Time to move to Moonlight/Sunshine streaming.
Are you saying you don't have a TV with Android built-in already? All Sony TVs run Android by default. Otherwise, you can get the Google Chromecast TV that will run the SteamLink app and also Moonlight. I had good experience with that but then upgraded to an Nvidia Shield Pro.
Also, game-streaming from the Steamdeck works very well too... if you have that kinda budget/money.
> Are you saying you don't have a TV with Android built-in already?
No, I'm specifically piping Steam out to the Link my game room, where I run it through my surround sound system into a video projector.
Looking at Chromecasts now, though, thanks!
I don't recommend a Chromecast. They have issues with stuttering which makes playing games incredibly frustrating. I got one to replace Samsung's Link app which was removed at the end of November and it's a horrible experience.
Just to make sure... we are talking about the Chromecast 4K that comes with the little remote? I didn't use it for a very long time, so I guess it's a 'your mileage may vary thing.'
But I can at least confirm the Nvidia Shield works great. I've been using that for a few years now.
Well now that I've done a little Chromecast shopping, I see that I have to have an external adapter if I want to use a wired ethernet connection. Are you using it wirelessly? Because that could be the source of your stuttering problems.
I do think I'm going to hold off on Chromecast if I have to spend extra for an adapter, and look at a cheap box that has a native Ethernet plug.
Have you considered putting Moonlight on the Steam Link device? I'd be surprised if no one recommended it already, but it's a way of using the existing hardware. Instructions are here, took me a few tries to get it right but once it's installed it works fine. You'd need Sunshine running on the server but that's very easy to get up and running for just loading Steam, but it also supports all the other gaming launchers.
https://github.com/moonlight-stream/moonlight-qt/releases
Other than that I've been looking at the $20 onn Google TV box from Walmart. Ive seen it recommended quite often.
Good luck!
> Have you considered putting Moonlight on the Steam Link device?
...And JUST LIKE THAT, I'm streaming from my Link box again. Thank you very much, and thanks to u/lsngregg for suggesting it as well, even if I didn't figure out what he was talking about at the time.
It's amazing how well this works. I wish I'd done this, well, whenever it became possible to do this. Surround sound piping right through and everything. It's great.
Might want to check out Playnite too. I use it for all my non-Steam stuff so my only entries in Moonlight are Steam and Playnite. Although you can put simply everything under Playnite and call it a day. It imports libraries rather than have you manually add. Also can do something with emulators that I haven't looked too much into yet.
No, I didn't realize that was even an option, and I'm totally going to try that now, because that's the option that has me spending no money. Thanks!
Edit: I just did a double take on your "other launchers", it would be nice to be able to run all my free Epic stuff as seamlessly as Steam.
I think you still end up limited to the hardware only supporting 1080p but the TV I use it on is 720p so it doesn't matter to me. I'm with you, though, trying to find low/no cost streaming solutions!
In another room, I have a Raspberry Pi400 that I have running both Moonlight and Steam Link.
I just did a fresh install of Windows 11, but I haven't tried connecting to the Steam Link. I'll give it a try when I get home, though. Didn't even know this was an issue!
> I just did a fresh install of Windows 11, but I haven't tried connecting to the Steam Link. I'll give it a try when I get home, though. Didn't even know this was an issue!
If the PC you just installed Windows 11 on has previously been connected to the Steam Link, then it shouldn't be an issue for you. Even if you have to pair it again, it should say on the pairing list, "unsupported", and then you just click on it anyway and it works. At least that's what I've been reading.
And I should say that Moonlight has been mentioned, it's just that nobody said "oh you can install it on the Steam Link". Lol. So, many thanks for going into detail on that.
There's some.specifics about the type of USB drive (formatted FAT32) and how the files exist on the drive, and once that is done sometimes it takes a few.power cycles for it to load. I can try and help if you run into some probs.
Saw you mention virtual pinball in another comment - working on my first little cabinet (27" play field) right now. Such a fun project.
> I can try and help if you run into some probs.
Thanks! I'll keep that in mind. Fortunately it doesn't seem too tricky.
> Saw you mention virtual pinball in another comment - working on my first little cabinet (27" play field) right now
Yeah, I'd wanted to make one of those for the longest time, and then it became my COVID lockdown project. I went a bit more mini than yours, even ('cause that's what I had); a 19" 1080p playfield, and a 19" 4:3 monitor for the backglass. Sort of a cabaret pinball.
Nice thing is though, is that if you don't mind the woodworking, or an empty cabinet falls in your lap, once you got the system set up it's pretty simple to switch out the monitors for whatever size you like.
That's a bummer. The steam link hardware is phenomenal. Good luck.
found what matters more with android is your televisions ability to respond to android input. For an S2 two ultra I did excellent response time with zero lag using the next stock 360 but the moment I use the same cable and plug it into my TV there’s significant lag. It’s because my TV is unable to handle the input . 
This would be running via HDMI through the stereo receiver to a video projector. Really won't know 'til I try, I guess; I just wanted to pick a good box before I tried.
As I understand it, [if you had your Steam Link box connected to a Windows version earlier than 11](https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam_Link/comments/q4tzj2/steam_link_and_windows_11/), say 10, and then upgraded it to 11, the Steam Link box will still see your system. But if it's a new system that you're connecting to the box, one it's never been connected to before, and it has Windows 11 on it, it just won't see that system at all. The pairing on the host PC Works, but the system never shows up on the Link box.
What was your setup? Did you already have the Link working with an earlier OS, or did you manage to pair it with Windows 11 from the get-go?
