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The latest version of the SteamVR Beta automatically installs the third-party ‘Oasis’ driver, enabling compatibility with Windows VR headsets after Microsoft discontinued their support in the latest versions of Windows 11.

For years Valve has sought to support as many VR headsets as possible on SteamVR. That included Windows VR headsets from a wide range of companies including Acer, Asus, Dell, Lenovo, HP, and Samsung.

But Microsoft itself made the decision to end support for WMR headsets on the latest versions of Windows 11, making them not just incompatible with SteamVR, but the operating system entirely. For WMR users running Windows 11, 24H2 and beyond, that rendered their headsets useless.

But now the third-party ‘Oasis Driver for Windows Mixed Reality‘ has been released, which restores support for WMR headsets on SteamVR, without requiring the installation of the Mixed Reality Portal application, which is no longer available on the latest versions of Windows. Note: a major caveat of the Oasis driver is that it only supports NVIDIA GPUs, due to a lack of developer support by AMD.

Valve is taking things one step further to make sure that WMR headsets work well on SteamVR. In the latest SteamVR Beta (v2.13.1) the software will automatically install the third-party Oasis driver for users with WMR headsets that are running a version of Windows 11 that no longer supports supports the official driver from Microsoft. You can find instructions here for installing the SteamVR Beta if you’d like to check out the update for yourself.

The move is the latest in a respectable list of pro-consumer moves Valve has made to ensure seamless compatibility between SteamVR and third-party headsets. That includes making its flagship VR game, Half-Life: Alyx (2020), compatible with all SteamVR-supported headsets, and even launching a Steam Link app on Quest for wireless SteamVR play.