The Steam Deck is a superb handheld gaming console, and that's partly because of its fantastic controls. Inspired by the original Steam Controller, it has two haptic touchpads, four back buttons, and gyro support, in addition to the typical buttons you get on a controller. The quality of the Deck's controls is top-notch, and it seems a shame if they're limited to just the Deck itself.

The good news is that they're actually flexibly able to interface with your PC! There are two simple ways of getting your Steam Deck to work as a controller for your PC, one a bit easier than the other. Here's how to turn your Steam Deck into a regular PC controller.

Using Steam Remote Play

Stream on your Steam Deck but use your PC for the display

While Remote Play is intended to stream a bit differently, such as from your main PC and onto your Steam Deck, it's also a way to use the Deck as a controller for your PC. This is the simplest of the two methods to set this up, and will probably work best for most users.

1. Make sure the game you want to play is installed on your main PC. If you're trying to play a game that's not on Steam, go ahead and manually add your game to Steam.
2. Connect the PC and your Steam Deck to the same network. For better performance, your PC can be connected via Ethernet instead of Wi-Fi.
3. On your PC, open Steam, click the Steam icon in the top left, and select Settings.
4. Navigate to the Remote Play tab. Make sure Remote Play is enabled.
5. Enable Advanced Host Options, and then enable Play audio on host.
6. On your Deck, find the game you want to stream in your library and select Stream. If Play is what you see instead of Stream, click the arrow next to Play and select Stream from your PC.
7. Select your desktop PC's name from the pop-up menu.

And that's all there is to it. Using this method, you'll stream gameplay to your Deck, but instead of looking at your Deck's screen, you'll be watching your PC's display. You'll also want to know that if you open the Steam overlay, it'll open on your Steam Deck and not on your PC, screenshots will be made on your Deck, and you'll have as much control over your PC as you would with any other controller.

Plus, this method requires decent Wi-Fi to achieve good latency. To improve performance on a worse connection, you may need to reduce the resolution on your Deck's Remote Play settings (which can be found by pressing the Steam button, then going to Settings, and then to the Remote Play tab).

Use VirtualHere to make your Deck a controller

A slightly jankier method, but it will work

While Remote Play is convenient and works almost out of the box, it is a bandwidth-inefficient way of using a controller and may be laggy or nonfunctional for your needs. However, there is a way to make your Deck into an actual controller, even though Valve never designed the Steam Deck to be used like that. A very clever Reddit user figured out how to do exactly that in a process that's a little tedious but overall not too hard, and the result works quite well.

Setting up the Steam Deck

1. Press the Steam button on the Deck.
2. Select Power, then select Switch to Desktop.
3. Open your favorite web browser and go to VirtualHere's website to download VirtualHere USB Server for Linux (x86_64).
4. Once downloaded, open the Start menu and navigate to Settings > System Settings, and open the app.
5. Navigate to the Users tab and change your password, which is not created by default. I recommend setting it to something simple.
6. Then open the Dolphin file manager and navigate to the Documents folder.
7. Create a folder called virtualhere. Make sure it's all lowercase.
8. Navigate to the Downloads folder and cut the vhusbdx86_64 file you downloaded.
9. Go back to the virtualhere folder you created, and paste in the downloaded file.
10. Right-click the file, then select Properties.
11. In the Permissions tab, check the Is executable box, then select Okay.
12. Open Steam and click Add a Game in the bottom left corner, then click Add a Non-Steam Game, and click Browse.
13. Navigate to the virtualhere folder.
14. Switch the file type to All Files, select the vhusbdx86_64 file, and click Open.
15. Find vhusbdx86_64 in the list, check the box next to it, and select Add Selected Programs.
16. Find the entry for the vhusbdx86_64 file in your Steam library and select the Manage icon, then Properties.
17. In the Shortcut tab change the text in Target to:

    env

18. Change the Start In field to:

    "./"

19. In Launch Options paste this:

    -u LD_PRELOAD konsole --fullscreen --notransparency --hold -e sudo /home/deck/Documents/virtualhere/vhusbdx86_64

20. Rename the app to something like Controller and maybe add an icon.

And that's all you need to do on your Deck. Now, let's move on to what you have to do on your PC.

Setting up your PC

1. Before we turn to your PC, go to your Wi-Fi settings on your Steam Deck, press A on or touch the network you're currently connected to, and note your Steam Deck's IP address. It should start with 192.
2. Then, open the Controller app you set up on your Deck. You'll need to enter your password, and you can pull up the virtual keyboard with the Steam button + X. Don't worry if your password doesn't appear in the window; that's expected.
3. Now over to your PC, go ahead and download the VirtualHere Client version for your PC's operating system and follow the steps to install it.
4. Once installed, open the VirtualHere Client program. You might see some stuff pop up under USB Hubs, but you're not done yet.
5. Right-click on USB Hubs and click Specify Hubs.
6. Click Add and type in your Deck's IP address and add :7575 to the end of it.
7. You should now see something that says Steam Controller. Double-click it, and your Steam Deck will act like a standard Steam controller.

When you want to disconnect your Deck from your PC, right-click on USB Hubs and click Exit. Then, on your Steam Deck, you can press the Steam button and click Exit Game. If the Deck is unresponsive even after disconnecting, you will have to restart the Deck by holding down the power button and tapping Restart.

Overall, this method works pretty well, though it's not perfect. Most of the problems come from the Deck itself. Having to enter a password every time you open the controller app is annoying (that's why we'd keep it as simple as possible), and exiting the controller app can force a restart, which is even more annoying. Still, it has benefits over Remote Play and is arguably better for people looking to play games off Steam.

Using the Steam Deck as a controller is excellent, but not seamless

You'll have a good but flawed experience no matter your chosen method. Remote Play is hard to use on weak networks, and VirtualHere is a bit janky. Plus, since using the Deck as a controller has the same problems as using the Wii U GamePad, it may not be ideal to use such a large device as a controller, and its high power consumption means you'll want a good charger for it.

Nevertheless, the overall experience is still good with either method. And if you want to use your Steam Deck as a controller with your PC, just remember, you may want a good case just in case you drop it.