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Shadow Linux Known Issues & Workarounds

Alexandre ARNOUD

• 5 min read
Shadow Linux Known Issues & Workarounds

This is a list of known issues & workaround of the Shadow Linux x86_64 application you may encounter.

  • Touchpad gesture not working (2 fingers scrolling) with local Linux user in "input" group (LIBINPUT)
  • Difficulties to use Shadow hotkeys with local Linux user in "input" group (LIBINPUT)
  • Mouse jittering, Keyboard lost/ignored keys with local Linux user not in "input" group (LEGACY mode)
  • Mouse acceleration issues (Workaround: Make sure to set mouse acceleration to off or flat on your local machine and on Shadow)
  • Solaar (https://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/solaar) generates an py-evdev-uinput device that is detected as a Gamepad (it should be filtered out as it's causing issues)
  • Won't authenticate on SSO if a local Plex server is running (Workaround: stop Plex (sudo service plexmediaserver stop), restart Shadow Launcher and authenticate)
  • Can't authenticate on Shadow SSO if Shadow is run as root/sudo
  • Browser is not launching to authenticate on Shadow's SSO (Workaround: ensure default browser is configured sudo update-alternatives --config x-www-browser, shadow launcher uses xdg-open using your browser make also sure xdg-open https://shadow.tech opens a web browser.
  • Stream is colored in RED/PINK
curl https://gitlab.com/aar642/shadow-repackaged/-/raw/main/drirc -o ~/.drirc

or directly start with:

allow_rgb10_configs=false ./Shadow.AppImage

(Recent libVA's (>2.16) may also requires LIBVA_DRI3_DISABLE=1 or a combination of both LIBVA_DRI3_DISABLE=1 allow_rgb10_configs=false ./Shadow.AppImage)

If the drirc downloaded in the step above does not fix the RED/PINK stream color issue, but setting the environment variable through bash in the second command, then you may have a less common DRI driver which is not present in the provided .drirc file.

Find out which driver you use by searching /var/log/Xorg.0.log for a line containing "DRI driver" like the second line below:

[    56.075] (II) RADEON(0): [DRI2] Setup complete
[    56.075] (II) RADEON(0): [DRI2]   DRI driver: r600
[    56.075] (II) RADEON(0): [DRI2]   VDPAU driver: r600

In this case the driver name is r600. Duplicate a device section in .drirc for your driver. For r600 this would be:

  <device driver="r600">
    <application name="Shadow" executable="Shadow">
      <option name="allow_rgb10_configs" value="false" />
    </application>
    <application name="ShadowPCDisplay" executable="ShadowPCDisplay">
      <option name="allow_rgb10_configs" value="false" />
    </application>
  </device>
  • Using GM45/HD3000-4600 stream is half displayed with green at bottom or machine crashing you can now also use env var SHADOW_VAAPI_FEED=split ./Shadow.AppImage
  • Using Intel iGPU, Stream is not opening or black window is displayed (if using Ubuntu 21.04+ sudo apt install intel-media-va-driver-non-free and/or start Shadow using LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=iHD ./Shadow*.AppImage)
  • Intel Xe iGPU are not supported with Ubuntu 18.04 (upgrade to 20.04+)
  • Using Wayland, there's no QuickMenu
  • Using Wayland, mouse pointer is quirky even with uinput trick (unlocking mouse may help until fixed (WIN+ALT+M))
  • Using Wayland, mouse pointer is not placed where it should (switch to X11/Xorg)
  • Using Wayland and uinput, hotkeys events are catched by shadow and local desktop environment (ALT+TAB/...)
  • L-100 or L-104 Using Wayland stream not starting or issues with mouse (reboot required) / in logs [E] [LINUX_UINPUT ] Failed to open /dev/uinput, (error 13 : Permission denied) or switch to X11/Xorg from login window
  echo "uinput" | sudo tee -a /etc/modules-load.d/uinput.conf > /dev/null && \
  echo "KERNEL==\"uinput\", MODE=\"0660\", GROUP=\"input\"" | sudo tee -a /etc/udev/rules.d/65-shadow-client.rules > /dev/null && \
  sudo usermod -a -G input "$USER"
  • L-100 means renderer crashed or failed to initialize properly, it could be many things but most of the time it's because it requires sudo apt install intel-media-va-driver-non-free (on debian based, the non-free version, if you are using an Intel iGPU or intel-media-driver (non-free) on other distributions)
  • L-100 / L-110 with Ubuntu/PopOS 22.04, a Shadow component (Sentry) seems to crash if ~/.cache/blade/shadow/crashhandler folder exists, this folder needs to be deleted before each new start of Shadow client (this issue SHOULD be fixed in Alpha/Beta Shadow clients). Make sure ShadowUSB is stopped (or reboot your local linux to make sure).
  • Since rebranding, some users reports White renderer screen using Software Decoding
  • L-100 / L-101 / R-300 using NVIDIA GPU, install latest supported NVIDIA proprietary driver, and sets decoder on FFMPEG in Shadow Launcher
  • R-0x7F indicates missing lib to start Shadow Renderer, install missing libs package or use Package Prerequisites
 cd /tmp/ && wget "https://gitlab.com/aar642/shadow-repackaged/-/jobs/artifacts/main/raw/Shadow-x86_64.AppImage?job=build" -O Shadow-x86_64.AppImage && \
 chmod a+x Shadow-x86_64.AppImage && ./Shadow-x86_64.AppImage --appimage-extract && cd squashfs-root && \
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8 find . -name '*.so*' -o -type f -executable  -exec ldd {} + |grep 'not found' |grep -v libsentry |grep -v libav |grep -v libcef \
 |grep -v libGLESv2 |grep -v libh2645bitstream
  • Tearing can be observed in fullscreen with NVIDIA GPU's, ticking "Force Composition Pipeline" can solve the issue
  • Pipewire is not natively supported when installed (use pipewire-pulse)
  • USB connected Nintendo Pro Controller with hid-nintendo will spawn in shadow as 2 separate controllers (Game controller and Gyro), as only Gamepad is useable may need to discord Gyro as it's taking an extra gamepad slot
  • When starting Shadow Launcher you are getting : Passthrough is not supported, GL is disabled, ANGLE is (you may need to start using : ./Shadow.AppImage --disable-gpu --no-sandbox)
  • [SteamDeck] Using Firefox on SteamDeck, identification fails or download a blank file (you need to install & use Google Chrome as default browser)
  • [SteamDeck] "Error — KIOExec : Access denied to ." to workaround make sure to set default browser in settings
  • [SteamDeck][Desktop] if you have issue with gamepad controller, switch to Gamepad Mode using a long press on top left Menu ( ≡ )
  • [SteamDeck][GameMode] Can't authenticate in GameMode: Use this tutorial (Appimage Launcher)
  • [Ubuntu 22.04] While Scrolling when you stop scrolling there's always an extra scroll, it doesn't stop right where it supposed to
  • Black Blinking / Flickering windows when streaming Shadow using an AMD GPU. (you need to install latest AMD propretary driver)
  • Using Nintendo Pro Controller in BT, when rumble is used controller may randomly disconnect by itself
  • Not having an input group in /etc/group and /etc/os-release will prevent proper switch to libinput and break audio-out (Guix)
  • Gaming Mouse doesn't have all buttons mapped. You can install Piper to configure it on your local linux and verify all buttons are mapped and working, then it will work with Shadow.