Valve Releases Windows Drivers For Steam Deck, But The Speakers Don't Work
Valve just released a set of drivers for the Steam Deck that should make installing and using Windows on the new handheld a whole lot easier. They vastly improve performance over the default Windows drivers, however, these Valve drivers haven't figured out how to make Windows use the Steam Deck's built-in speakers.
To download these Windows drivers, head to Steam's support page here. As noted by Rock Paper Shotgun, these drivers are very much a work-in-progress, so there's a lot of stuff that doesn't work quite right.
Related: Steam Deck Review: Impressive Hardware But An Unapproachable Experience
We've already mentioned the speaker thing, so you'll need to use either Bluetooth, USB-C, or the 3.5mm aux jack for your headphones. Dual-boot support is also not there, so installing Windows means no SteamOS and vice-versa. And because you can't install Valve's wifi drivers until Windows has completed installation, you'll need to have the Deck connected to a USB-C hub with an ethernet port to actually activate windows. Oh, and Windows 11 isn't supported, so you're stuck on Windows 10.
Valve makes it clear in its support documentation that they don't officially support Windows for the Deck, so if you screw up anything, you're on your own. On the plus side, Valve did release Steam Recovery instructions, so if you do screw up, you can at least get back to factory settings.
As Valve loves to remind us, the Deck is a PC, so installing Windows on the Deck is the same as any other PC. Just download Windows installation media on any handy USB drive and follow the on-screen instructions. As noted, you'll want a physical line to the internet to make the installation as smooth as possible.
Theoretically, installing Windows will get
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