The Problem
I'm only a casual VR user who spends less than 50 hours a year playing VR games, meaning I was not keeping up on the news and only found out WMR support is being deprecated today, despite this obviously being announced almost a year ago.

I'm currently running Windows 11 and like to maintain the latest updates. While I have WMR currently installed, my understanding is from November 2026 WMR support will end turning my Lenovo Explorer into a brick, and I'll also be unable to download WMR Portal + drivers from 24H2 onwards.

The Plan

Since I'm not willing to run without updates on my main build and I don't presently have the funds for a new expensive headset like a PSVR2 or Quest 3 (nor can I really justify it with my limited use), my plan is to install a secondary HDD (later this will be cloned to an SSD when I have some extra funds) and install Windows 10 on this. I'll get Steam and the WMR Portal downloaded and installed, and verify the headset with room tracking and controllers are working. Next, I will disable all Windows Updates. I'll download and setup all of my SteamVR games including mods for games like Beat Saber and Assetto Corsa.

Once everything is setup how I like, I will then install Veeam to configure backups to my NAS, whilst also retaining X number of snapshots in case I ever broke something so I could simply restore my drive to the last known working snapshot. I will then automate these backups to run on shutdown with a script.

Disable Windows Updates:

To prevent updates from potentially disrupting your setup, you can disable Windows Updates:

  * Open the **Services** app (`services.msc`).
  * Find **Windows Update** in the list.
  * Right-click and select **Properties**.
  * Set the **Startup type** to **Disabled** and stop the service.

Configuring Backups with Veeam

I will be using Veeam as it is free and it's what I'm familiar with, but there are plenty of other alternatives out there as well.

1.       Download Veeam Backup & Replication Community Edition ISO

a.       https://www.veeam.com/virtual-machine-backup-solution-free-download.html?ad=downloads

2.       Mount the ISO (right-click > Mount)

3.       Run Setup.exe

4.   Click **Install**

5.   Reboot if prompted, then re-run the Setup executable from step 3

6.   Accept the License Agreement

https://preview.redd.it/klwp3xcoknpd1.png?width=551&format=png&auto=webp&s=536f99e956269535262ac2f7c28c36cf5c352223

7.     When prompted to install features just click Next

8.       When asked to Browse for license, just click Next

9.       Install any missing features (Click Next once missing features are enabled)

10.     I just left the settings regarding accounts on Defaults

11.     Let Veeam install

 Setting up Backup Repository in Veeam Backup & Replication Console

1.       Go to Backup Infrastructure and right-click on Backup Repositories

2.       Select Add Backup Repository

3.       Go Network attached storage > SMB share (In my case, I will have Veeam backing up to my NAS, but you could backup to an external HDD on the same PC, an external HDD plugged into your router or even the cloud.)

4.       Enter Name for the backup repository (can be anything)

5.       Enter UNC path (e.g. \\exampleserver\data)

a.       NOTE: Backups will automatically create their own subfolders (e.g. if backing up HOME-PC, it will automatically create a sub-folder under \\exampleserver\data called HOME-PC so you can use the one backup repository for all system backups)

b.       Add creds for server

6.       Leave everything else on defaults then click Finish

a.       It will then check configuration and if good will see green ticks

Creating New Backup Jobs

Now the destination for the backups has been created with the backup repository above, individual PCs/VMs need to be setup for backups (point to this backup repository, set automatic backup frequency and times etc.)

1.       Go to Home > Jobs Backups Job and select relevant option seen below

2.       Using the example of creating a backup job for a VM, select this and then give it a name (e.g. HOME-PC)

3.       On the Virtual Machines tab, select Add and it should list VMs from ESXi on the network. Select the relevant VM to create a backup job for

4.       On the Storage tab, select the name of the backup repository you just created previously from the drop-down

5.       Leave Guest Processing on default

6.       To setup automatic scheduled backups, click the Run the job automatically checkbox as seen below and set frequency and time for backups to occur

7.       Click next and Finish

a.       Optional: Run backup job to test working

Creating a Script to Run a Backup on Shutdown

If you're using this as a guide, open Notepad (or your preferred TXT editor) and copy the below code. Note you may need to adjust the value for Start-Sleep -Seconds as this will determine the time Windows will wait for the backup to complete before shutting down. If you're going to perform a full system backup each time instead of incremental backups, you may want to set this value to something like an hour to be safe, which would be Start-Sleep -Seconds 3600. Also make sure the filepath for the Veeam Endpoint Manager executable is correct. You can verify this by opening File Explorer and browsing to this executable in your Veeam folder, then if it is different from below copy the path and replace it in the script.

