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Phase 1 · Last time at the physical machine

First Boot, SSH & Headless Setup

Enable SSH, disable sleep, and lock the machine into headless server mode.

Complete ALL steps before rebooting

Do every step in this phase in order before you reboot. The headless SDDM override in Step 4 must be in place before your next reboot. If you reboot early, the machine boots back into Gaming Mode — just repeat this phase.

Step 1 — Switch to Desktop Mode

On the machine, in Steam's Gaming Mode:

  1. Press the Steam button (bottom-left of the Steam UI)
  2. Scroll down to Power
  3. Click Switch to Desktop

The machine will switch to KDE Plasma desktop. Open Konsole (the terminal app — search for it in the application menu).

Step 2 — Enable SSH

In Konsole, run:

# Enable and start the SSH service
sudo systemctl enable --now sshd

Then find your server's local IP address:

ip route get 1.1.1.1

Look for src in the output — that IP is your server's local address. It will look like 192.168.1.50 or 192.168.178.20.

Write this IP address down

You'll use this IP for every SSH connection in this guide. It may change after a router restart — that's why Phase 2 assigns a permanent static IP reservation.

Step 3 — Disable Auto-Suspend

Bazzite may suspend the machine after a period of inactivity, silently killing all Docker containers. Disable it with both methods:

Method A — KDE System Settings:

  1. Open System Settings → Power Management → Energy Saving
  2. Under On AC Power, set "Suspend session" to Never
  3. Click Apply

Method B — OS Level (the authoritative method):

sudo systemctl mask sleep.target suspend.target \
  hibernate.target hybrid-sleep.target suspend-then-hibernate.target

This permanently prevents the system from sleeping, even if some application tries to trigger it.

Step 4 — Apply the Headless SDDM Override

This is the most important step. SDDM is the login screen manager. By default on Bazzite, it auto-logs into Gaming Mode. We want it to start and sit idle — showing a blank login screen — so Docker containers run without any graphical session active.

sudo mkdir -p /etc/sddm.conf.d
sudo tee /etc/sddm.conf.d/zzz-headless-server.conf > /dev/null << 'EOF'
[Autologin]
User=
Session=
Relogin=false
EOF

Apply it immediately:

sudo systemctl restart sddm

What does this file do?

SDDM reads all .conf files in /etc/sddm.conf.d/ in alphabetical order. The zzz- prefix ensures our file loads last, overriding any Bazzite defaults (which use names like bazzite-autologin.conf). Setting User= and Session= to blank disables autologin entirely.

Step 5 — Verify After a Reboot

sudo systemctl reboot

Your SSH session will disconnect. Wait about 60 seconds, then reconnect from your personal computer:

ssh username@192.168.1.50

Once connected, check that no graphical session started:

loginctl list-sessions

Expected result: You should see a greeter session on seat0.

✅ Phase 1 Complete

You can now SSH into your server and the screen shows a blank SDDM login. You no longer need a keyboard or monitor plugged into the server. All remaining steps in this guide are done over SSH from your personal computer.

Next: Phase 2 — Router & Network →