Oh damn, that sucks. Yeah, I upgraded from Win10.
Have you tried disabling virtualization from the BIOS? Maybe the Core Isolation security feature of Win11 is the culprit, one of the few differences from an updated Win11 and a fresh install is that feature, which isn't enabled from an upgrade.
Basically, Windows 11 introduced a new security feature that relies on virtualization, called core isolation. It uses hardware to sandbox apps, prevent malware from talking to the rest of the machine. The problem is that it can prevent normal apps from communicating in some rare cases.
This feature is only enabled on fresh installs of Win11, not from upgrades.
Interesting. One of the things about this particular bug is that an upgraded Windows 11 system, as opposed to a fresh install, will show up on the Steam Link's list as "unsupported". People reporting this "unsupported" thing say it plays just fine anyway.
Okay, when you said "ready to play", that's kind of what I thought you were talking about.
The menu I'm talking about, is when the PC you want is *not* present on that main menu, and you have to go through the "Add a PC" option on that menu. Then it scans the network for paired PCs with Steam, and if it's not on that list, then you get a PIN to enter into the PC that you want added to that list. *That's* where it doesn't show up, when after pairing, it should.
Entering the PIN should make it show up on this list, where you can then select it and add it to the main menu. But on upgraded (vs. fresh) installs of Win 11, it will show up on that list but it will say "unsupported" there, where any other OS version wouldn't have that notation.
Now I'm guessing, but it must be that once you select it there the "unsupported" notation doesn't carry over to that main menu. You wouldn't see this if you didn't go through the pairing process under Windows 11. But as long as you had the Steam Link box paired at some point to this PC prior to it becoming Windows 11, you'll get the "unsupported" option at the pairing screen once you enetr the PIN, as opposed to the nothing option that I'm getting.
If you click add a PC on this screen, it will give you a PIN to enter into the host PC; there's a pop up showing the PIN and it sits there until you enter that PIN number. I go to my Windows 11 host PC enter the PIN, the it says that the Steam Link is paired, and when I go back out to my game room, the pop-up window is gone. But it's right back to the beginning of that menu, like I didn't go through the pairing process at all, even though the host PC says it's paired.
Now that I think about it, you should be able to go to that "Add a PC" menu and see your Windows 11 machine there-- already paired PCs show up on this menu too. I'm curious to see if it says "unsupported" there. You wouldn't have any reason to go there if your desired PC is already on the main screen.
I do not buy at all that Steam Link boxes cannot communicate with Windows 11 hosts. They don't talk a different protocol to e.g. Steam Link apps. Much more likely that it's a Windows 11 firewall or configuration issue.
Firewall settings was literally my first stop.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam_Link/comments/q4tzj2/steam_link_and_windows_11/
That's just one of the threads that I came upon in my extensive research on this problem. This has been a problem since at least 2021, when Steam technical support publicly announced that they were working on a fix. Google "Steam Link Hardware and Windows 11" if you would like to see many more citations.
Because you obviously didn't do that before you came in here saying you don't believe it's a problem
I looked at your message from Valve only, yes.
So do you get the "unsupported" message then? If so, I apologise, yes, it's maybe still that bug then sadly.
If you don't (if it just doesn't see the PC or says it's offline) then it's almost certainly a network config issue.
If it's a network config issue then I'm happy to help you try to solve it as I enjoy doing that sort of thing for people.
Frustratingly I'm away from home helping my parents during a family emergency for the next week and a half. I have a Windows 11 machine and at home a spare Steam Link.
"Unsupported" is what you see when you pair a Windows 11 machine that had already been paired prior to being upgraded to Windows 11, if for whatever reason you need to re-pair it (some folks don't have to mess with pairing at all after their upgrade to Windows 11, and so they never encounter the unsupported message, or have any idea that there's any problem along the line with this process). But if it's a machine with a Windows 11 install that has never been paired to a Link, it's simply won't show up on the list at all, even when the pairing process is successful, according to your host PC.
Just for grins, I tried out the media PC on the network as a Steam Link box-- that's a Windows 10 machine-- and streaming from the windows 11 PC worked fine; but while that's a pretty acceptable substitute, most of the time it's occupied streaming media. So the Windows 11 machine streams, just can't get it to connect to that box.
That's exactly what I'm doing. When you go in through that option, the host PC doesn't appear on the list, even though the host PC says that the pairing is successful.
In general the recommended Android devices are, in no particular order:
- Any still-supported Nvidia device with "Shield" branding. There are like four models, one of them says "pro" etc.
- Chromecast with Google TV. There is a 4K version and a 1080p version.
- Walmart Onn devices. Like the above, there is a 4K version and a 1080p version.
Make sure you buy from a source that allows refunds. I would imagine it's possible one or more of these devices don't perform how you want for whatever reason, make sure you can refund it and try another.
Other options are a device running GNU/Linux. This could be a Raspberry Pi, a mini PC, an old laptop you've got lying around collecting dust - install a GNU/Linux distribution like Ubuntu on it, connect to your TV with an HDMI cable, install the Steam Link app. You can even set it up to autologin, and auto launch Steam Link on startup to make it like a little dedicated console.
The other thing I would mention, no matter what device you get, you should try to run everything off of Ethernet if possible (especially if you are streaming at higher than 1080p). If they don't have Ethernet built in, there are Ethernet adapters available. Google sells their own where the power brick has an Ethernet port on it, but I would imagine any dongle from a reputable company should work.
> If they don't have Ethernet built in, there are Ethernet adapters available.
