Free Oasis Driver Revives Windows Mixed Reality Headsets with SteamVR Support
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If you thought Windows Mixed Reality was gone for good, think again. After Microsoft pulled the plug on the platform last year with the Windows 11 24H2 update, countless headsets were left collecting dust. But now, a workaround is giving those devices a second life.
As spotted by UploadVR, Xbox engineer Matthieu Bucchianeri, who once worked directly on Microsoft’s Mixed Reality project, has released a free driver on Steam called Oasis.
The name itself is a nod to the codename Microsoft used internally for its VR push. This new software revives Windows Mixed Reality headsets by adding direct SteamVR support, bypassing the abandoned Mixed Reality Portal altogether.
The Oasis driver allows full headset and controller tracking and even taps into SteamVR’s native rendering pipeline. In short, it makes those old headsets functional again, capable of running both OpenVR and OpenXR applications.
Well, there is a catch, though. You’ll need an Nvidia GPU. Bucchianeri explained that AMD and Intel drivers are missing critical features required to make this work.
What’s interesting is that it wasn’t a Microsoft project at all. Bucchianeri built Oasis independently, relying on reverse-engineering work with NVIDIA and SteamVR code. He’s keeping the source code closed but says the driver will remain free for anyone to download on Steam. All that said, you must read the full installation and setup instructions on GitHub, as you’ll need to pair your controllers via Bluetooth and “unlock” both the headset and controllers before use.
