Microsoft has removed Windows Mixed Reality from Windows 11.
With Windows 11 24H2, the latest major version of Microsoft's PC operating system, you can no longer use a Windows MR headset in any way - not even on Steam.
This includes all the Windows MR headsets from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung, including HP's Reverb G2, released in 2020.
UploadVR tested Windows 11 24H2 with a Reverb G2 and found the above notice. Microsoft confirmed to UploadVR that this is an intentional removal when it originally announced the move back in December.
In August 3.49% of SteamVR users were using a Windows MR headset, roughly 80,000 people. If they install Windows 11 24H2, their VR headset will effectively become a paperweight.
“Existing Windows Mixed Reality devices will continue to work with Steam through November 2026, if users remain on their current released version of Windows 11 (version 23H2) and do not upgrade to this year’s annual feature update for Windows 11 (version 24H2).”
The death of Windows MR headsets comes on the same week Microsoft revealed that HoloLens 2 production has ended, and that software support for the AR headset will end after 2027.
David Heaney
Windows MR Never Really Took Off
Despite the name, all Windows MR headsets were actually VR-only, and are compatible with most SteamVR content via Microsoft's SteamVR driver.
The first 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 year earlier. They were the first consumer VR products to deliver inside-out positional tracking, for both the headset and controllers.
All the original Windows MR OEMs except Samsung used the same cheap single-panel LCD design with fixed lenses, while the Samsung Odyssey had IPD adjustment and OLED panels - the same OLED panels that would be featured in HTC Vive Pro and Oculus Quest a year and a half later.
Even though the LCD headsets were sold for as low as $200 at times, and even though Samsung offered (for the time) high-resolution OLED panels, Windows MR headsets failed to ever reach widespread adoption amongst PC VR gamers. On the Steam Hardware Survey Windows MR peaked at around 10% of SteamVR usage share in 2019, and now sits around 3.5%.
But why?
Ian Hamilton
For starters, the tracking quality left much to be desired. While the Oculus Quest and most inside-out headsets since used four or more spaced-out cameras for a wide controller tracking volume, the Windows MR headsets had just two forward-facing cameras, severely limiting the range of hand actions that could be performed. HP's Reverb G2 added two extra side cameras, but by the time it launched in 2020 it was already too late for Microsoft's platform.
Another major problem was that the controllers weren't particularly ergonomic, and felt as if designed to be as cheap as possible. That was in stark contrast to Oculus Touch and Valve's Index controllers, both beloved by most of their owners.
Essentially, Microsoft and its partners failed to give a compelling reason for people to buy the first wave of Windows MR headsets, and by the time HP arrived with Reverb and its 2K panels Meta's standalone Oculus Quest line had already started to dominate the VR hardware market.
Quest headsets' low price and ability to function as both a standalone and wireless PC VR headset made them the preferred choice for most buyers, despite being less comfortable than headsets like Reverb and having lower resolution.
The Meta Partnership
In recent years Microsoft has shifted its XR focus to a software-based long term strategic partnership with Meta.
So far that partnership has brought Xbox Cloud Gaming and Office web apps to the Horizon OS of Quest headsets.
David Heaney
Soon, it will also bring automatic extension of Windows 11 laptops by just looking at them, including spawning entirely virtual extra monitors.
And earlier this year Microsoft announced Windows Volumetric Apps, a new API for extending 3D elements of PC applications being streamed to Meta Quest into 3D space.
David Heaney