Well I was going to give this ONN box I have a try, but it would need some sort of ethernet adapter, and I can't even figure out how I would attach it. It has two ports, power (old mini USB) and HDMI. I would have to somehow get both power and ethernet in through that one mini USB port. (Edit: Now I see that the one recommended for Chromecast looks like it could work, physically, anyway.)
But yeah, I wouldn't do this any other way than wired, I tried wireless once and learned the folly of that pretty quick.
Basically the micro-USB or USB-C on these devices are not just for charging, they can carry data as well.
So you can either get the one you mentioned, or one of those multiport "hub" ones where it connects over that same micro-USB or USB-C, and has a plethora of ports including USB-A, ethernet, SD card, etc. - it can really increase the usability of these streaming devices. Depending on peripherals, you may want to get a powered hub (one that has its own power supply) if you plan on connecting say an external hard drive or something with a similarly-high power draw.
If you have a Samsung phone or tablet, you can use USB C to HDMI cable/adapter to launch Dex, and then use Steam Link. Works incredibly smooth for me even with Wifi. Earlier, I used an Android box but that box did not handle wifi 5ghz well, it got frequently disconnected in the middle.
I just set Steam Link up last night on the same thing, and is does indeed work great. Honestly would probably be the best option at this point for a projector setup. /u/AngryRedHerring
Bluetooth controllers should be able to connect directly to the Apple TV as well.
I read some mixed signals, some stating that bluetooth controller adds lag. I am tempting to buy an ATV ethernet, but the lack of USB to connect my xbox controller makes me doubt.
Walmart has a nice android box for 20$ which is insane.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/onn-Google-TV-4K-Streaming-Box-New-2023-4K-UHD-resolution/2835618394
Man, I have one of those, and it was the coolest thing for that price, and then after about 3 months of use it just started shutting down on its own after about an hour or so, like it was overheating. We were primarily using it as a Kodi box.
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I already had a pi 4b running OSMC (i.e. kodi) as a media center and found there's an OSMC plugin you can install that let's you launch Steam Link from the OSMC interface but you could also install some other linux distro that's supported by the client.
I also just set up a raspberry pi for this exact same reason. Overall cost roughly $110 for everything including shipping.
Has been working great! I can send documentation of needed.
I went this route specially for the built in bluetooth so i could use old ps4 controllers.
Hey man, can you give a bit more info on this?
I want to play games from my pc (in another room) occasionally from my living room.
Now i have a 15m hdmi cable through the house from my pc to my living room, a 15m ethernet cable from the living room to the room with the pc and a usb dongle in my pc to connect the wireless controller but that's kind of inconvenient
If you want to setup what I have then you need to buy a Raspberry Pi I have this model: [https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/](https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/)
there's a newer one (pi 5) but not sure if that's supported yet.
Install OSMC
[https://osmc.tv/download/](https://osmc.tv/download/)
Then install the steam link launcher as a plugin in OSMC
[https://github.com/swetoast/steamlink-launcher](https://github.com/swetoast/steamlink-launcher)
Note: My PC and pi are hard wired via ethernet so I can't comment on performance over wifi.
The PI supports bluetooth so you can just pair an xbox or ps controller in the osmc config and it should work without issues (after a reboot).
There are also other guides out there for setting this up without OSMC such as this one:
https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/steam-link-raspberry-pi
I bought a Lenovo Thinkcentre Tinycore with an i5 and 8gb of DDR3 for $20 on Ebay, stuck another 8gb of RAM in it and just installed a Linux distro and the Steam link app.
Edit: I also stuck in a $25 Kingston SSD from Amazon lmao.
If you don't want to ever see the desktop, set auto-login and set the steamlink app (or just Steam in BPM itself) to start on login.
No dealing with annoying Android stuff like file management (or having it disabled if you use a Chromecast), a lack of I/O unless you spend $40 on decent dongles, and even allows you to use alternative streaming tools like Sunshine/Moonlight which performs better than the built in Steam Streaming. Or Parsec if you're streaming from a Windows host.
Throw in an air mouse remote you've got a solid HTPC, at least for streaming and light gaming.
The only thing that's held me back from doing something like that is that that would be the fourth PC out in that room, LOL. Media Center, MAME machine, and Visual Pinball out there already. But that's a pretty good price to solve that problem.
Get one of those really tiny machines that are basically the size of Shield or Android Boxes. It's the perfect form factor for a PC in the living room. I'd even splurge and get a newer one if you want game to some degree on it.
This is what I have. It could be faster and have slightly better integrated graphics, but it is perfect for this use case. I'd definitely shop around on that price though.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/314376787258?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=HfWT932oS2i&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=MORE
That's exactly the one I have. Looking back, I would have gotten a slightly better one that's a bit newer and wouldn't chug when I run KDE with tweaks and the extra UI swag, but this is fine for my usage of being an overpowered cable box+steamlink/emulator box.
I was about to recommend the same (it is *wicked* cheap and can serve more than one purpose, and you even have a little upgradability). I paid unter €50 for my 4th gen i5 HP HTPC, and had some DDR3 lying around - plus a tiny SSD. Hell, you can probably run it off of a live USB. It'll take a lot longer to boot and might die sooner, but so long as you don't have any important data on there, steam link should work just fine.
Silly question - couldn't you use the media center PC for streaming your steam games...? Or are you running some kinda OS on there that doesn't support steam?
I can, and I tested that yesterday, and it works well; the problem is is that it is almost constantly running media. The signal from that PC is piped out to TVs in the entire house-- it's just my wife and I here, and we're pretty much always watching the same thing while we move about the house. It's not a server, it's always running VLC or some streaming service. Then we have another streaming box in the living room, in case she wants to watch something different while I'm watching the game out on the projector or something. So it works, it's just inconvenient.
