Nexus Launcher

Your Microsoft Store PC games, on Linux.

🌐 Help translate Nexus Launcher on Tolgee

An Xbox-inspired launcher built on Xodus, using our patched Nexus backend and Nexus Runtime. Browse the Store, install games you own or can access through a subscription, and play with a managed runtime family. Xbox sign-in and cloud saves are available for supported games.

Preview with sample account data.

Help make Nexus Launcher available in your language. Open our public Tolgee project, sign in and suggest translations for the launcher interface. No coding or GitHub access is needed. Maintainers review suggestions before including them in a release. Missing a language? Request it in a GitHub issue.

Start translating → · Translation guide

Download the latest Linux AppImage from Releases, make it executable and open it. Stable releases currently ship for x86_64. Experimental ARM64 support requires matching native launcher, backend and runtime builds, compatible graphics drivers and FEX for x86 Windows games.

The current x86_64 runtime requires glibc 2.38 or newer (for example Ubuntu 24.04 or a current SteamOS, Fedora or Arch installation). Ubuntu 22.04 does not meet this requirement.

For an application-menu installation on supported distributions:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/domsvoboda/nexus-launcher/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

On first startup, the launcher installs and verifies the Nexus backend in the background so you can sign in during setup. Install the Nexus Runtime from Settings before launching games. A valid purchase or subscription is required.

If passkey sign-in gets stuck, choose Continue in browser in the sign-in window. This option requires Google Chrome, either a native installation or the Flatpak version available through Discover. Other browsers are not supported.

Setup guide and SteamOS requirements

Close Nexus Launcher and its games, then remove the application-menu installation without sudo:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/domsvoboda/nexus-launcher/main/scripts/uninstall.sh | bash

Games, saves, settings, downloaded runtimes, wallet credentials and system packages are kept. For a custom installation, use the same XODUS_NEXUS_PREFIX and XDG_DATA_HOME as during installation. To preview the files, download the script and run bash uninstall.sh --dry-run. If you only downloaded an AppImage manually, delete that AppImage instead.

• My Library combines owned, Game Pass and installed games, with Access, Play state and title filters.
• In My Library → In Game Pass, choose Recently added to Game Pass to show games in Microsoft's recent PC collection first.
• Open a game for its description, categories, screenshot gallery and available Xbox achievements, time played and last activity. Xbox data depends on the account and game.
• Store lets you browse and install supported PC games.
• New game installations show the estimated download size and free space on the destination drive. The downloader checks exact space requirements.
• Manage content installs licensed add-ons and campaign packages.
• Install Queue downloads games one at a time and lets you add more while downloading or playing another game. Pause and resume are supported, including manual resume after restarting the launcher.
• Cancelling a new installation can keep or delete its partial files. Existing games, updates and DLC keep their files.
• Right-click an installed game for settings, VC++ prerequisites, shortcuts or removal.
• Removing a game can keep its files or permanently delete its installation folder without using Trash. Saves inside that folder are deleted too; saves elsewhere are not affected.
• Game settings offer separate DualSense and DualShock 4 compatibility modes for controller detection. They apply only to the selected game. The DualSense fallback may disable advanced haptics and adaptive triggers.
• Game settings also choose the runtime family for that game. The choice follows the latest installed verified build of the family and keeps the same prefix and saves.
• Choose Add to Steam in the game menu, or Add Nexus Launcher to Steam in Settings, to create a Non-Steam shortcut with available artwork. Steam can stay running, including in Game Mode. Requires native Linux Steam; Flatpak Steam is not yet supported.
• Update the launcher, backend and each installed runtime family in Settings.
• Settings → Close to system tray keeps the launcher and downloads running after closing its window. Use the tray menu to reopen Nexus Launcher or quit. Requires a desktop system tray.
• Settings → Interface language selects a bundled translation independently of game language and Store region. Missing translations fall back to English.
• Settings → Downloads sets a combined game download speed limit in MiB/s (0 means unlimited). A supporting Nexus backend is required; saving the limit also applies it to active downloads.
• Settings → Shader cache sets the per-game Mesa/NVIDIA driver cache limit, 4 GiB by default. Changes apply on the next game launch; explicit environment overrides take precedence.
• For account, library or installation errors, use Settings → Nexus backend → Open backend diagnostic log. The local log contains safe error codes and operation results, not credentials. Review it before sharing.

Enable Settings → Nexus Overlay to open friends, chats and party controls while playing. Record a shortcut, choose the screen edge and save the settings. The overlay requires Python 3, PyGObject, GTK 3 and WebKitGTK 4.1. Your desktop may ask you to approve the shortcut on Wayland; fullscreen and monitor detection depend on the desktop. The overlay is optional and disabled by default.

Use Settings → Offline permissions while online to designate this PC for offline play. Microsoft allows only one offline PC per account; changing it removes the designation from the previous device and is subject to the limit shown before confirmation. Launch each game online once afterwards. Supported games can then start without a connection while their Microsoft-issued lease remains valid. A compatible backend and runtime are required; online-only games still need their servers. See Xbox offline-play guidance.

• If the service is stopped, use Start service. Supported KDE wallets should also start automatically when Nexus Launcher opens in Game Mode.
• If your wallet has a password, its native unlock window may appear. Enter your wallet password, which is not necessarily your Microsoft account password. Nexus Launcher does not receive this password.
• A wallet without a password should unlock without requiring password entry.
• If no wallet exists, use Create wallet and complete the system dialog. On KDE, choose Classic, blowfish encrypted file for a normal password-based wallet if you do not have a GPG encryption key. An empty password does not protect stored credentials.
• If setup or the password dialog does not work in Game Mode, try it in Desktop Mode first. If the problem persists, include the backend diagnostic log in your issue report.

Microsoft Store supports up to 10 linked devices. If downloading or launching a game fails with Microsoft Store device limit reached (licensing code 501), open Microsoft Store device management and sign in with the same Microsoft account. Unlink only an old device you no longer use, then retry in Nexus Launcher. You do not need to sign out or reset the wallet. Other license errors can have different causes.

Documentation · Report an issue

The launcher asks the backend to prepare a licensed game, then starts it with the selected Nexus Runtime family. Wine provides Windows compatibility; XGameRuntime connects supported Xbox and Microsoft Store game APIs to the Nexus backend. DXVK and VKD3D-Proton translate supported Direct3D graphics to Vulkan.

Install and update the Standard and optional CachyOS runtime families independently in Settings. Each family bundles Wine and XGameRuntime at matching revisions, so there is no need to install the individual forks separately. Games choose an installed family in their own settings; an unconfigured game uses Standard. Installed families follow their latest verified build and reuse the existing prefix and saves. Compatibility and online services still depend on the game.

These results come from manual testing and user reports. Other games may work, but have not been verified and may encounter compatibility issues.

Full compatibility list

User reports describe individual setups, not universal compatibility. The wiki links to report sources and the community spreadsheet. Launch-only reports do not confirm gameplay or online support.

Library · Store · Social · Chat · Install queue · Settings

Independent project, not affiliated with Microsoft or Xbox. A valid game license is required. Launcher: MIT license. The separate Nexus backend retains its upstream GPLv3 license and ships with corresponding source. The Nexus Runtime includes FFmpeg shared libraries under LGPL 2.1 or later; its corresponding pinned source and build recipe accompany each runtime release. Contributing