The Easiest Method, Hands Down

Wine is definitely one of the best ways to run Windows software on a Mac. It has a large following and plenty of support and ways to find what you need and it is constantly being updated. I was actually planning on writing a tutorial on how to install the Windows version of Steam on Mac OS X with a standard Wine installation. Then I discovered that this method was actually easier and it keeps everything self contained within an .app file. So, without any further ado, let’s get started and install Steam on your Mac!!!

Install Wineskin Winery

This little gem is quickly becoming my favorite way to use Wine on Mac OS X. Wineskin is simple, fast and it’s easy. Everything is put together for you in a nice tidy little package and it’s all self contained in an .app file. It also has advanced features, so if you want to use a custom compilation of Wine you can. If you are new to Wine I think you will find it very user friendly and if you are already familiar with Wine, I think you will find that it has enough advanced features to your satisfaction. You can download it from here.

It works with the following versions of OS X.

OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)

OS X 10.7 (Lion)

OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion)

OS X 10.9 (Mavericks)

It’s a quick download with nothing to unpack or install. Simply run the Wineskin.app file when it finishes downloading.

Installing Wine and the Wrapper

One of the great features I love about this app is that you can download and use any version of Wine that you want. This is so awesome because I have found that some Windows applications only work with certain versions of Wine. Not only that, but you can download several different versions at the same time and the app manages them for you and once downloaded, you can choose whichever version you want to use.

When you first open Wineskin you will see the home screen. Click the “+” button to install Wine. You’ll see a drop down list of all the available versions. Go ahead and choose the latest version. Next, update the Wrapper. Last, click the “Build new blank wrapper”, name it “Steam” and then give it a few minutes to build. You will be prompted to install Gecko and Mono. Decline these prompts. These are not necessary. When it’s finished view your newly created wrapper and copy it over to the desktop. Use Winetricks to Install Steam Double-click the icon and you will the following screen. Click “Advanced” If you get an error “10810, Steam cannot be opened” you can do one of two things to fix this. Either reboot your computer and upon logging in it will open normally, or you can right-click the wrapper and select “Show Contents” and then double-click the Wineskin app inside. Select the Tools tab, and then click on Winetricks You’ll want to update Winetricks first. Click on the update button in the lower left hand corner. When that’s finished, expand the Apps tree, scroll down and checkmark Steam. Then click the Run button. After installing required packages, the Steam installer should open. Simply follow the instructions. When it’s finished, Steam will update itself. This can take a few minutes depending on your Internet connection. If it’s successful you should see the Steam window open after you click “Finish”. Go ahead and close it for now. When Winetricks is finished, close the window and go to the Configuration tab. Browse to the location of the Steam.exe file within the wrapper. And last but not least, close the window and then double click the Steam.app icon.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Steam on your Mac. Everything is contained within the wrapper, simply click on the icon to run Steam.

If you experience the issue where there is no text showing, this is a known bug with dwrite. It was fixed and as long as you update winetricks before starting the install, you shouldn’t run into this error. If you are still experiencing the issue, start over and make sure to follow Step #9.

If you are getting to Step #12 and it fails to update followed by the error “No Steam Config Servers online”, this is another bug. These are the steps I have found to fix it.

Assuming you have updated winetricks and are not experiencing the dwrite bug, go to the Steam website and download the Windows install package to your computer Right-click your wrapper and select Show Contents and double click the Wineskin app inside. Click “Install Software” Point it to the “SteamSetup.exe” that you just downloaded Run through the install (it will re-install Steam in the same directory) and this time it should continue through the Update process and open the Steam Client window.

Update 3-20-2014:

It looks like the “NoConfigServer” error has been resolved. Running a test install, I was able to successfully go through original tutorial steps without any errors. I ran the test on Mavericks 10.9.2 using Wine Engine 1.7.14NoFlicker (the latest version) and Wrapper version 2.5.12

You can also view this tutorial in action on our YouTube channel.

Update 11-6-14:

If you are experiencing the “sha1sum mismatch” error I have a new video tutorial up on YouTube that gives you an alternate method for installation. You can view it here.

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