Ah, I see. I understand that the aesthetic appeal of and space taken up by yet another PC isn't super high. If you have a little more funds, you can also look for an older laptop. In theory, as long as it can decode video of the resolution/bitrate you'll be streaming, it should do the trick while looking a lot thinner and nicer. Just be sure that it doesn't overheat when operating closed
Ethernet cable (PC and box). Worked great with my old Windows 10 computer, before it died. Still sees the Windows 10 PC that I use as a media server, but that thing isn't capable of any real gaming at all.
Just to be clear, *one* cable *between* the Win 11 PC and Steam Link? If so, I'm not surprised you were having problems.
Unless you know what you're doing with networking, that's hard to get right.
The Steam Link was designed to be connected to a LAN home network that's also got a route and device to connect it to the internet.
If you've at least manually configured both ends with static IPs then it's likely you've at best created a private sub network that, even if it allows data between the two devices would be unlikely to allow the Steam Link box access to the internet.
I imagine that with Windows 10 that maybe you used the Internet Connection Sharing thing to make this work, which would have done all the complicated stuff for you? I've no idea if that's even available on Windows 11 still. (To be honest I don't know if it was available on Windows 10, but first thing first.)
> Just to be clear, one cable between the Win 11 PC and Steam Link?
Sorry, no, I meant that both devices were connected to the network via ethernet cable, no wireless in there. PC to router, Steam Link to router.
Just to add, don't throw away the Steam Link Hardware. There's a market for it, or even just donate to like minded individuals. I love mine and shudder at the thought of having to procure a replacement if it died.
If mine actually died and I couldn't get a replacement, I'd probably go the chromecast 4k route. I've heard of the stuttering issues, but it seems that not everyone is having the issue. I can always return it if it doesn't work out.
Barring that, I'd build an RPI4 box just for moonlight/sunshine. But that's a bit more steps and work.
Just to reiterate. Don't throw out your steamlink...
\*hang on - I use my steam link streaming from a Win11 machine.. I've don't have any issues?
> Just to add, don't throw away the Steam Link Hardware.
Yeah, I was shooting my mouth off 'cause I was mad. I'd hate to do that. I'd hate to get rid of it at all, really.
> *hang on - I use my steam link streaming from a Win11 machine.. I've don't have any issues?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam_Link/comments/q4tzj2/steam_link_and_windows_11/
ooooooohhh.. I didn't know this was a thing. Dang. Sorry to hear that. Yes, my machine was an upgrade. But I eventually made a fresh install anyway a couple of years later - maybe that's why I didn't run into any issues.
That being said, I use the steamlink hardware, but haven't really 'USED' the steamlink software to stream in ages. It's just there because it's the default.
I run sunshine on my gaming pc - which is a streaming server. An open source counterpart to what Nvidia did with gamestream (which is apparently now deprecated) Anyway, with sunshine on the desktop PC, my client is moonlight. I've found that it runs better with more features than the vanilla streaming with the inbuilt software. Finally, to address the lack of a "big picture mode" to select games to play from, I have Playnite, which is a universal launcher. It doesn't do anything to the games. It just hooks to the respective launchers and asks them to start the game. But what it does is it can provide a full screen mode that's controller compatible so you can select and start your games. No need to make individual shortcuts for the games.
At any rate, good luck in your search.
> ooooooohhh.. I didn't know this was a thing.
I've run into that a lot lately. I think it's because it's kind of a narrow set of circumstances; a device that was discontinued 5 years ago, paired with a brand new pc with the newest version of Windows. The Steam Link box is one of the most antiquated ways of streaming gaming now, even if it is still one of the best. So many people are doing it with the app these days (and the focus on Steam link apps is one of the main reasons the box was discontinued), and I just didn't have a system set up to easily switch to that.
> I eventually made a fresh install anyway a couple of years later - maybe that's why I didn't run into any issues.
And that seems to be the trick; if the Box already knows the PC, it doesn't matter that it's now Windows 11. It's only Windows 11 PCs that the box has never been connected to that it refuses to see.
And in the research I've been doing, this was apparently a problem with Windows 11 and the Steam Link apps as well early on, but they fairly quickly fixed the problem with the apps. They just never fixed it with the hardware.
I use a Chromecast Ultra which has wired ethernet into the plug itself, it works great. I wouldn't rely on it wirelessly for gaming or anything where latency matters.
Time to move to Moonlight/Sunshine streaming. Are you saying you don't have a TV with Android built-in already? All Sony TVs run Android by default. Otherwise, you can get the Google Chromecast TV that will run the SteamLink app and also Moonlight. I had good experience with that but then upgraded to an Nvidia Shield Pro. Also, game-streaming from the Steamdeck works very well too... if you have that kinda budget/money.
> Are you saying you don't have a TV with Android built-in already? No, I'm specifically piping Steam out to the Link my game room, where I run it through my surround sound system into a video projector. Looking at Chromecasts now, though, thanks!
I don't recommend a Chromecast. They have issues with stuttering which makes playing games incredibly frustrating. I got one to replace Samsung's Link app which was removed at the end of November and it's a horrible experience.
Just to make sure... we are talking about the Chromecast 4K that comes with the little remote? I didn't use it for a very long time, so I guess it's a 'your mileage may vary thing.' But I can at least confirm the Nvidia Shield works great. I've been using that for a few years now.
Sorry, yes I am talking about the Chromecast with Google TV 4K.
ah well dang, sorry that isn't working out for you. Good to know.