# Start Veeam backup job
Start-Process "C:\Program Files\Veeam\Endpoint Backup\Veeam.EndPoint.Manager.exe" -ArgumentList "/backup"

# Wait for the backup to complete
Start-Sleep -Seconds 600  # Adjust the sleep time based on your backup duration

# Shutdown the computer
Stop-Computer -Force# Start Veeam backup job
Start-Process "C:\Program Files\Veeam\Endpoint Backup\Veeam.EndPoint.Manager.exe" -ArgumentList "/backup"

# Wait for the backup to complete
Start-Sleep -Seconds 600  # Adjust the sleep time based on your backup duration

# Shutdown the computer
Stop-Computer -Force

Run the Script on Shutdown

Finally, I'll create a task in Task Scheduler which runs this script when a shutdown is triggered, which can be done with the below steps.

1. Open Task Scheduler.
2. Create a new task:
   • Name: Backup and Shutdown
   • Trigger: On an event.
     • Log: System
     • Source: User32
     • Event ID: 1074 (This event ID corresponds to system shutdown).
   • Action: Start a program.
     • Program/script: powershell.exe
     • Add arguments: -File "C:\Path\To\backup-and-shutdown.ps1"

Eventually I will grab a 500 GB SSD, clone the mechanical drive I'm initially using to that and once I've verified everything works on the SSD, I'll label the drive "WMR VR BACKUP" and throw this into storage as an additional form of backup.

FIN.

Hi all,

Current Build:

• 5700x with Asrock B450 a/c and water cooled with one 120 mm fan

• 32 GB RAM

• RTX 2060 6 GB

• HP Reverb G1 - will upgrade that to the Oculus Q2 or 3 depending on this answer.

• 750W PSU

• Windows 10 (avoiding Win 11 like the plague due to dropped support for WMR)

I am looking to upgrade my GPU because the 2060 is 6GB and I bottleneck with some games I play in VR and I can't play 1440p. I was wondering if 7000 series radeon is worth getting into. I remember there were posts saying if you are upgrading with VR games in mind, NVidia is the best route, but they are expensive, even used market. Budget is the price of a brand new 4080 non-super.

If I only play 1080p or do the other kinds of stuff, the 2060 is fine, and I do NOT play with RT. If I go with Nvidia, I will either go with a used 3090 or a new 4070 ti Super, just to address the VR part.

Here's my usage breakdown:

• 40% Photoshop and Lightroom

• 30% Coding

• 20% VR gaming

• 10% 1080p gaming

I have dusted off my old Acer Windows Mixed Reality glasses (Acer AH101), they were stored for 4 years

I have connected them to a laptop

1050ti

Is there any way to see on the screen what is seen in the glasses?

In the display configuration panel I see 4 screens

and options like "extend to 1y2,1y3,1y4,2y3,2y4 and so on. I have already tried several but even though it blinks as if indicating the change I cannot see the image on the laptop screen.

TLDR: DIY USB+HDMI on broken odyssey+ possible?

I have a Samsung Odyssey+ WMR headset with a cut cable that I'm trying to fix.(has like 50cm of length left) I threw away both the USB and HDMI ends because I couldn't splice them back together (I bought the headset with the broken cable). I also think I shorted that chip somehow thats when I gave up. I think USB splice worked many times and I even got to the point of being in vr on windows just black on oled screens(had hdmi cable with no gnds connected, but after I bought proper hdmi cable I wasn't able to reach this point again since the usb chip was damaged and headset doesn't work in usb 2 only). The USB connector had a chip in it to boost the signal, but I’m pretty sure that the HDMI end didn't have any chip(I destroyed the connector to find if there was something inside like in USB 3 connector case but no it was normal HDMI connector with no chips.

My goal is to keep the cable length short, around 2 meters or less, since I’ll be sitting next to my PC. I don’t need a long 3m+ cable. I'm certain usb 3 is doable since I spliced it many times. I also had luck with splicing test hdmi cable I cut to try and splice and monitor was able to get signal.(the wires were more solid but still I reconnected it correctly and it worked...)

