Steam crashes silently on startup on Ubuntu 18.04 and 20.04 (igpu)

Solution 1:

The answer posted by HuHa has led me to this thread: https://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/0/3106901028662477002/?ctp=2 Which provides the solution of editing the config file at ~/.steam/registry.vdf to set the RememberPassword flag to 0. This will mean that you have to enter your password every time you start Steam but will allow Steam to start and not just crash every single time. I have no idea what is going on here but this work around will allow me to keep playing games with my friends until the lockdowns finally end. I think this might have been introduced in the last update to Steam since it worked one day and not the next so it might not be needed forever.

Solution 2:

Reportedly it's fixed in the current Steam beta:

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2021/06/latest-steam-client-beta-improves-proton-startup-times-fixes-login-issue

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/7813

To enable the beta, go to the 'Steam' menu at upper left, then on the 'Account' panel under "Beta participation" it should show "Not participating (1 currently available). Change that to "Steam Beta Update", and then restart steam. You should then get the Updating Steam dialog, and then prompt to log in. Turn "Remember my password" back on. Moment of truth: Now exit out of steam, and restart and see if it comes back normally (spoiler - it worked).