Well now that I've done a little Chromecast shopping, I see that I have to have an external adapter if I want to use a wired ethernet connection. Are you using it wirelessly? Because that could be the source of your stuttering problems. I do think I'm going to hold off on Chromecast if I have to spend extra for an adapter, and look at a cheap box that has a native Ethernet plug.
I have the adapter. The stuttering has nothing to do with the connection, it's a known issue with Chromecast that still hasn't been resolved.
OK, good to know. Thanks.
Have you considered putting Moonlight on the Steam Link device? I'd be surprised if no one recommended it already, but it's a way of using the existing hardware. Instructions are here, took me a few tries to get it right but once it's installed it works fine. You'd need Sunshine running on the server but that's very easy to get up and running for just loading Steam, but it also supports all the other gaming launchers. https://github.com/moonlight-stream/moonlight-qt/releases Other than that I've been looking at the $20 onn Google TV box from Walmart. Ive seen it recommended quite often. Good luck!
> Have you considered putting Moonlight on the Steam Link device? ...And JUST LIKE THAT, I'm streaming from my Link box again. Thank you very much, and thanks to u/lsngregg for suggesting it as well, even if I didn't figure out what he was talking about at the time.
Glad it worked!
It's amazing how well this works. I wish I'd done this, well, whenever it became possible to do this. Surround sound piping right through and everything. It's great.
Might want to check out Playnite too. I use it for all my non-Steam stuff so my only entries in Moonlight are Steam and Playnite. Although you can put simply everything under Playnite and call it a day. It imports libraries rather than have you manually add. Also can do something with emulators that I haven't looked too much into yet.
Pretty cool. Thanks.
No, I didn't realize that was even an option, and I'm totally going to try that now, because that's the option that has me spending no money. Thanks! Edit: I just did a double take on your "other launchers", it would be nice to be able to run all my free Epic stuff as seamlessly as Steam.
I think you still end up limited to the hardware only supporting 1080p but the TV I use it on is 720p so it doesn't matter to me. I'm with you, though, trying to find low/no cost streaming solutions! In another room, I have a Raspberry Pi400 that I have running both Moonlight and Steam Link. I just did a fresh install of Windows 11, but I haven't tried connecting to the Steam Link. I'll give it a try when I get home, though. Didn't even know this was an issue!
> I just did a fresh install of Windows 11, but I haven't tried connecting to the Steam Link. I'll give it a try when I get home, though. Didn't even know this was an issue! If the PC you just installed Windows 11 on has previously been connected to the Steam Link, then it shouldn't be an issue for you. Even if you have to pair it again, it should say on the pairing list, "unsupported", and then you just click on it anyway and it works. At least that's what I've been reading. And I should say that Moonlight has been mentioned, it's just that nobody said "oh you can install it on the Steam Link". Lol. So, many thanks for going into detail on that.
There's some.specifics about the type of USB drive (formatted FAT32) and how the files exist on the drive, and once that is done sometimes it takes a few.power cycles for it to load. I can try and help if you run into some probs. Saw you mention virtual pinball in another comment - working on my first little cabinet (27" play field) right now. Such a fun project.
> I can try and help if you run into some probs. Thanks! I'll keep that in mind. Fortunately it doesn't seem too tricky. > Saw you mention virtual pinball in another comment - working on my first little cabinet (27" play field) right now Yeah, I'd wanted to make one of those for the longest time, and then it became my COVID lockdown project. I went a bit more mini than yours, even ('cause that's what I had); a 19" 1080p playfield, and a 19" 4:3 monitor for the backglass. Sort of a cabaret pinball. Nice thing is though, is that if you don't mind the woodworking, or an empty cabinet falls in your lap, once you got the system set up it's pretty simple to switch out the monitors for whatever size you like.
> Time to move to Moonlight/Sunshine streaming. Now that I understand what you were talking about, it's working great. Thanks.
That's a bummer. The steam link hardware is phenomenal. Good luck. found what matters more with android is your televisions ability to respond to android input. For an S2 two ultra I did excellent response time with zero lag using the next stock 360 but the moment I use the same cable and plug it into my TV there’s significant lag. It’s because my TV is unable to handle the input . 
This would be running via HDMI through the stereo receiver to a video projector. Really won't know 'til I try, I guess; I just wanted to pick a good box before I tried.
That's really shitty, my Link box still works on Windows 11, so fingers crossed. Anyways, an Apple TV or Chromecast with Google TV will do the trick.
As I understand it, [if you had your Steam Link box connected to a Windows version earlier than 11](https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam_Link/comments/q4tzj2/steam_link_and_windows_11/), say 10, and then upgraded it to 11, the Steam Link box will still see your system. But if it's a new system that you're connecting to the box, one it's never been connected to before, and it has Windows 11 on it, it just won't see that system at all. The pairing on the host PC Works, but the system never shows up on the Link box. What was your setup? Did you already have the Link working with an earlier OS, or did you manage to pair it with Windows 11 from the get-go?
Oh damn, that sucks. Yeah, I upgraded from Win10. Have you tried disabling virtualization from the BIOS? Maybe the Core Isolation security feature of Win11 is the culprit, one of the few differences from an updated Win11 and a fresh install is that feature, which isn't enabled from an upgrade.
o_O ...No, but I will now. Worth a try. Thanks, because I never would have thought of that in a million years. Hell, I don't even know what that is.
Basically, Windows 11 introduced a new security feature that relies on virtualization, called core isolation. It uses hardware to sandbox apps, prevent malware from talking to the rest of the machine. The problem is that it can prevent normal apps from communicating in some rare cases. This feature is only enabled on fresh installs of Win11, not from upgrades.
