OOBE Cannot Proceed on Ethernet-Only Systems Until a Wi-Fi Adapter Is Present

[whosnick]

Recovery Image

• Recovery image: steamdeck-oobe-repair-20260618.10-3.8.10.img
• Installed SteamOS version after setup: 3.8.10 (Stable)

Hardware:

• AMD Ryzen 5 5600
• AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE
• Desktop PC
• Motherboard without integrated Wi-Fi
• Wired Ethernet connection only

Description

After installing SteamOS using the current recovery image, the initial first-boot setup (OOBE) cannot be completed on a system that only has a wired Ethernet connection.

The setup flow proceeds as follows:

• Select language
• Select time zone
• Select network

At the network selection screen, no network can be selected even though the system is connected to a working Ethernet network.

The wired Ethernet connection is not shown as an available network and there is no option to continue.

As a result, the OOBE process cannot be completed.

Expected Behavior

If a working Ethernet connection is detected, the OOBE should:

• Automatically use the wired connection, or
• Present the wired connection as a selectable network

Users with Ethernet-only systems should be able to complete setup without requiring Wi-Fi hardware.

Actual Behavior

At the "Select Network" step:

• No selectable network is available
• Wired Ethernet is not listed
• Setup cannot continue

Workaround

I connected a USB Wi-Fi adapter and rebooted the system.

After rebooting and returning to the same OOBE network selection screen:

• The Wi-Fi adapter was detected
• Available Wi-Fi networks were shown
• The wired Ethernet connection also suddenly appeared as a selectable option

At that point I was able to select the Ethernet connection and continue setup.

Reproduction Steps

1. Install SteamOS using steamdeck-oobe-repair-20260618.10-3.8.10.img
2. Use a desktop PC with Ethernet only (no Wi-Fi hardware)
3. Connect a working Ethernet cable before first boot
4. Complete language and time zone selection
5. Reach the network selection screen

Result

No network can be selected and setup cannot proceed.

Additional Notes

The issue appears to be related to the OOBE network selection process rather than the Ethernet hardware itself, because once a USB Wi-Fi adapter is connected and the system is rebooted, the wired Ethernet connection becomes visible and usable.

This suggests that the OOBE may not correctly enumerate or present wired network interfaces when no Wi-Fi device is present.

Other users have reported the same issue here: https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamOS/comments/1ueangj/installing_steamos_ethernet_issues

[mantis2001]

please check #2345
the solution was provied: other tty re-activate network // plug a usb wifi then reboot

[unikitty37]

please check #2345 the solution was provied: other tty re-activate network // plug a usb wifi then reboot

So the solution to this issue is to buy a USB wireless adapter that you don't need just for this?

It must be great to be rich.

That is not a solution, just a workaround. The solution is for the OOBE to check for a wired connection rather than assuming everyone is using wireless.

[fuzzysb]

Just hit this with an ASRock BC-250 I do not have a WiFi USB adapter, event attempting to turn of wifi does not work as setup re-enables it.
The PC is online with a valid IP but setup will not proceed

[razziedazzel]

If your machine has no wifi hardware, SteamOS kills NetworkManager on startup.

When bootup starts it asks SteamOS to set the wifi backend, which runs /usr/bin/steamos-polkit-helpers/steamos-wifi-set-backend-privileged. That script does:

systemctl stop NetworkManager
ensure_default_interface
systemctl restart NetworkManager

Valve rightfully assumes every officially supported device has wireless. ensure_default_interface is a workaround for the steam decks where iwd tears down and recreates wlan0:

Line 75: if ! iw dev wlan0 info
looks for a wireless device, doesn't find one. That part's fine

Line 77: iw phy phy0 interface add wlan0 type station
Tries to create it on phy0. No wifi hardware means no phy0 either, so this fails with ENOENT.

The script runs under set -euo pipefail, so a bare command failing kills it instantly after NetworkManager was stopped, before it gets restarted and NM just stays dead.

steamos-manager logs "Error setting wifi backend: exited 254" (-2 = enoent wrapped to 8 bits)

And since the Steam UI does all its networking through libnm talking to NetworkManager, with NM dead you see no connections at all including ethernet that's working fine. Also why plugging in any usb wifi dongle "fixes" it: the switch succeeds, so NM gets restarted.

Fix is adding || true to the end of line 77. You need sudo steamos-readonly disable first, and any OS update will revert it.

Something that does survive updates, sudo modprobe mac80211_hwsim radios=1 gives you a virtual wifi radio so phy0 exists and that line stops failing.

[ts-62020]

Replying to #2514 (comment)

This.

I've just ran into the same problem, bought a new USB wifi adapter hoping to get past this OOBE setup, only to find out now that my TP Link adapter is unsupported and I still can't proceed the setup, even though I have a perfectly working ethernet cable plugged in. So back to square 1 for me :(