Is there anyone here with some technical expertise who can help? From what I understand, the signal boost chip in the USB might only be there to extend the cable length. So, would the headset work with just plain USB 3.0 and HDMI cables without those chips? I have an HDMI 2.0 spec cable with all 19 pins connected, which should meet the spec for high-res 90Hz VR. The most important thing is to match the length for each pair. But I don't want to tackle this diy project again if I know its set to failure... I don't think I ever could find a cable for it.

As for the USB cable, I remember it having two 5V wires, gnd, a pair for USB 2.0 data, another 2 pairs for USB 3.0 data, and a mystery light blue wire.

On the HDMI side, all 19 pins were used, and most HDMI pairs had a ground wire connected. Most HDMI cables don’t connect a ground wire for each pair, but since this is for VR, I assume the grounding is needed to meet the higher spec for 90Hz at high resolution.

If there is nothing special going on without that chip on usb side and if someone know what that mystery wire is possible there for, it might work on shorter length that doesn't need that chip on USB connector and it might be worth trying to attempt this again unless there is something on the headset that needs this chip to make it all work...

EDIT: Sadly its never detected as usb 3 device no matter if i swap the wires of the rx pairs or tx pairs or connect mystery blue wire to gnd or 5v it doesn't get detected as it was when it had that chip. Well I tried... Idk if I could reuse parts of it for diy headset or something.

https://preview.redd.it/q8l3mq3ghjpd1.jpg?width=1500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d51d5aa956e877ef313af6c5058a175be731391f

I have tried in a friends pc and it worked fine. Im using a laptop, my laptop performs better than my friends in any game. How do I fix this 1-8 error?

My laptop is pretty old.

GPU: GT 620M

Integrated GPU: Intel HD 4000

CPU: Intel I7-3610QM

RAM: 16Gb DDR3

So what will we all do in the future when the software for the WMR headsets stops working? Because what I find frustrating about standalone headsets like the quest 3 is you always have to buy a powerbank for it to even stay in for long when there’s tethered headsets that are much lighter, more comfortable, and you can just plug it in your PC and stay on as long as you want.

Might not be much we can do since the vr market is moving away from pcvr. Perhaps we could use those split cables and use standalone devices as pcvr headsets.

I can’t help but feel sorry for my HP reverb g2. I really liked that headset.

Hey everyone, I decided to dabble into VR a bit (mainly just to play Half-Life Alyx as intended) and got a very good condition Odyssey+ for about $80 USD shipped. I did do my research ahead of time and know Microsoft is pulling the plug on WMR. My rig is policy protected to 23H2 for the time being I have backup images, and a Win10 install just in case. I am keeping tabs on the Monado project as well. I don't understand why Microsoft will not just make a legacy app/driver package drop that will allow SteamVR to just work natively with the hardware? Here is hoping to that! (I don't really need the cliff house and stuff, if it just puts me in games/steam VR we are good to go IMO) I snagged a pair of the Reverb G2 controllers (new back stock) for $40 shipped from eBay as well. So after adapters and stuff I'm only $150 in my setup, but I didn't really want to spend more than that for just one game.

Anyways, first impressions are kind of trippy! Navigating the cliff house was amusing for a while. I was able to play the Halo arcade shooter game. The headset isn't super uncomfortable, but it's not comfortable either. Some of the stuff in the WMR portal are not super intuitive, but I am figuring it out a bit before I jump into Half-Life. I am glad I did my research ahead of time though. I'm happy with the OLED screens! It is very jarring coming from an 4k OLED panel with regular games, but looks leagues better than the LCD panels of the other headsets I've looked at despite the resolution advantage (Quest 2/3, HP G1) Quest 3 lenses are great though, I do wish I had those! I did read up on the controllers not being that great which spurred the G2 controller purchase as backups. I wasn't super sure of the used condition, and I know things can break. Thankfully, everything was barely used. Touch pads and things work fine. The AA batteries were still sealed up inside the box of the headset, never even taken out.

Speaking of batteries... I can already confirm that battery life is abysmal. I played around for like 2 hours and my fresh batteries (not the ones I found in the box) went to like 60-65% in both controllers! I heard it was bad...but damn! I'll have to break out the rechargeables and keep a rotation going. Maybe even do the lithium/dummy cell combo. Kinda just depends on how big of a hassle it gets to be.

