Windows Mixed reality is gone

Windows is shutting down WMR, which basically means my VR headset isn't going to work without doing some sort of workaround. I'm on a HP G2.

I don't want to get a quest because my Facebook account is constantly getting restricted, I use it for work so I can't really risk adding a VR headset to my account and it getting locked for some random reason to do with the headset.

Don't know what to do now, I was planning on making a sim room and moving my rig into it after spending years having to set it up and take it down every time I want to drive.

 

HTC Vive system is the best. The new headsets have good resolution and the tracking is excellent. And interaction with the software just works. SteamVR and Vive Console is seamless.

 

Wasn't expecting to have a bill like this though. The only option that seems to be available to me on the Vive website is the XR thing.
My HP headset is basically junk now?

 

you dont need a facebook account - just an account - I moved to Quest 3 and have never had a faceache account

 

WMR will work on Windows 10 indefinitely, but past a certain point Win10 will stop getting security updates. So depending on how you view your PC's security you may not want to do that. Or you can keep putting off the 24H2 Win11 update (unless you've already installed it), which is when WMR support gets removed. Or you could dual-boot, which is a headache.

For this and a couple of other reasons, I just replaced my G2 with a rather large widescreen the other day. Will take some getting used to, but the poor performance of VR on my system has kept me from enjoying it for a while, and I'm hoping this may rekindle my enjoyment of the game.

 

I've already installed the update, I'll roll it back this weekend. I really don't want to give up on VR but it's not something I'm going to be able to replace quickly.

 

The way how Microsoft is constantly producing electronic scrap is absolutely outrageous. They started with Win11 minimum requirements, turning not that old computers into scrap. Now turning all WMR headsets into scrap is the next ridiculous step.

I am on a Quest 3 for a year now but still keeping my G2 as a backup. I´d expected some third party solution to replace WMR, but by now I don´t see such a thing. Very disappointing.

Well, for some other reasons I decided to keep Win10 even when MS support will end and skip Win11. So my backup will be fine for a while. What a cheek to simply declare some hardware as scrap, plus not that environmentally friendly as well. Wouldn´t it have been enough to declare software development as ended and people using that old software on their own risk? Kind of "Yes, you can also use Win11 on your old notebook not meeting our minimum requirements, but we can´t guarantee it will work flawlessly." I would really love to completely turn my back on Microsoft. As a gamer and VR user I don´t see any alternative yet though. Yet.

 

I think there won't be much of a problem as long as the games (like EVO) still support SteamVR (pretty funny that Valve has to do the work that Micro should do lol)

 

Microsoft Windows Phone, Zune, list can go on.
On Win11 HW requirements, there is a workaround though if interested, I have non compatible PC running Win11 close to 2 years already.
It's literally one registry entry modification, and yes it worked flawlessly after update including all MS patches.
https://www.xda-developers.com/inst...passing-requirements-with-the-registry-editor

 

Thanks, but no thanks. As I said I will try to skip Win11. Apart from the WMR thing it is Win11 that I read about problems once a month. Not a word about Win10 issues.

 

Just keep W10 and all will be fine.

 

Exactly, problem solved!

 

You can use a tool like GRC's InControl to prevent your machine upgrading to W11 24H2 (which removes Windows Mixed Reality), or do the same by modifying a GPO (if you're using a Pro SKU of Windows) through the Group Policy Management Console. This is what I did on my Windows 11 23H2 PC, which I do all my VR gaming on with a Reverb G2.

At the moment due to restricting the upgrade to W11 24H2, my PC will stay on W11 23H2. That's fine for me because Microsoft will continue to support Windows 11 23H2 until November 2025 (Windows 10 22H2 will be supported until October 2025). There's a third-party company called 0patch who will be providing some Windows 10 third-party security patches for ~5 years for about $30/year if you can't afford Microsoft ESU.

I'm remaining optimistic/hopeful that cleverer people than me will reverse engineer/replicate the WMR driver and reimplement - if it worked and was feature equivalent I would pay for it! I believe it would need quite a bit of effort to fully reimplement, so I'm wondering if initially it may be game-specific. In a similar way, the OpenComposite/OpenXR efforts seemed to be focused on DCS World, Assetto Corsa and Flight Sim for a while.

WMR on Linux may be an alternative. Monado is one project which started up a while back, not been following it closely though. https://monado.freedesktop.org/ is their web site.

The devs have been making progress and I understand positional tracking is working experimentally with caveats on some WMR hardware, though it's not mature enough to call it fully supported yet.

Related reading:
https://www.reddit.com/r/virtualrea...g_windows_11_24h2_update_removes_wmr_support/
https://www.reddit.com/r/WindowsMR/comments/1d71b7z/using_windows_mixed_reality_headsets_after/

A full install guide for 23H2 and the necessary WMR drivers was put together by a helpful person:
https://www.reddit.com/r/WindowsMR/comments/1d71b7z/comment/lqnp7qd/

This massive post explains why just reinstalling WMR drivers in 24H2 won't bring back WMR functionality:
https://www.reddit.com/r/HPReverb/comments/1b9v0y3/usability_of_reverb_g2_with_wmr_after_november/

 

I'm not a huge fan of that option, I don't particularly want to give up security for my gaming, this is also a work PC on a network. I haven't tried yet but I'm going to try rolling it back for now.

It would be great if someone could come up with a way to get the WMR headsets working again but it's still not ideal working with unsupported hardware. I think long term I'm just going to have to look at an alternative headset. Maybe if someone finds a way of getting the WMR working again the my G2 will at least regain some resale value.