Quest 2: Meta is working on Air Link stuttering under Windows 11

Quest 2: Meta is working on Air Link stuttering under Windows 11

Those who use Air Link under Windows 11 have to deal with annoying stutters. John Carmack promises a fix.

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The problem has existed since the introduction of Windows 11 last October, i.e. for more than half a year. On the official support page, Meta writes that Oculus' PC software does not yet support Windows 11 and thus has been able to shirk responsibility for a long time without holding out the prospect of a solution.

Both the wireless Air Link and the wired Oculus Link are affected by annoying stutters when using the Quest 2 as a PC VR headset.

Carmack intervenes

Last week, Meta's former Oculus tech chief John Carmack broke the silence and spoke out on Twitter about the issue. "We think we have a handle on it, and an update is in the pipeline, but I can't say exactly when it will land. Sorry it has taken so long," Carmack wrote on Twitter.

It's surprising that things are only now starting to move, as Meta is busy working on Air Link improvements elsewhere. Leaks suggest that the company plans to launch a USB dongle for Air Link, and a new Air Link feature released in March allows for more stable data transfers and reduces the load on the computer.

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Virtual Desktop fixed the Win-11 problem long ago

Meanwhile, troubled Win 11 users can resort to a workaround. A critical window is kept in the foreground with a mouse click that prevents stutter. MIXED colleague Josef has described how to do this in his tutorial to combat Air Link stutter under Windows 11. Of course, this solution is not optimal, since you have to repeat these steps after every restart of the Oculus PC app and fiddle around with the Oculus Debug Tool.

Virtual Desktop developer Guy Godin proves that it is possible to respond to such a problem in a timely manner. He fixed the Win 11 stutter with an update in November. Virtual Desktop has offered wireless PC VR streaming for the Quest headset since 2019, as well as several other features, but they are chargeable.