FAQ
Short Answer: No.
Long Answer: The Switch CPU architecture is aarch64 and unless some support is brought for other architectures by those companies to their apps you won't be able to run Steam and other x86_64 apps natively. However, box64 is available for Switch and allows for x86_64 to arm64 emulation. box86 is also available for x86 to armhf but lacks proper GPU acceleration since Nvidia does not provide armhf GPU drivers. Fex is also in development for Switch, which allows emulation of x86_64 and x86 applications.
Wine and Proton are compatibility layers for running Windows x86 and x86_64 programs on x86 and x86_64 linux. In combination with the above box86/box64, these can be used to run SOME windows x86/x86_64 programs on linux arm64, however compatibility is VERY low, buggy, and emulation is slow.
With your Switch connected to your PC with a USB C -> A Cable:
In hekate
Tools -> USB Tools -> USB Mass Storage > SD Card
Within Linux (network share):
Setup SMB/Samba sharing on Windows or Linux (many right ways to do so)
Mount the share in Linux on Switch (cifs-utils or gigolo)
Within Android (usb or network share):
Download an FTP server from Google Play (requires Gapps) or plug in to a computer and select File Transfer from the USB options dropdown
Short answer: Nope! Go buy a Steam Deck.
Long answer: The Windows installer was booted as part of a project to port edk2, an OSS UEFI bootloader, to the Switch. However, it is currently impossible to get further than the installer, as there are no Windows drivers for the Tegra SDMMC controller (needed to access storage), and writing one from scratch would be a ton of wasted effort given there are no drivers for anything else, meaning there would be no hardware accelerated graphics, no touchscreen, no JoyCons, etc., without writing drivers from scratch. Even if someone did, which they won't because it's way too much effort, it would run terribly anyway given the low-tier hardware.
Last modified 10d ago