Windows MR headsets might work again soon—thanks to one Microsoft developer

Microsoft quietly dropped support for Windows Mixed Reality headsets with the rollout of Windows 11 24H2. That move instantly bricked compatibility for a range of headsets from Acer, HP, Lenovo, Dell, Asus, and Samsung.

That’s not all; even SteamVR’s access vanished. But a surprising comeback may be in the works—and it’s not coming from Microsoft officially (via UploadVR).

One dev, a big idea, and a new driver called “Oasis”

Software engineer Matthieu Bucchianeri is building something called “Oasis”—a native SteamVR driver that bypasses the broken MR runtime entirely. This would let headsets like the Reverb G2 work with SteamVR directly, just like a Valve Index or HTC Vive.

Bucchianeri isn’t just tinkering. He’s a veteran developer with deep VR and hardware experience. His résumé includes work on the PS4 and PlayStation VR at Sony, rocket systems at SpaceX, and HoloLens at Microsoft.

He also co-created tools like OpenXR Toolkit and VDXR, and he’s been vocal about where the industry has gone wrong, particularly Meta’s past OpenXR approach. Per Bucchianeri, getting Oasis to function took a mix of heavy reverse engineering and persistence.

He insists it doesn’t break IP laws, but he’s keeping the code closed to avoid brushing up against internal Microsoft NDAs or confidential documentation.

What’s the catch?

For now, Oasis only works with NVIDIA GPUs. That’s because AMD locks down its VR direct mode more tightly, though talks are ongoing. Bucchianeri hopes to release the driver for free this fall, opening the door for cheap, secondhand Windows MR headsets to plug back into PC VR.

Feature image source: Unsplash/@Laurens Derks