Clean installation guide for GPD Win 4

Bazzite
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Hello, I recently obtained a gpd win 4 8400u, and I came across a video on YouTube which showed bazzite running on the Gpd win. I have previous experience using a steam deck and was hoping to get the similar linux experience on my Gpd win 4.

However, I am struggling to find any guide online that shows how to get bazzite on the Gpd win specifically. I have found ones for the legion go ect. I worry that I may run into a specific problem with the win gpd 4 that may not be apparent on other handhelds.

As the name implies, I am far from proficient when it comes to these types of things, but I do wish to try and see if I can get bazzite running with all of its features. I think I know how to get bazzite onto a flash drive, but would appreciate assistance on how to get it running on my Gpd.

There’s also the whole part regarding windows partitioning, and I am unsure if the pros and cons of whether to keep windows or go full linux

Apologies for the wall of text, I just wanted to be thorough. If anyone could point me to a guide or YouTube tutorial that deals with the installation of bazzite, specifically on Gpd win 4, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

P.s this is my first post on this board, my apologies if this topic is in the wrong category

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You can probably start here: GPD Handheld Compatibility

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Hi j0rge, and thank you for responding. I did have a look through the page that you linked regarding the Gpd win. Forgive my ignorance, but I was trying to find a guide to the actual installation process. The page you linked refers to the post installation process. Did I miss something or is there a section which refers to the actual installation process. Thanks

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Ah, how about this?

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So regarding that article, I’m guessing the process to install bazzite on the Gpd win 4 would follow a process similar to say the Lenovo or Rog ally? My initial concern was that because there wasn’t specific installation on the Gpd win 4, the process would be different.

Am I right in assuming that if I were to follow the steps laid out here, I could install bazzite the same way you would install it on the Lenovo or Rog ally.

Also, a tangent question, is there a minimum or recommended amount to partition for windows? I intend to do the bulk of my gaming on the Linux side (I have 2tb on one SSD). Should I aim to partition a certain amount for windows?

Thank you very much for your responses, it’s been very helpful

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I don’t have a GPD win but hopefully someone else will chime in!

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Hi, I have a GPD Win Mini 2024 and happy to answer any questions. :slight_smile:

The instalation process is no different to other handhelds or even other Linux distros for that matter. The GPD Win is basically like a regular AMD PC, there’s literally zero dramas with Linux - everything just works out-of-the-box.

That really depends on the size of the games you want to play in Windows. 30GB is the bare minimum for Windows itself (say 50GB to be comfy) + add the size of your games + game download size. You can reduce the space requirements using NTFS compression and a program like CompactGUI.

Alternatively, if you’re adventurous, you could just keep your entire Steam library on the Bazzite partition itself, and then access the Bazzite partition from Windows using the Winbtrfs driver, and then add that drive as a Steam library from within Windows Steam - so that way you’ll be sharing the game library and you can keep the Windows partition itself as small as possible. Personally though, I wouldn’t recommend this unless you know what you’re doing and you’ve got backups / fast Internet in case you stuff up your Steam library.

Finally, before installing Bazzite, I’d recommend resizing the Windows partition from within Windows itself (via Disk Management), this is much more faster (practically instant) and more reliable than resizing it from Linux. If you’re aiming to have the smallest sized Windows partition, then be sure to compress your drive before you do the resize.

Also, I’d recommend disabling fast/hybrid startup in Windows (powercfg /h off), as this can cause issues in case you try to access your Windows drive from Linux. Run this before you do the resize, then reboot, and then do the resize.

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First off thank you so much for your detailed response, was not expecting this, it’s been insanely helpful. So first thing, since you say that the process for installing bazzite should be similar to any other AMD pc, is there a YouTube tutorial you would recommend? I found Aru on YouTube who has a dual boot guide for the legion go. Are there any guides you would recommend, preferably something that’s beginner friendly.

Regarding partitions, I’m not overly picky regarding size of the windows partition, I was going to go for a minimum of 100gb for the windows partition. I just wanted to see if there was a recommended amount.

