Ubuntu – Steam browser doesn’t work and games can’t be installed

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UPD: One of the problems is now fixed! The fix is at the end of this post.

I always try to google an answer without posting to forums myself, but now I am stuck with this problem for a few days.

I recently started using Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, and I need to install Steam.
Linux version of Steam works flawlessly for me, but I also need a Windows version for some non-Linux games.

I've downloaded 'SteamSetup.exe' from the official website. I am also using the latest version of Wine (development version).

After installing Windows version of Steam, I've got a problem with Steam's web browser. All the web pages (Store, Profile etc.) were just black and not loading. And when I try to install one of my games I get the 'Content servers unreachable' error. Steam itself (I mean GUI) works pretty fine, it just seems it cannot use its browser. And the 'Friends' window also works: I can see them being online and playing something.

After looking for a solution I found that I should use '-no-cef-sandbox'. After adding it Steam browser stopped loading completely showing 'invalid SSL certificate' error on all pages I tried to access.

After searching more I found that I should set my Wine to 'Windows XP'. So I opened winecfg and set it. And after this change it is in the state I am now. Now some pages load black and some pages load only some plain blue text in front of a black background (looks like some sort of HTML rendering error, but I don't know what really should I do to fix this), and a loading icon at the top-right corner is now glitched: it skips the whole animation cycle only showing its lighter part "jumping" at its top side. I've also noticed that the first time I try to load a page after launching Steam its browser's address bar turns green for a second (as if the connection is established), but then goes grey permanently. It was also red sometimes.

I've also tried these things (as you may understand, with no positive result):

  • Using non-development Wine release (I installed it first and then replaced it with a development one).
  • Messing around with fonts (e.g. mscorefonts), but it actually doesn't seem to help me, because all the texts were OK for me from the beginning.
  • Using PlayOnLinux produced the exact same result, and I removed it because I prefer using plain Wine.
  • Redownloading 'SteamSetup.exe' and reinstalling it.
  • Downloading Firefox and setting it to be a default browser instead of Chromium (I am using Chromium as the default and only browser).
  • Checking my time and date in Ubuntu and in BIOS (this was suggested to fix the 'Content servers unreachable' error, but my time and date settings seem to be correct in both).
  • Changing a download region in Steam settings.
  • Clearing cache and cookies in Steam settings.
  • Installing 'Steam for Windows' snap package instead of using 'SteamSetup.exe' (I hope I called it right, because I'm still not used to these snaps or something).
  • Opt into and out of Steam Beta. (In Steam Beta mode the 'Friends' window is not accessible, too.)

There may be something else I forgot to list here, and I am running out of ideas. And now I am here to ask for help. Hope to get a new advice. Please, help! Thanks in advance.

P.S.

As you see, I've got two problems here: the web browser not loading and the 'Content servers unreachable' error. I combine them here, because I believe they are related in my case, but in case they aren't… It will be good to fix them both, but right now all I actually need from the Windows version is downloading and launching some non-Linux games (for the other functionality I can just use the Linux version), and thus I need to fix the 'Content servers unreachable' in priority.

UPD: The 'Content servers unreachable' error can be easily fixed by copying the "CS" line from config.vdf in Linux version to the same place in Windows version. (The detailed explanation is in one of the answers below.)

Best Answer

I managed to get the download started, browser is still not working but at least it installs the game.

Following procedure:

  • Install if you haven't so far, the Linux Steam Version and make sure it works.
  • open this file with your favorite text-editor: ~/.steam/steam/config/config.vdf
  • search for "CS" and copy the entire line
  • paste the line after the line starting with "cis" in file: ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Steam/config/config.vdf

    or wherever you installed steam and restart.

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