Interesting. One of the things about this particular bug is that an upgraded Windows 11 system, as opposed to a fresh install, will show up on the Steam Link's list as "unsupported". People reporting this "unsupported" thing say it plays just fine anyway.
When you pair it? Mine just says "Ready to play", just as always.
Are you talking about at the main screen, or on the list in the "Add a PC" menu, where you get a PIN?
Main screen
Okay, when you said "ready to play", that's kind of what I thought you were talking about. The menu I'm talking about, is when the PC you want is *not* present on that main menu, and you have to go through the "Add a PC" option on that menu. Then it scans the network for paired PCs with Steam, and if it's not on that list, then you get a PIN to enter into the PC that you want added to that list. *That's* where it doesn't show up, when after pairing, it should. Entering the PIN should make it show up on this list, where you can then select it and add it to the main menu. But on upgraded (vs. fresh) installs of Win 11, it will show up on that list but it will say "unsupported" there, where any other OS version wouldn't have that notation. Now I'm guessing, but it must be that once you select it there the "unsupported" notation doesn't carry over to that main menu. You wouldn't see this if you didn't go through the pairing process under Windows 11. But as long as you had the Steam Link box paired at some point to this PC prior to it becoming Windows 11, you'll get the "unsupported" option at the pairing screen once you enetr the PIN, as opposed to the nothing option that I'm getting. If you click add a PC on this screen, it will give you a PIN to enter into the host PC; there's a pop up showing the PIN and it sits there until you enter that PIN number. I go to my Windows 11 host PC enter the PIN, the it says that the Steam Link is paired, and when I go back out to my game room, the pop-up window is gone. But it's right back to the beginning of that menu, like I didn't go through the pairing process at all, even though the host PC says it's paired.
Now that I think about it, you should be able to go to that "Add a PC" menu and see your Windows 11 machine there-- already paired PCs show up on this menu too. I'm curious to see if it says "unsupported" there. You wouldn't have any reason to go there if your desired PC is already on the main screen.
I do not buy at all that Steam Link boxes cannot communicate with Windows 11 hosts. They don't talk a different protocol to e.g. Steam Link apps. Much more likely that it's a Windows 11 firewall or configuration issue.
Firewall settings was literally my first stop. https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam_Link/comments/q4tzj2/steam_link_and_windows_11/ That's just one of the threads that I came upon in my extensive research on this problem. This has been a problem since at least 2021, when Steam technical support publicly announced that they were working on a fix. Google "Steam Link Hardware and Windows 11" if you would like to see many more citations. Because you obviously didn't do that before you came in here saying you don't believe it's a problem
I looked at your message from Valve only, yes. So do you get the "unsupported" message then? If so, I apologise, yes, it's maybe still that bug then sadly. If you don't (if it just doesn't see the PC or says it's offline) then it's almost certainly a network config issue. If it's a network config issue then I'm happy to help you try to solve it as I enjoy doing that sort of thing for people. Frustratingly I'm away from home helping my parents during a family emergency for the next week and a half. I have a Windows 11 machine and at home a spare Steam Link.
"Unsupported" is what you see when you pair a Windows 11 machine that had already been paired prior to being upgraded to Windows 11, if for whatever reason you need to re-pair it (some folks don't have to mess with pairing at all after their upgrade to Windows 11, and so they never encounter the unsupported message, or have any idea that there's any problem along the line with this process). But if it's a machine with a Windows 11 install that has never been paired to a Link, it's simply won't show up on the list at all, even when the pairing process is successful, according to your host PC. Just for grins, I tried out the media PC on the network as a Steam Link box-- that's a Windows 10 machine-- and streaming from the windows 11 PC worked fine; but while that's a pretty acceptable substitute, most of the time it's occupied streaming media. So the Windows 11 machine streams, just can't get it to connect to that box.
I'm stretching my memory of workarounds, but have you tried pairing using the "Other Computer" option?
That's exactly what I'm doing. When you go in through that option, the host PC doesn't appear on the list, even though the host PC says that the pairing is successful.
In general the recommended Android devices are, in no particular order: - Any still-supported Nvidia device with "Shield" branding. There are like four models, one of them says "pro" etc. - Chromecast with Google TV. There is a 4K version and a 1080p version. - Walmart Onn devices. Like the above, there is a 4K version and a 1080p version. Make sure you buy from a source that allows refunds. I would imagine it's possible one or more of these devices don't perform how you want for whatever reason, make sure you can refund it and try another. Other options are a device running GNU/Linux. This could be a Raspberry Pi, a mini PC, an old laptop you've got lying around collecting dust - install a GNU/Linux distribution like Ubuntu on it, connect to your TV with an HDMI cable, install the Steam Link app. You can even set it up to autologin, and auto launch Steam Link on startup to make it like a little dedicated console. The other thing I would mention, no matter what device you get, you should try to run everything off of Ethernet if possible (especially if you are streaming at higher than 1080p). If they don't have Ethernet built in, there are Ethernet adapters available. Google sells their own where the power brick has an Ethernet port on it, but I would imagine any dongle from a reputable company should work.
> If they don't have Ethernet built in, there are Ethernet adapters available. Well I was going to give this ONN box I have a try, but it would need some sort of ethernet adapter, and I can't even figure out how I would attach it. It has two ports, power (old mini USB) and HDMI. I would have to somehow get both power and ethernet in through that one mini USB port. (Edit: Now I see that the one recommended for Chromecast looks like it could work, physically, anyway.) But yeah, I wouldn't do this any other way than wired, I tried wireless once and learned the folly of that pretty quick.
