How to Factory Reset Your Steam Deck

The Steam Deck is nothing short of a fantastic gaming handheld, but like any other computer, it can work perfectly today and suddenly start malfunctioning the next day. Most of the time, a simple system restart will get the device working again. Other times, it takes a not-so-simple factory reset to get things back to normal.

If your Steam Deck is plagued by performance issues, corrupted files, or perhaps an unbearable bug, a factory reset is usually the silver bullet and is also a great way to prepare the device for sale. But this bullet erases everything, the good and the bad, including your beloved games if they are installed on the Steam Deck itself. So, before you reset, back up your save files, controller configuration, and anything else out of reach of your Steam Cloud. You can reset your Steam Deck to factory settings from the Settings menu. If your device no longer turns on normally, you can reset it from recovery mode.

You can trigger a factory reset using your console without needing a computer or USB drive. Simply:

1. Press the Steam button to open the main menu.

2. Select Settings.

3. Select System.

4. Scroll down to the Advanced section at the bottom of the page.

5. Choose Reset to Factory Condition.

6. Enable Reinstall SteamOS if you are troubleshooting.

7. Confirm your action.

Your Steam Deck will begin preparing the device for reset and then erase your device. The process takes around 10-15 minutes depending on the amount of data you have stored. If you have a microSD card inserted, the factory reset shouldn’t affect it, but it’s best to remove it before starting anyway. Additionally, you will need an internet connection to reinstall SteamOS after the reset.

Resetting your Steam Deck will erase everything saved on your internal storage and return the device to the state it was in when it was taken out of the box. So, if you’re just trying to fix a problem and not preparing the device for a new owner, it’s best to follow all available troubleshooting methods, like restarting the device, checking for a pending software update, or rolling back to a previous version of SteamOS if you suspect an update is causing the problem. Finally, in case you are simply preparing your Steam Deck for a new owner, disable Reinstall SteamOS. It’s faster and only erases your personal data.

If your Steam Deck is having trouble booting normally, you can use Recovery Mode to reset it to factory settings.

1. First, make sure the device is completely turned off by pressing the Power button for 10 seconds.

2. Hold the power button and the “…” button.

3. Continue to hold the “…” button once you hear the startup sound.

4. Do it correctly and you will enter the SteamOS menu.

5. Scroll down to “CLEAR USER DATA FROM DECK”.

6. Use A to select.

Then you will see command lines and your Steam Deck will erase all user data including user settings, local games and save data. If you want to restore your Steam Deck to a previous version, you can do so from the same SteamOS menu.

Your Steam Deck will restart in the previous version of SteamOS while retaining all your user data. Note that the restore only lasts until the next reboot.