How to minimise Steam to the Unity panel (system tray)?

Question

When I run Steam there are two icons, one in the Launcher and one in the Unity panel. How do I remove the icon on the Launcher? I just want an icon of Steam on Unity Panel.

Clicking the close button in Steam just minimises the window to the launcher, not fully hiding it.

Answer 1

To do this only for your user, you need to run this command in a terminal:

echo 'STEAM_FRAME_FORCE_CLOSE DEFAULT=1' >> ~/.pam_environment

Then logout and log back in.

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Alternatively, you could add it for all users with this command:

echo 'STEAM_FRAME_FORCE_CLOSE=1' | sudo tee -a /etc/environment

Then logout and log back in.

References:

• https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Steam#The_close_button_only_minimizes_the_window
• https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EnvironmentVariables#Persistent_environment_variables

Answer 2

I just got this to work by reading how some Windows users got it to work. You just need to add -silent to the startup command. I did this by using Startup Applications. Scroll down till you see Steam, select it and then click Edit. Change the command to look like this:

/usr/bin/steam %U -silent

I think this also removes it from your Unity panel which is OK by me. Seems redundant to have it in both the tray and the panel anyways.

Reference: How do I start applications automatically on login?