Regarding partitions, I’m a little confused, I’ve seen online tutorials using a IM magic partition resizer. Was I meant to download this program and resize the hard drive, or can I resize the hard drive using a program already on the system. Apologies if I misread what you said.

Finally, I imagine I would put that powercfg line in the command tab on windows to disable the quick boot.

Once again, thank you very much, I’m surprised how quickly I was able to get information regarding the bazzite install, you’ve all been incredibly helpful

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I can’t really recommend a particular YouTube tutorial sorry (as video creators often don’t update their videos), but the Aru one looks alright for the most part.

They used IM to resize the Windows partition but that’s unnecessary, as I mentioned earlier, just use Windows’s built-in Disk Management utliltity, it’s instant and doesn’t need a reboot.

For booting the USB once you’ve made it, the shortcut key for the GPD Win is F7, you just need to keep tapping it before the initial GPD logo appears on the screen, and then a couple of seconds after the logo, the boot menu list should appear - from where you can select the USB drive. Also, for GPD, you shouldn’t need to change any settings in the BIOS so you can skip that as well and go straight to booting the drive.

And yes, the powercfg command needs to be run from a command prompt, but you need to open it as Administrator first.

Finally, after installing Bazzite, the second half of the Aru video goes a lot into setting up SimpleDecky and TDP controls and all that jazz, but I’d say save it for later, first focus on just getting Bazzite to run, then install a game or two and familiarise yourself with the system first, before you go around messing with it. :slight_smile:

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Hi again! So a lot happened between your last message and this one. I finally got bazzite to run! So far not had any major problems. Thought Im not sure if I’ve done something wrong.

So I decided to follow arus video (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RUES5B5j6EU&pp=ygULQXJ1IGJhenppdGU%3D). I attached the link to anyone who’s reading this in a similar situation. It worked and I am able to get my games running. But I partitioned my c drive. I have an 2tb SSD on the GDP win 4. But every time I close and restart, my steam can’t access the SSD. I have to go out of steam, go into the documents in Linux and click the SSD partition. Once I enter my password, it starts to work again and I can access my games on the SSD. Have I made a mistake and I should have put bazzite on the 2tb SSD and not the c drive? I apologise if what I wrote is confusing.

However, aside from that, it’s been pretty incredible. Tdp control is much easier and I’ve noticed my games (SMT 5 vengeance and persona 3 reload) are running around 60fps at 16tdp. Granted these aren’t juggernaut games to run, but so far I’m quite pleased. The fans are also pretty quiet too.

I will keep updating depending on what I see. But thank you so much for your help, installing bazzite was a lot easier than I thought.

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Hmm, that’s strange - it shouldn’t ask you for a password. Are you trying to access your Windows drive (C:), and if so, why? Steam/Bazzite should only use the Linux partitioned space by default (which doesn’t require a password) - unless you manually added your Windows drive to your Steam Library?

Are you able to provide some screenshots of the password prompt, and also the output of lsblk?

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So I installed bazzite on my c drive, but I also had a 2tb SSD which stored all my games. Whenever I boot up, the 2tb SSD starts unmounted.

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I then enter my password, the prompt I get is attached

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And once I put it in, the SSD is recognized and mounted. But so is my windows drive. I’m not sure if I’ve done something wrong during installation, or if I should have put bazzite on the 2tb SSD instead.

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Edit - steam did an update and now I can see my SSD appearing but it’s telling me to format it. I don’t necessarily mind having to redownload but do you think it’s safe to format it from steam? I can still keep jumping out of steam, mounting it then jump back in

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Hmm, looks like that 2TB drive is an NTFS drive? If so, running a Steam library directly off it under Linux can corrupt the drive (because Proton tries to create files with characters which is invalid under NTFS). If you don’t plan on sharing this drive with other people/systems, then I’d recommend formatting it as a Linux partition (preferably btrfs, or ext4) and recreating your Steam library on it.

You can stick with NTFS if you want to, but you’ll need to symlink your compatdata folder to a Linux folder, maybe even the shadercache folder, but NTFS on Linux can also be a bit iffy at times so I wouldn’t advise going down this route.

But with btrfs, you could still access it reliably even on Windows using the Winbtrfs driver, so going for a Linux-native filesystem like btrfs would be the better option.

