOS adds is the part that usually goes wrong around Steam: before Steam starts, WolOS checks that the pieces Steam needs are in place (the 32-bit graphics files, the graphics driver, the matching NVIDIA files) and, when one is missing, tells you in one sentence what to do. You do not read a guide before you can play.

## How

1. **Open Steam.** Press **Super+Space** for Search, type `steam` and press Return, or click Steam in the Store under **Play**.
   You see Steam in Search as an Application. In the Store it sits in the Play list with the line *Thousands of games, one library*.

   ![The Store's Play page: a SuperTuxKart banner on top, then Steam ("Thousands of games, one library"), VLC, mpv, Strawberry and other games, each with a Get button.](/img/manual/store-play-wide.png)
2. **Wait for the first start.** The first time, Steam downloads the rest of itself.
   You see a notification: *Getting Steam ready. Steam downloads itself the first time you open it. It opens when it's ready.* Keep the computer online; this happens once.
3. **Sign in** with your Steam account, as you would on Windows.
   You see your library.
4. **Install a game** from your library and press **Play**.
   A game made for Windows runs through the compatibility tool without anything to set. If a Windows game has no Install button, open Steam's **Settings > Compatibility** and turn on running other titles with the compatibility tool.
### Games from outside Steam

A Windows program you downloaded yourself, such as a `.exe` installer from a game shop, opens with a double-click. WolOS gives each program its own folder of Windows settings, so one program cannot break another. For many such games at once, the Gaming module adds a games launcher and an on-screen frame-rate counter; see [Modules](/manual/modules).

### On a screen with high resolution

On a sharp laptop screen Steam would look half size. When you start Steam from the Dock, Search or the Store, WolOS tells Steam how large your screen's scale is, so its text is readable.

## A worked example

Alice installs Steam from the Store, opens it and waits for the "Getting Steam ready" notification to finish. She signs in with the account she has had for years, finds a game she bought on Windows, clicks Install and then Play. It runs, and she never changed a setting.

## If something goes wrong

| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| *Steam couldn't download* | Steam could not fetch the rest of itself. Check that you're online, then open Steam again. |
| *Steam can't open yet. Your graphics driver isn't running.* | Restart the computer, then open Steam again. If it stays, see [Hardware and drivers](/reference/hardware). |
| *Steam can't open yet. Part of Steam is missing.* | Run the game check-up: [When a game will not start](/manual/game-fixes) shows the one line to type, and the fix for each missing piece. |
| *Steam needs graphics files for your NVIDIA card.* | Run the game check-up on [When a game will not start](/manual/game-fixes); the line marked FAIL has the fix. |
| Steam looks tiny | Start Steam from the Dock, Search or the Store, not from another launcher, so WolOS can pass the screen scale. |
| A game with kernel anti-cheat will not start | Some online games refuse every system except Windows, because their anti-cheat needs it. That is the game's rule, and its own page usually says so. |

## Related

[Playing full screen](/manual/full-screen-games) · [When a game will not start](/manual/game-fixes) · [Games (reference)](/manual/games) · [Modules](/manual/modules)