Plex Media Server on SteamOS

Saturday, 31 January 2026

Read time of 3 min

Install Plex Media Server on SteamOS (Update-Proof Method)

This guide explains how to install Plex Media Server on SteamOS (Steam Deck) in a way that:

  • ✅Survives SteamOS updates
  • ✅ Uses official Plex binaries
  • ✅ Avoids pacman / AUR / Flatpak limitations
  • ✅ Starts automatically in Desktop Mode
  • ✅ Requires no containers or root services

SteamOS uses an immutable OS image, so traditional Arch Linux tutorials do not apply. The correct approach is to install Plex entirely in user space ($HOME) and manage it with a user systemd service.

Why this works on SteamOS

SteamOS updates overwrite:

  1. /usr, /etc, /var
  2. pacman / AUR installs
  3. system systemd services

SteamOS preserves:

/home/deck
~/.local
~/.config
  • user systemd services

This tutorial installs Plex only inside $HOME, so it is never removed by updates.

What you need

  1. SteamOS (Steam Deck or LegionGo)
  2. Desktop Mode
  3. Plex Media Server .deb file downloaded from Plex

Recommended download: Ubuntu / Debian – Intel/AMD 64-bit

Example file name: plexmediaserver_1.42.2.10156-f737b826c_amd64.deb

Step 1 – Prepare directories

mkdir -p ~/.local/plex
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
mkdir -p ~/.config/plex

Step 2 – Extract the .deb (no dpkg required)

SteamOS does not include dpkg-deb. A .deb file is just an ar archive, so we extract it manually.

cd ~/Downloads
mkdir plex-deb
cd plex-deb

ar x ../plexmediaserver_1.42.2.10156-f737b826c_amd64.deb
tar -xf data.tar.*

Move files into your home:

mv usr ~/.local/plex/

Final Plex binary location:

~/.local/plex/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server

Step 3 – First run (test)

~/.local/plex/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex\ Media\ Server

Open in browser:

http://localhost:32400/web

Stop with Ctrl+C.

Step 4 – Create a wrapper start script

nano ~/.local/bin/plex-start.sh

##!/usr/bin/env bash
set -e

export PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR="$HOME/.config/plex"
exec "$HOME/.local/plex/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server"

chmod +x ~/.local/bin/plex-start.sh

Test:

~/.local/bin/plex-start.sh

Step 5 – Create a user systemd service

mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user
nano ~/.config/systemd/user/plex.service

[Unit]
Description=Plex Media Server (user install)
After=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=%h/.local/bin/plex-start.sh
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5
WorkingDirectory=%h

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Step 6 – Enable and start Plex

systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user reset-failed plex
systemctl --user enable --now plex

Check:

systemctl --user status plex --no-pager

Step 7 – Verify Plex is running

ss -lntp | grep 32400

Open:

http://localhost:32400/web

Auto-start behavior

  • ✅ Starts automatically in Desktop Mode
  • ❌ Does not start in Gaming Mode (default)

Optional (advanced):

loginctl enable-linger deck

Where everything lives

Component Location
   
Plex binaries ~/.local/plex/
Plex config & database ~/.config/plex/
Startup script ~/.local/bin/plex-start.sh
systemd service ~/.config/systemd/user/plex.service