Turn Your Steam Box Into A Media Server - Jellyfin On SteamOS In Minutes
This is the one that closes the loop. You've got a Steam box that plays your games beautifully — now let's make it play your movies too. In this video I install Jellyfin on SteamOS with a single script, so the same machine that's…
This is the one that closes the loop. You've got a Steam box that plays your games beautifully — now let's make it play your movies too. In this video I install Jellyfin on SteamOS with a single script, so the same machine that's your gaming rig becomes your media server. Games and films, one box under the telly.
link to git here
https://github.com/28allday/jellyfin-on-steamOS
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TWO THINGS FIRST
Before you start, close Steam down completely — the script needs to write some files and set up artwork, and it can't do that with Steam running. And give yourself a password. SteamOS ships with no password on the deck user, so open a console and type passwd, set one, done. You need this for sudo later.
THE INSTALL
Grab the Jellyfin on SteamOS script from my Git, clone it into a console, and it runs. It asks which drive you want your media on — point it at your media drive and it'll scan whatever's already there. It offers to auto-mount the drive by writing to fstab so you never have to mount it manually again. Then it sets up your Jellyfin account name and password, getting you as far into setup as possible without any manual faff.
The whole thing runs as a flatpak in a pod — like a Docker container. Nothing gets written to any weird protected parts of the system. It sits independently on top, which means it survives SteamOS atomic updates. That's the key bit — because it's a flatpak, an OS update won't wipe it.
SETTING UP YOUR LIBRARY
Once installed, open Jellyfin Server, sign in, and add a media library. Point it at your media folder on the drive you connected. It scans, pulls in metadata, artwork, the lot.
WATCHING FROM GAMES MODE
Here's the clever part. Flip to games mode, go to Library, Non-Steam Games, and Jellyfin is there. Sign in once and your whole library is available on the big screen with a controller — Steam or Xbox pad. Watch your films from the couch just like any Steam game. You can also launch Jellyfin straight from the desktop if you prefer.
WHY THIS MATTERS
Think about it — SteamOS is now so accessible. AMD integrated graphics, Intel integrated, and now the dirt-cheap Intel Arc cards. Grab a 50, 70, or an A-series Arc card for next to nothing, drop it in a small box, and you've got a machine that games AND serves your media. One box by the TV doing everything.
UNINSTALL
I've included an uninstall script. It removes the Jellyfin server cleanly without touching your media. The media management is the fiddly part — keep your files on an external drive, let the fstab auto-mount handle it, and it'll always be there when you boot.
If you know the Jellyfin ecosystem there's tons more you can bolt on, but this gets you up and running in minutes.
THE SCRIPT
On Git, linked in the description. Install and uninstall scripts both there.
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I make videos about Linux, Omarchy, SteamOS, gaming, and self-hosting. Subscribe if that's your thing.
00:00 - Start
00:06 - PREAMBLE
03:20 - SHUT DOWN STEAM
03:54 - SET UP PASSWORD
04:15 - GET SCRIPT FROM GIT
04:49 - INSTALL
07:51 - SETUP SERVER
09:12 - LAUNCH IN STAEM
10:34 - FINAL WORDS