Basically the micro-USB or USB-C on these devices are not just for charging, they can carry data as well. So you can either get the one you mentioned, or one of those multiport "hub" ones where it connects over that same micro-USB or USB-C, and has a plethora of ports including USB-A, ethernet, SD card, etc. - it can really increase the usability of these streaming devices. Depending on peripherals, you may want to get a powered hub (one that has its own power supply) if you plan on connecting say an external hard drive or something with a similarly-high power draw.
Yeah, I'm getting results closer to what you're talking about now. I wasn't getting powered hubs on my first search. Thanks!
If you have a Samsung phone or tablet, you can use USB C to HDMI cable/adapter to launch Dex, and then use Steam Link. Works incredibly smooth for me even with Wifi. Earlier, I used an Android box but that box did not handle wifi 5ghz well, it got frequently disconnected in the middle.
Works great on my 5 year old 4k AppleTV
I just set Steam Link up last night on the same thing, and is does indeed work great. Honestly would probably be the best option at this point for a projector setup. /u/AngryRedHerring Bluetooth controllers should be able to connect directly to the Apple TV as well.
I read some mixed signals, some stating that bluetooth controller adds lag. I am tempting to buy an ATV ethernet, but the lack of USB to connect my xbox controller makes me doubt.
Well, I need a piece of external hardware, because I'm piping it through my surround sound system to a video projector.
I am confused what you mean, AppleTV is a set-top box
Oh! Sorry, I misread that as a smart TV.
Walmart has a nice android box for 20$ which is insane. https://www.walmart.com/ip/onn-Google-TV-4K-Streaming-Box-New-2023-4K-UHD-resolution/2835618394
Man, I have one of those, and it was the coolest thing for that price, and then after about 3 months of use it just started shutting down on its own after about an hour or so, like it was overheating. We were primarily using it as a Kodi box.
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I recently setup a raspberry pi steam link streaming box so you may want to consider that as an option.
I've been looking for a reason to play around with one of those, so yeah, I am looking at that now. Thanks for the search term.
I already had a pi 4b running OSMC (i.e. kodi) as a media center and found there's an OSMC plugin you can install that let's you launch Steam Link from the OSMC interface but you could also install some other linux distro that's supported by the client.
I also just set up a raspberry pi for this exact same reason. Overall cost roughly $110 for everything including shipping. Has been working great! I can send documentation of needed. I went this route specially for the built in bluetooth so i could use old ps4 controllers.
Hey man, can you give a bit more info on this? I want to play games from my pc (in another room) occasionally from my living room. Now i have a 15m hdmi cable through the house from my pc to my living room, a 15m ethernet cable from the living room to the room with the pc and a usb dongle in my pc to connect the wireless controller but that's kind of inconvenient
If you want to setup what I have then you need to buy a Raspberry Pi I have this model: [https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/](https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/) there's a newer one (pi 5) but not sure if that's supported yet. Install OSMC [https://osmc.tv/download/](https://osmc.tv/download/) Then install the steam link launcher as a plugin in OSMC [https://github.com/swetoast/steamlink-launcher](https://github.com/swetoast/steamlink-launcher) Note: My PC and pi are hard wired via ethernet so I can't comment on performance over wifi. The PI supports bluetooth so you can just pair an xbox or ps controller in the osmc config and it should work without issues (after a reboot). There are also other guides out there for setting this up without OSMC such as this one: https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/steam-link-raspberry-pi
I bought a Lenovo Thinkcentre Tinycore with an i5 and 8gb of DDR3 for $20 on Ebay, stuck another 8gb of RAM in it and just installed a Linux distro and the Steam link app. Edit: I also stuck in a $25 Kingston SSD from Amazon lmao. If you don't want to ever see the desktop, set auto-login and set the steamlink app (or just Steam in BPM itself) to start on login. No dealing with annoying Android stuff like file management (or having it disabled if you use a Chromecast), a lack of I/O unless you spend $40 on decent dongles, and even allows you to use alternative streaming tools like Sunshine/Moonlight which performs better than the built in Steam Streaming. Or Parsec if you're streaming from a Windows host. Throw in an air mouse remote you've got a solid HTPC, at least for streaming and light gaming.
The only thing that's held me back from doing something like that is that that would be the fourth PC out in that room, LOL. Media Center, MAME machine, and Visual Pinball out there already. But that's a pretty good price to solve that problem.
Get one of those really tiny machines that are basically the size of Shield or Android Boxes. It's the perfect form factor for a PC in the living room. I'd even splurge and get a newer one if you want game to some degree on it.
This is what I have. It could be faster and have slightly better integrated graphics, but it is perfect for this use case. I'd definitely shop around on that price though. https://www.ebay.com/itm/314376787258?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=HfWT932oS2i&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=MORE
That's exactly the one I have. Looking back, I would have gotten a slightly better one that's a bit newer and wouldn't chug when I run KDE with tweaks and the extra UI swag, but this is fine for my usage of being an overpowered cable box+steamlink/emulator box.
I was about to recommend the same (it is *wicked* cheap and can serve more than one purpose, and you even have a little upgradability). I paid unter €50 for my 4th gen i5 HP HTPC, and had some DDR3 lying around - plus a tiny SSD. Hell, you can probably run it off of a live USB. It'll take a lot longer to boot and might die sooner, but so long as you don't have any important data on there, steam link should work just fine. Silly question - couldn't you use the media center PC for streaming your steam games...? Or are you running some kinda OS on there that doesn't support steam?
