Steam Deck Will Run Windows 11 at Launch!

According to a Steam Deck designer, Valve is working with AMD to ensure that the Steam Deck will also support Windows 11 and dual-booting between SteamOS and Windows 10.

While Valve’s Currently, focused on optimizing Steam OS and the Steam Deck’s performance under Windows 10, AMD insights could also help Valve ensure compatibility with Microsoft’s Windows 11 operating system, which will be available later this year.

The company must do extra work to ensure baseline compatibility for new hardware requirements like TPM chips expected to be a part of Windows 11.

Although this is the case, Coomer appears optimistic that Windows 11 support will be forthcoming for Steam Deck thanks to a partnership between Valve and AMD (which will generate the custom APU slated for use in Steam Deck).

Coomer refers to TPM, a controversial requirement in Windows 11. TPMs (Trusted Platform Modules) are required for Windows 11. The new OS requires TPM 2.0 specifically.

AMD and Valve are working together to enable this feature on the Steam Deck.

Once Microsoft’s Steam Deck launches later this year, it will be possible to install Windows 11 on it. Valve will support both Mac and Windows installations in SteamOS, the custom version of Linux that comes with the handheld device.

Many games unofficially supported by Windows run on the Steam Deck via Valve’s Proton software. However, anti-cheat has become a significant headache for Proton in recent years.

Windows support avoids compatibility issues here. Still, it will introduce a different interface that won’t match the 7-inch display. It will create many questions until we discover just how well it works on the Steam Deck.