All in all, while I am aware of the state of affairs on this sub/WMR platform...I am still glad I took the plunge. The cost to entry wasn't bad, and this will give me a good idea of if I'll be moving to a PSVR2 or just moving on after I've had my fun. I am hopeful that device support gets made open source.... or that spiteful individuals with the ability to code better than myself can reverse engineer the hardware/software layer as a middle finger to Microsoft. Plus, we could all keep using our hardware! IMO the hardware is still capable and fine (not perfect) and Microsoft making it basically E-waste does royally piss me off. I'm sure everyone here feels the same. Anyways....

Cheers everyone to a beautiful last 2 years of "official"ish support and a ray of open source hope to the future. Let's at least enjoy it while we can!

A Micro Center opened in Charlotte, NC. a little while back. Had a chance to go in today. They had a Meta Quest 3 demo unit. Within 5 minutes I knew it was not for me. The screen resolution is insanely good but blacks are gray. I also found that, while I could dial in my IPD, the unit was not wide enough to fit my face. I'm big boned with a large and wide head. I almost bought one the other day on sale for $450. Glad I didn't. Looks like it's going to be the Bigscreen Beyond for me this Christmas. Unless of course Samsung comes out with a better headset.

My ipd is 67 and i found some good windows vr headsets for around 70 usd, but im afraid it won't look good since ipd is automatically adjusted to 63 except for samsung version which easily costs 100+ dollars, should i go for Samsung version? Or can i get a good experience out of acer or any other version?

So this issue has happened recently my right controller lights down then starts blinking the battery's were good and when I used new batteries they turn in but endlessly blink I have no idea what's going on

Hello good people, how do i disable snap turn in mixed reality portal and steam vr, i can't physically turn because there isn't space in my room and also my vr headset is wired (hp reverb g2 v2) so physically turning around is not the smartest thing to do.

If i am facing north for example, and i want to face an object 25 degrees Noth east, if i use the analog stick, my character instantly faces east (almost east), now i have to physically turn back my head to face that object i want, which means i can't be directly in front of any object (unless the object is directly in front of that position it snaps which is 0.00000001 chance of happening), which means i play the whole game with my head physically turned when facing forward. This snap turn is enabled everywhere including mixed reality portal, steam and all games. I want to be able to turn smoothly like you do when playing with a controller on flatscreen, if you turn with right analog/ mouse, you turn around smoothly, not in 70 degrees intervals.

mixed reality portal states "Driver installation in progress;Your device requires an additional driver to be installed to continue with setup, which may be blocked by other updates in progress."

Nothing shows in device manager under mixed reality devices

tried different usb ports, hdmi

Already reinstalled windows, WMR app, etc

WMR app wont open on its own when headset plugged in

Thinking the cable might be dead or something since i havent used it in a year, thoughts? :(

I have a blue Diaglog box with some computer language inside it. The box floats around just above my field of view in the headset. I have no idea how it got there or how to delete it Help?

Ive found new appreciation for the HP G2. I only dabbled before in SkyrimVR and AlyxVR and some VR videos it never clicked until recently when I just watched a regular movie with it and liked it. I was using DeoVR but it seems to have gotten worst so im looking for some suggestions and a few features if they exist.

Is it possible to watch 2D Content "Fullscreen"? Or a player that automatically turns videos into 3D? Any Upscaling?

Could/Does anyone use HP G2 Reverb as a Monitor?

I would like to share my experience with the left hand controller on my Samsung HMD Odyssey+. After several pairing failures and several failed attempts to pair it again, even after resetting the controller, I did something more drastic: I decided to disassemble the control completely. So I removed the screws, took everything apart, removing circuit boards and connectors. I cleaned everything with isopropyl alcohol (using a flat brush), let the alcohol evaporate and put everything back together. I had expectations that I had done everything correctly. To my surprise, the controller paired again and I have it as new, working perfectly. I hope this helps anyone who is having similar issues.

Spent all day yesterday updating from 21H2 to 23H2. Then the optional feature update kb5041587 (originally part of 24H2 but backported to 23H2) to improve AMD performance. I have now locked updates using regedit AND inControl.exe. Am I now future-proof against Microsofts WMR fuckery? Or is there something I'm missing? Just don't want my Reverb G2 to brick.

