How to Play Microsoft Flight Simulator on Linux

As the name suggests, Microsoft Flight Simulator is a flight simulator video game that’s developed by Asobo Studio and published by Xbox Game Studios. It’s only available for Microsoft Windows and Xbox Series X platforms. The 2020 version has been released in August 2020 and is pretty much optimized. Although the game has been rated quite good, some players on Linux are finding it difficult to install Microsoft Flight Simulator on their systems. If you are one of them, then in this guide we will explain how you can install and play Microsoft Flight Simulator on Linux.

Can I Play Microsoft Flight Simulator on Linux?

Of course, yes. You can easily play Microsoft Flight Simulator on Linux. However, you need to keep in mind that Microsoft Flight Simulator is not available as a standalone downloadable file.

Microsoft Flight Simulator works with Linux as a native application, although the game has no autonomous installation. As a result, only the official Steam app for Linux will let you play the game on Linux.

So you need to follow some techniques we mention here. But don’t worry they are easy. So let’s get started.

Method 1: Install Steam Games Using Proton:

Enabling the Proton

1. Open the Steam app from the app menu.

2. In the top left corner of the steam app, click on settings.

3. Now in the popup steam settings window, look for the steam play and click on it.

4. You have to enable the option called Enable the Steam Play for supported titles and Play for all other title options.

5. Now you can start playing Microsoft Flight Simulator Windows games on Linux.

If you have bought the games from Epic games or any other platform, then you can also play the Microsoft Flight Simulator non-steam games on your Linux PC. To enjoy Microsoft Flight Simulator nonsteam games on your Linux, simply follow the next method.

Play Non-Steam Games using Proton:

Yes, you can now play nonsteam games on your Linux. The steam app allows you to add the non-steam games to the Steam library, to do that, simply open the Steam app -> Add Games -> Add a Non Steam game > Now look for the games.exe folder and add the selected game program.

Method 2: Install Steam on Your Linux PC

Just like other applications, you need to install Steam on your Linux PC by opening the terminal window. In order to launch the terminal window press together: Ctrl + Alt + T

Either way, you can search “Terminal” in the app menu. However, with different versions of Linux, you may need to take care of installation codes. Below we have discussed all the codes for installing Steam on your Linux PC. Only use the code which suits your version of Linux.

For Ubuntu

You can install the Steam client on your Ubuntu distro of Linux using the universal Apt install command. Below is the actual code.

sudo apt install steam

For Debian

The Valve app suits best for Steam installation in Debian. So it would be best for you to get the official Steam client from Valve’s official website. However, you may need to download several packages before you are good to go.

As you already know, while using Linux, it is best to use the terminal instead of dealing with direct websites. So we will follow the same approach here using the wget command.

Here’s the full command:

wget https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steam.deb

Once you have finished downloading the aforementioned software, you will need to install the latest Steam client on your Debian PC.

Here’s the command to install the latest Steam client:

sudo dpkg -i steam.deb

Once everything’s in place, you may need to check for dependency issues. Here’s the command to check for that:

sudo apt-get install -f

For Arch Linux

For installing the Steam client on Arch Linux, you will have to enable “multilib” in the software repository. Since the repository already has the Steam app, it won’t work without it.

You will have to edit /etc/pacman.conf file on your PC and enable the “multilib” in the software repository to get that working.

Once you have enabled repo, you will have to re-sync pacman with respect to the repo servers. For doing that, here’s the command:

sudo pacman -Syy

Now you are ready to install Steam using the below command:

sudo pacman -S steam

For Flatpack, OpenSUSE, and Fedora

All the three Distros of Linux, namely Flatpack, OpenSUSE, and Fedora have Steam packages available in the software repositories. So you can easily use them for installing the Steam client on your PC.

Nevertheless, we recommend using the Flatpack version of Steam because it performs on par with the operating systems.

To get the Flatpack package up and running on your PC, you will need to use another command. Depending on your distro of Linux, here are the commands:

Fedora: 

sudo dnf install flatpak

OpenSUSE:

sudo zypper install flatpak

Once you complete this, you will have to use the remote-add command in order to add the Flathub app store to your system. Here’s the command to do that:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Now install the Steam client using flathub using this command:

flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam

That’s it. Now you are good to go playing your favorite games using Steam. However, before you start playing there are some other crucial elements and steps that you need to follow. But don’t worry, we have got them covered as well.

How to Play Microsoft Flight Simulator on Linux

While you have the Steam app installed on your PC, you will have to launch it and log in using your Steam Account. In case you don’t have one or forgot the password, you can read it here to recover your Steam Account.

Once done, follow these steps carefully:

Step 1: After logging into your Steam account, click on the “Store” Button.

Step 2: In the Steam store, search for Microsoft Flight Simulator, and once you find it, add it to the cart and purchase it if you haven’t already.

Step 3: Now that you are already at the end of this journey, simply go to the Steam Libary and look out for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Step 4: You will see a blue-colored “Install” button. Click and that and wait for a few minutes or hours depending on the configuration of your PC and internet speed.

That’s it, you have Microsoft Flight Simulator installed on your Linux PC. What are you waiting for, get up and start playing your favorite game on the most secured operating system!

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