Steam – use Linux to download games that will be played on Windows

linuxsteamwindows

I run a dual-boot system with Linux and Windows 10. Linux is my primary OS and I use it for all my computing except for gaming.

My internet connection is fairly slow so I would like to be able to download games via Steam while booted into Linux. I would then copy the game to my Windows partition so they're playable when I reboot into Windows.

Has anyone found a way of doing so? I have read other solutions of using Steam for Windows (via WINE) and playing them in Linux. However, that isn't what I'm looking to do. I'll still install/play them on Windows, but I just want to be able to download them in the background while I'm using Linux.

While it shouldn't matter, I'm currently running Linux Mint 17.

Best Answer

Yep, totally possible.

  1. Install Wine. If you primarily use Linux, you will likely have it already.
  2. Install Steam for Windows on Wine, download the games you want to play. They don't even need to be playable through Wine.
  3. Copy the games to Windows partition, as if you were copying them from another PC. You will probably have to tell Steam that there are Steam games in the place you have just copied to. Last time I have done this was around 3 years ago, but I know 100% that it's possible.

I did not happen to find any way to download Windows games from Steam for Linux.

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