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acaciocarvalho
New Participant
August 3, 2026
Question

Quest 3 not showing anything when I switch to VR mode

  • August 3, 2026
  • 8 replies
  • 290 views

After the latest Quest 3 update (7/27/26) I've been unable to play any PCVR games via SteamVR or Virtual Desktop.

Here's what's happening:

- Start Virtual Desktop or Quest Air Link
- Click the "Launch steam VR" button
- Instead of showing Steam VR as usual, it just shows me my room (passthrough)
- On the PC monitor you can see the actual game in VR, the headset tracks correctly and everything seems fine, but inside the headset there's nothing but the passthrough.
- This also happens even if some environment is selected instead of passthrough.

The same happens with MSFS2024 when I click to switch to VR. Normally it would fade to black and then switch to VR, now it fades to black and then shows me my room on passthrough. I can hear the audio from the game still playing but nothing is on screen.

Essentially, I can interact and see everything in Virtual Desktop in 2D, but as soon as I switch to VR in any application it goes to the passthrough view instead of VR.

8 replies

steve40
steve40
Honored Contributor
August 3, 2026

 

steve40
steve40
Honored Contributor
August 3, 2026

On the PC monitor you can see the actual game in VR, the headset tracks correctly and everything seems fine, but inside the headset there's nothing but the passthrough.

Sounds like you are either using the wrong OpenXR runtime, or the game needs a command-line launch parameter to make it run in the correct VR mode.

    acaciocarvalhoAuthor
    New Participant
    August 3, 2026

    I tried changing the OpenXR runtime in both Virtual Desktop and the Meta Horizon Link settings, but it didn't make any difference.

    If a command line argument is now required, as you mentioned, that's new. Also, this isn't just one game. No PCVR game launches in VR inside the headset. Native quest apps do launch in VR with no issues.

    I've been using this exact setup for over a year without any issues. Everything worked until the latest Meta Quest OS update (v2.6), which is why I suspect the update caused the problem.

    steve40
    steve40
    Honored Contributor
    August 4, 2026

    which is why I suspect the update caused the problem.

    I'm on v2.6 myself, and SteamLink, VD and AirLink are all working perfectly with my Quest 3.

    If a bug in the v2.6 software update was the cause, practically every Quest PCVR user would be bombarding this forum about the issue, like what happened about 6 months ago when Link stopped working. But you seem to be the only one that has this issue 🤷‍♂️.

    As your problem is affecting SteamLink, VD and Link, it's most likely an issue on your PC not the headset. Try a clean uninstall/reinstall of your GPU driver (or even downgrading it). What GPU are you using?

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