Windows MR Headsets No Longer Work In Windows 11 24H2

Microsoft has eliminated Home windows Combined Actuality from Home windows 11.

With Home windows 11 24H2, the newest main model of Microsoft’s PC working system, you possibly can now not use a Home windows MR headset in any means – not even on Steam.

This contains all of the Home windows MR headsets from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung, together with HP’s Reverb G2, launched in 2020.

UploadVR examined Home windows 11 24H2 with a Reverb G2 and located the above discover. Microsoft confirmed to UploadVR that that is an intentional removing when it originally announced the move again in December.

In August 3.49% of SteamVR users had been utilizing a Home windows MR headset, roughly 80,000 individuals. In the event that they set up Home windows 11 24H2, their VR headset will successfully develop into a paperweight.

“Present Home windows Combined Actuality gadgets will proceed to work with Steam by means of November 2026, if customers stay on their present launched model of Home windows 11 (model 23H2) and don’t improve to this 12 months’s annual function replace for Home windows 11 (model 24H2).”

The demise of Home windows MR headsets comes on the identical week Microsoft revealed that HoloLens 2 production has ended, and that software program help for the AR headset will finish after 2027.

Microsoft Is Discontinuing HoloLens 2 As Production Ends

HoloLens 2 production has ended, Microsoft confirmed to UploadVR, and software support will end after 2027.

Home windows MR By no means Actually Took Off

Regardless of the title, all Home windows MR headsets had been truly VR-only, and are appropriate with most SteamVR content material through Microsoft’s SteamVR driver.

The primary Home windows MR headsets arrived in late 2017 from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung, aiming to compete with the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive that had launched a 12 months earlier. They had been the primary client VR merchandise to ship inside-out positional monitoring, for each the headset and controllers.

All the unique Home windows MR OEMs besides Samsung used the identical low cost single-panel LCD design with fastened lenses, whereas the Samsung Odyssey had IPD adjustment and OLED panels – the identical OLED panels that may be featured in HTC Vive Professional and Oculus Quest a 12 months and a half later.

Regardless that the LCD headsets had been bought for as little as $200 at instances, and though Samsung provided (for the time) high-resolution OLED panels, Home windows MR headsets didn’t ever attain widespread adoption amongst PC VR players. On the Steam {Hardware} Survey Home windows MR peaked at round 10% of SteamVR utilization share in 2019, and now sits round 3.5%.

However why?

Windows Will Support Headsets With Varying Input, FOV, Resolution and Frame Rate

Microsoft is looking to unify manufacturers around using Windows to power mixed reality headsets, with a plan to support HMDs featuring a wide range of specifications. Next year, Microsoft plans to support headsets from manufacturers like Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP and Lenovo starting at just $300, and by the end

For starters, the monitoring high quality left a lot to be desired. Whereas the Oculus Quest and most inside-out headsets since used 4 or extra spaced-out cameras for a large controller monitoring quantity, the Home windows MR headsets had simply two forward-facing cameras, severely limiting the vary of hand actions that may very well be carried out. HP’s Reverb G2 added two further facet cameras, however by the point it launched in 2020 it was already too late for Microsoft’s platform.

One other main drawback was that the controllers weren’t notably ergonomic, and felt as if designed to be as low cost as attainable. That was in stark distinction to Oculus Touch and Valve’s Index controllers, each beloved by most of their homeowners.

Primarily, Microsoft and its companions failed to provide a compelling cause for individuals to purchase the primary wave of Home windows MR headsets, and by the point HP arrived with Reverb and its 2K panels Meta’s standalone Oculus Quest line had already began to dominate the VR {hardware} market.

Quest headsets’ low value and skill to perform as each a standalone and wi-fi PC VR headset made them the popular selection for many patrons, regardless of being much less snug than headsets like Reverb and having decrease decision.

In recent times Microsoft has shifted its XR focus to a software-based long run strategic partnership with Meta.

To this point that partnership has introduced Xbox Cloud Gaming and Office web apps to the Horizon OS of Quest headsets.

Quests Can Soon Extend Windows Laptops By Just Looking At Them

Quest headsets will soon be able to extend Windows 11 laptops by just looking at them, and without installing specific software.

Quickly, it’ll additionally carry automated extension of Home windows 11 laptops by just looking at them, together with spawning totally digital further screens.

And earlier this 12 months Microsoft introduced Windows Volumetric Apps, a brand new API for extending 3D components of PC functions being streamed to Meta Quest into 3D house.

Microsoft Announces Windows Volumetric Apps For Quest

Microsoft announced Windows Volumetric Apps, a new API for extending elements of PC applications, streamed to Meta Quest headsets, into 3D space.