Im trying to install steam on suse with wine but when I run:

# wine SteamInstall.exe

I get this message:

Application tried to create a window, but no driver could be loaded.
Make sure that your X server is running and that $DISPLAY is set correctly.

Is it soumething wrong with my display settings or what? What can I do to solve this?

Dani AI

Generated

Quick summary and the likely causes tied to the thread: was right to point at the X/display side of things, and ’s extra detail (the # prompt and the recent video‑card swap) matters — running Wine from a root shell or without a working X/GL driver are the two most common causes of the “can’t create a window / no driver could be loaded” symptom. ’s note about ALSA/OSS is also useful for later — audio/backends can block startup after display is fixed.

Start with quick, local checks (do these from the same desktop session you use for your X apps):

whoami
echo $DISPLAY
xterm        # or any simple X program
glxinfo | grep "direct rendering"

If whoami prints root, stop: don’t run Wine as root. If echo $DISPLAY is empty or xterm fails, the issue is X/authentication, not Steam/Wine. If you must run a command as root temporarily, grant root X access without opening the display to everyone:

xhost +SI:localuser:root

Review X and driver status next. Check your X log (typically /var/log/Xorg.0.log) for driver load failures. If you recently changed the card, ensure the vendor kernel/X driver and the matching OpenGL libraries are installed — on 64‑bit systems Wine often needs the 32‑bit compatibility GL/driver packages too. uname -m and ldd $(which wine) can help spot missing binary/ABI mismatches.

Finally, capture runtime output when Steam/Cedega won’t start (run it from a terminal to see stderr). If audio hangs the process, try the other sound backend (ALSA vs OSS) as did. If those checks still don’t help, post the exact outputs of the commands above and the relevant lines from Xorg.0.log so the thread can point to the next troubleshooting step.

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It sounds like your $DISPLAY variable isn't set correctly. What I would try first is something like this:

# DISPLAY=0:0 wine SteamInstall.exe

And see what happens.

I've read that this problem is quite common on Wine, and there often isn't an end-all fix for this. Is this application listed under the "supported-applications" in the Win App database?

Also, have you ever used wine to sucessfully run applications that use windows? Console apps running on wine tend to have less problems, so you may have to do additional configuration to get Win32 apps working.

I tried the command you suggested, but I get the same message again.

And, no I have'nt used wine to run an windows application earlier, I have just started using it.So then I mabye have to configure it?
Is it advanced to configure it correctly?

I tried the command you suggested, but I get the same message again.

And, no I have'nt used wine to run an windows application earlier, I have just started using it.So then I mabye have to configure it?
Is it advanced to configure it correctly?

I would first try running a simple app like Notepad before running SteamInstall. I believe it's automatically installed with Wine. Try something like

wine notepad.exe

And see if it works. If it can't find it, it may not be in the path, and you'll have to do something like:

# cd ~/.wine/
# ls
# cd c/Program\ Files (or maybe c_drive)
# wine notepad.exe

Tell us if notepad and other simple Windows programs like Explorer work.

I would first try running a simple app like Notepad before running SteamInstall. I believe it's automatically installed with Wine. Try something like

wine notepad.exe

And see if it works. If it can't find it, it may not be in the path, and you'll have to do something like:

# cd ~/.wine/
# ls
# cd c/Program\ Files (or maybe c_drive)
# wine notepad.exe

Tell us if notepad and other simple Windows programs like Explorer work.

I tried to start notepad like you described but i get this message in both cases:

err:imagelist:ImageList_ReplaceIcon no color!
err:imagelist:ImageList_ReplaceIcon no color!
err:imagelist:ImageList_ReplaceIcon no color!
err:imagelist:ImageList_ReplaceIcon no color!
Application tried to create a window, but no driver could be loaded.
Make sure that your X server is running and that $DISPLAY is set correctly.

but I got cmd to work, I also tried with explorer.exe but it did'nt work. Mabye It's soumething with mt video-card?
I changed videocard last week, does that matter?

Try configuring Wine with winecfg . This will allow you to configure video card settings and other such display things so that Wine will run properly.

You may also want to take a peek at ~/.wine, which is another wine configuration file.

yes, wincefg
i got office97 working nicely in WINE (other than the fonts looked bad and no ms access)

sorry if I havent answered in some time but my computer broke down so I have been withoute a computer in a mounth now :(. but now I have borrowed one from my classmate=). I will try to continue with the installation of wine now...

Now I have switched to cedega instead. But i still can't start steam. Im running cedega-5.2.9 and have installed steam, but when I try to start steam nothing happens. Someone who has had the same problem? or better yet, a solution:P

solution = install windows

solution = install windows

LOL, then I rather be without games

LOL, then I rather be without games

I got steam/cs working no problem using the latest wine in ubuntu.

wine SteamInstall.exe then followed the install wizard.

Only thing i had to change was ALSA/OSS settings then it worked fine

What version of wine are you using?

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