My controllers have a hard time connecting via bluetooth, sometimes I can get one, or both to connect, but it's a process of plugging, and unplugging my bluetooth adapter over, and over again, sometimes just one controller will pop up in the bluetooth connection search, sometimes it'll show up as "Input", and sometimes they just don't show up in general, I'm going to try a new bluetooth adapter soon, but I'm wondering if this is just an overall issue with the controllers themselves, does anyone else often have this issue?

the right eye screen works fine, only the left eye's right half is not working is there any fix for this?

Hi all, I realize it's 2024 but I'm having issues with a new-to-me Lenovo Explorer. It keeps giving me error 14-2. I plug it in, go through the setup, get Windows Mixed Reality all good and in the end when it tries to connect, it gives me an error 14-2.
I'm running Windows 11 off a Thinkpad T14 Gen 1 (yes, not blazing fast hardware... hence why I was thinking an older VR headset). Looking for any trouble shooting steps. I've already reinstalled Windows MR software once.
I did do some deep diving and looks like possibly Windows 11 or newer updates or Windows 10 just aren't compatible with Windows MR??
Confirmed I'm on Windows 23H2

Thanks in advance.

Recently purchased a used Samsung HMD Odyssey+ just to play through Alyx. When I connected it to my main PC and attempted to set it up via the Mixed Reality Portal it stops at "Check your display cable" error code 1-4.

So I spent hours reading through previous posts and troubleshooting. Using different USB ports, powered USB hub, HDMI to USB - C adapter, USB-A to USB-C adapter, changing refresh rate, disabling various items in device manager and re-enabling them etc etc etc

Finally I thought that the headset must be defective but to rule it out I tried it on a non-gaming PC with integrated graphics and it setup and worked no problem...but I can't play Alyx on that PC nor is it feasible to try.

So I know the headset works but it just won't work with the PC I want it to.

PC it will not work with:

• Alienware Aurora R8
• i7-9700k
• 32GB RAM
• RTX 2080 (plugged headset into this HDMI port and also tried its USB-C port)
• Windows 11 with latest updates

PC it WILL work with

• Lenovo Ideacenter

• Ryzen 5 3400g

• 8GB RAM

• Integrated graphics (RX Vega 11)

• Windows 10

UPDATE: Thanks to user r/old-newbie who sent me in the right direction. I was able to surmise that my Windows install was missing crucial components tied to WMR stopping it from working correctly. My resolution ultimately was a clean install of the latest Windows 11 (23H2) from Microsoft. It still would not work initially until I ran all of the updates, cumulative updates and updated gfx drivers to the latest ver. Then after a couple of reboots it worked.

I think it is important to point out that the latest Windows 11 is in fact still compatible with WMR. As of this writing is it Windows 11 23H2 (built 22631.4112). Many people is support threads I came across advised people that support has ended with Windows and that was the reason WMR wouldn't work, that the functionality has been removed and blocked. This is false. EOL for WMR is coming this fall with Windows 11 24H2 so we should be safe until then and even then if we do not install that update.

i want to download the WMR home as a world for vrchat for nostalgia reasons be for its goes. dose anyone have a model of it or know were to get it i just would like to know ?

Iam running the lastetst Version of Windows 11 Pro N and dont know why I get this message.

I just bought a HP Reverb G2 and cant use it.

Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

I have a Lenovo Explorer headset and have lost the controllers that came with the headset in a move. No clue how it happened, since I thought they were packed in the same box. Does anyone know if it's possible to use a different brand of controllers with the Explorer? Since all I can find are Dell Visor, or the slightly different(no track pads and the Xbox style buttons on the reverbs) HP Reverb G2.

Hi all, this should be dead easy but I'm having a dumb moment... I just got a new compy and after installing a bunch of games from steam, I went to go and add them to the Cliff House as "tiles" (or whatever they're called) but they aren't coming up in the "All Apps" or "Classic Apps" list in the Windows menu inside the Cliff House and so I can't select them; what am I missing?

Thanks all :)

I cant buy 6 meter cable for hp reverb g2 so my only option is 1 meter cable if it work in something besides hp vr backpack pc

Is it possible to install software into the headset?

Does it have any internal memory?

Can it be faactory reseted?

Can files be transferd into it?

I can't open the built in calendar, clicking the wi fi icon doesn't open the wi fi tab anymore, sound icon doesn't open either and most importantly, clicking add bluetooth or other devices in settings does nothing, I can't add any more bluetooth devices because of this. PLEASE HELP!