I haven’t tried formatting a drive under Steam, not sure how it would work under Bazzite, because Steam would be assuming you’re using SteamOS and things work a bit differently under Bazzite…

You can format it using the KDE Partition Manager, should be straightforward: just double-click on the NTFS partition > filesystem: btrfs > click ‘Change the file system’ > give it a label like “games” > OK. Note that if the options are greyed-out, you’ll need to right-click > unmount it first.

Once you’ve formatted the partition, you’ll need to edit your /etc/fstab to mount it automatically on startup. Open a terminal, then run sudo nano /etc/fstab and add the following line at the end:

UUID=blah /mnt/games btrfs noatime,lazytime,commit=120,discard=async,compress-force=zstd:1,space_cache=v2 0 0

Of course, replace blah with the actual UUID of your 2TB drive, which you can get from the command lsblk -f.

Then save and exit (Ctrl+S, Ctrl+X) and reboot your system. Your new drive should now be automatically mounted at boot under /mnt/games, and will be visible in Dolphin as “games” on the left.

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So I followed the instructions, formatted the drive to btrfs, but now steam won’t let me use it. I’ve tried to format it via steam but it fails. I went into KDE and tried to unmount it then mount it again, still no dice. Already tried a restarting and turning it off and on again.

Gonna keep trying but seems like I might have done something wrong down the line. It is showing up now at the very least.

Edit - noticed the mount point says var before mnt/games. Should it be like that and would it matter?

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2nd edit. Think I tinkered around a bit too much, now it won’t boot. Think I added var to the mnt/games mount path and it went dark. Now when I boot up it comes up with the bazzite screen then darkness

3rd edit. So got into windows, I reformatted the SSD. Now when I reboot, bazzite goes into emergency mode. Really stuck my foot into this one lol. I pressed on f8 on bootup and clicked fedora Linux (second option) which takes me back to bazzite. But when I boot normally it goes to the emergency mode again. Not sure what to do.

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Edit 4. Apologies to the admins if I’m breaking rules by constantly editing this. So I found a tutorial on how to fix the fstab via grub (thank you mike’s tech tips). So bazzite boots normally now. But now I’m back at square one with a NTFS SSD. Real whirlwind afternoon I’ve had. I’ve been reading though this guide Auto-Mounting Secondary Drives. Do you think it’s worth following this guide instead, it’s similar to yours but goes a different route.

Final update - decided to follow that guide. Basically took me back to the original starting point. My SSD is btrfs, steam won’t recognise it, but it is mounted upon startup and doesn’t require a password.

Final final edit - it works now? I have no idea how it happened but I think I used this command sudo chown $USER:$USER /var/mnt/games then went into KDE partitioner to unmount and mount the SSD. Went back to steam and there it is. Even moved a game onto it and it works after a reboot too.

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for future reference, here’s a video for the win 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnNfMY9kzjk

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Hey are you the the guy in the video? If you are, I followed your legion installation and it worked really well for me, can’t thank you enough (if you aren’t the guy in the video, my apologies)

This is off tangent, but is there a place I can find game performance on bazzite? What I mean is what settings in game run best for bazzite. I noticed in the video the game being played is persona 3 reload. I seem to be having a little trouble with the frame rate with that game (can only seem to get consistent 60 FPS when charging)

Aside from that, I hope this thread is useful to someone. I’ll pop back in every now and then with any updates regarding my experience. Thanks again to everyone

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glad the video helped :slight_smile:

for game performance on bazzite, unfortunately I don’t think there’s anything specific for bazzite itself. For P3 Reload, I personally ran low settings + 720p + Steam’s built-in FSR to upscale for to get reasonable performance (30-40fps) at something like 10W tdp.

You’d have to tune your settings for to achieve whatever your fps target is.

It might be different for your model ofthe Win 4, I have the older 6800u variant.

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I see, thank you for providing that. I guess I’ll just experiment a bit with what I have. Thanks again for all of the help, most appreciated.

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Just chiming in, though a bit late, to say that it’s also running flawlessly on my 2023 GPD Win Mini with a 7840U

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