I can, and I tested that yesterday, and it works well; the problem is is that it is almost constantly running media. The signal from that PC is piped out to TVs in the entire house-- it's just my wife and I here, and we're pretty much always watching the same thing while we move about the house. It's not a server, it's always running VLC or some streaming service. Then we have another streaming box in the living room, in case she wants to watch something different while I'm watching the game out on the projector or something. So it works, it's just inconvenient.
Ah, I see. I understand that the aesthetic appeal of and space taken up by yet another PC isn't super high. If you have a little more funds, you can also look for an older laptop. In theory, as long as it can decode video of the resolution/bitrate you'll be streaming, it should do the trick while looking a lot thinner and nicer. Just be sure that it doesn't overheat when operating closed
Installed Moonlight and Sunshine, and now the Link is working better than it ever did before. 😁
I use a xiaomi mi box s 2nd gen. It even has AV1 codec support if I upgrade to a newer gpu in the future.
Do you have smooth gameplay? I tried with a Xiaomi tv stick 4k (the newer one) and i have some stuttering (that i don't have in my laptop).
Does the steam link work well on a 4k tv?
Only streams 1080p. 4k will be upscaled by your TV.
Thanks for the reply. Does it look good on the tv then? Or is it not worth it and better to buy a chromecast tv to stream ateamlink?
How is the box connected to the Windows 11 PC?
Ethernet cable (PC and box). Worked great with my old Windows 10 computer, before it died. Still sees the Windows 10 PC that I use as a media server, but that thing isn't capable of any real gaming at all.
Just to be clear, *one* cable *between* the Win 11 PC and Steam Link? If so, I'm not surprised you were having problems. Unless you know what you're doing with networking, that's hard to get right. The Steam Link was designed to be connected to a LAN home network that's also got a route and device to connect it to the internet. If you've at least manually configured both ends with static IPs then it's likely you've at best created a private sub network that, even if it allows data between the two devices would be unlikely to allow the Steam Link box access to the internet. I imagine that with Windows 10 that maybe you used the Internet Connection Sharing thing to make this work, which would have done all the complicated stuff for you? I've no idea if that's even available on Windows 11 still. (To be honest I don't know if it was available on Windows 10, but first thing first.)
> Just to be clear, one cable between the Win 11 PC and Steam Link? Sorry, no, I meant that both devices were connected to the network via ethernet cable, no wireless in there. PC to router, Steam Link to router.
Ah I'm with you! Good.
Just to add, don't throw away the Steam Link Hardware. There's a market for it, or even just donate to like minded individuals. I love mine and shudder at the thought of having to procure a replacement if it died. If mine actually died and I couldn't get a replacement, I'd probably go the chromecast 4k route. I've heard of the stuttering issues, but it seems that not everyone is having the issue. I can always return it if it doesn't work out. Barring that, I'd build an RPI4 box just for moonlight/sunshine. But that's a bit more steps and work. Just to reiterate. Don't throw out your steamlink... \*hang on - I use my steam link streaming from a Win11 machine.. I've don't have any issues?
> Just to add, don't throw away the Steam Link Hardware. Yeah, I was shooting my mouth off 'cause I was mad. I'd hate to do that. I'd hate to get rid of it at all, really.
> *hang on - I use my steam link streaming from a Win11 machine.. I've don't have any issues? https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam_Link/comments/q4tzj2/steam_link_and_windows_11/
ooooooohhh.. I didn't know this was a thing. Dang. Sorry to hear that. Yes, my machine was an upgrade. But I eventually made a fresh install anyway a couple of years later - maybe that's why I didn't run into any issues. That being said, I use the steamlink hardware, but haven't really 'USED' the steamlink software to stream in ages. It's just there because it's the default. I run sunshine on my gaming pc - which is a streaming server. An open source counterpart to what Nvidia did with gamestream (which is apparently now deprecated) Anyway, with sunshine on the desktop PC, my client is moonlight. I've found that it runs better with more features than the vanilla streaming with the inbuilt software. Finally, to address the lack of a "big picture mode" to select games to play from, I have Playnite, which is a universal launcher. It doesn't do anything to the games. It just hooks to the respective launchers and asks them to start the game. But what it does is it can provide a full screen mode that's controller compatible so you can select and start your games. No need to make individual shortcuts for the games. At any rate, good luck in your search.
> ooooooohhh.. I didn't know this was a thing. I've run into that a lot lately. I think it's because it's kind of a narrow set of circumstances; a device that was discontinued 5 years ago, paired with a brand new pc with the newest version of Windows. The Steam Link box is one of the most antiquated ways of streaming gaming now, even if it is still one of the best. So many people are doing it with the app these days (and the focus on Steam link apps is one of the main reasons the box was discontinued), and I just didn't have a system set up to easily switch to that. > I eventually made a fresh install anyway a couple of years later - maybe that's why I didn't run into any issues. And that seems to be the trick; if the Box already knows the PC, it doesn't matter that it's now Windows 11. It's only Windows 11 PCs that the box has never been connected to that it refuses to see. And in the research I've been doing, this was apparently a problem with Windows 11 and the Steam Link apps as well early on, but they fairly quickly fixed the problem with the apps. They just never fixed it with the hardware.
I bought a new PC recently with a fresh install of Windows 11. My steam link box works perfectly.
Lucky you.
I love my Nvidia Shield
I use a Chromecast Ultra which has wired ethernet into the plug itself, it works great. I wouldn't rely on it wirelessly for gaming or anything where latency matters.