Steam Deck: Decky Loader 60 Second Fix (Missing; Broken; Won't Re-Install)

Decky Loader worked yesterday - doesn't work today. Maybe it disappeared completely. Perhaps one of your plugins is simply dead or are crashing Decky Loader completely.

What's worse? Re-installing does nothing. Even uninstalling and reinstalling ... does nothing.

In less than a minute, we'll get you working again.

For the more curious types? We'll talk about some more advanced troubleshooting and discuss why this happens at all.

[mangotar]

I just installed the new Steam Deck update today and I realised my Decky Loader was missing after. All I did was downloaded the Decky Loader installer and updated Decky Loader to its latest stable release, and Decky Loader returned :)

[gbell]

Thank you so much for another awesome video! I've been subscribed to your channel since getting the Steam Deck and your videos are among the best I've seen. I'm not very confident when it comes to Linux, typing in commands(I don't understand) into the konsole and so on.

However, I managed to figure out this one and it solved the problem.

I was also missing the Decky Loader plugin in Game Mode after the latest Steam OS update, so I went to Desktop Mode opened up the Decky Loader installer and chose download latest version for stable Steam OS. And now it's back and works like before.

[olarixy]

For those who are unable to delete the old homebrew folder. Before deleting, grant permissions to change contents for the plugins folder and all folders that are located inside this folder and for folders inside these folders. It helped me

[scottballard]

Thanks a million! I just added the underscore and reinstalled. Took like 30seconds, and grabbing the 8 or so plugins again less than 2 minutes.

[flicka]

Mine disappeared after I installed Steam OS updates. I didn't reappear after i restarted, something the system prompts you to do...funny thing is the customisation I had with Decky loader were still there. Anyway I rebooted for the second time and voila it reappeared. Maybe some people might want to try that first before going through all this. And yes hacks can and do have issues...even legit systems have issues. Nonetheless this is a good video and I'm saving it. And you got yourself a new subscriber.

[Png_gaming]

I just noticed decky disappeared from the side bar again, so hopefully this fixed. I really hope Valve isnt trying to kill it.
Edit: This sadly did not work, decky is still gone from the side bar and additional options given by decky are not there. (I should note themes like phantom are still there however)
The current pre release has the side bar back but all the plugins brake from it (ALL of them) and the current stable version has the side bar missing.

[bowfamily]

For me it not disappear. I try to new install many time. Now I delete this plugin 😭

[OhShootKid]

Thanks for this. My Decky is giving me hell since I got my steam deck the other day. It downloads fine, but plugins take forever to install and once they do, I can't search for anything within their libraries (like CSS Loader and Animation Changer). It just takes forever and times out. I'm worried it's because I installed an SSD, so maybe something happened with the Steam download, but I've re-imaged twice now. I was super excited to customize my deck, but i can't find a way to fix it.

[helmutblack]

Summary:
Fix1: delete the homebrew folder in home and reinstall decky
Fix2: delete each plugin and reboot one at a time and see if decky loader comes back

[cqllel]

Another fix would be to switch back to "Steam Client Stable" since beta won't work with Decky-stable

EDIT: A SteamOS update will disappear your DeckyLoader plug in. You'll have to wait for a DeckyLoader update, which should only take a few hours

[ALiTY]

Honestly stuff like this makes me not want to ever update devices. They usually dont fix things, they always end up breaking things & do planned obsolescence shenanigans.

[MrGaara]

Don't work for me, css loader is not working after new downloading

[thegamingworld]

Thank you been trying figure this out for a while, I hate that it erases all of my data tho :/ i had lots of plugins customized, is there a way next time to save my progress?

[optimalbonkerz]

The 60 second fix would be nice if you reminded us how to re install decky as I did it once over a year

[MrGamercubed]

But what's the point of renaming it just run the installer again and select wipe all data as you're essentially doing the same thing here

[chrisrgutierrez]

You got the whole world in your hands! It worked! Thanks!

[HairyHog]

Did your workaround, still not showing up in gaming mode

[apgamer]

Dude thank you. I couldn’t seem to find a guide to fix this issue and it was basically bricking my $700 purchase

[DaveBudness]

I booted my systrem up for the first time since I got back from vacation in Jan. I had an update, and the decky was gone, so now I'm in the process of getting it back. I was wondering if I should uninstall it first, or delete the homebrew and redo everything

[blueblase]

I forgot my Sudo Password or it got changed and I don’t know what it is. Is there a way to get DeckyLoader without Sudo password?