Oculus to end Rift support on Windows 7... immediately.

Boycey0211 · 30 Jul 2019 at 19:57

Well we've all known it was coming, they said they were dropping support for win 7 in the future but 'existing users will still be able to use their vr gear, but without some features of oculus home'

Well that didn't happen. They removed support in the latest patch by accident and left me and many other users with paperweights. Allegedly they have fixed it today, but now my oculus software refuses to update with the hotfix.

I've tried reinstalling the software completely, this just ended up with the software telling me to install windows updates that I already had, and after that just refused to install on windows 7 again.

Anyone suffering with this? I'm now stuck with a load of useless VR gear until I can afford to get myself a new SSD for Win 10 which I really didnt want to start using anyway :/

Dano · 31 Jul 2019 at 20:03

Just get on and update to win 10, it'll run from a mechanical drive quite happily.

theoneofgod · 1 Aug 2019 at 02:30

I know it can be frustrating but it was expected. I've been running Windows 10 for quite some time and it's really not all that bad, I mean compared to the bad press it gets.

andybird123 · 1 Aug 2019 at 11:27

I mean, even if you are that much of a luddite that you insist on running windows 7, you can just dual boot windows 10 too, its not like oculus have a gun to your head

GBRusty · 1 Aug 2019 at 17:49

Was it a mistake to break the windows 7 build? When they say it's out of support they usually mean just that, they won't support any errors but it should carry on working for the time being.

Uther · 1 Aug 2019 at 19:43

Install classic shell on a W10 install then you can pretend you're still using W7 like me.

Boycey0211 · 5 Aug 2019 at 23:55

Managed to get it sorted by using user made startup commands to get the installer to stop checking if I had windows 10, runs perfectly as it did before the update. Oculus confirmed it was an unintentional error and released a hotfix but that didn't work for people like me who had already attempted to fix it.

As for the luddite comments, bit harsh really. I've got a working OS which I'm well aware is out of date but works perfectly, on a drive that isn't big enough to hold the upgrade.

Assuming I did want to upgrade and got myself a new SSD, i'm currently on 1mb internet. its not the initial download that bothers me, its the constant auto updates even when disabled that will ruin using my PC.

I've had windows 10 before on my laptop. That left me with a bricked laptop for nearly 3 months out with work as it tried updating via a 3G internet connection and I had to wait till I got home to sort out, and again a bricked laptop for 3 weeks before I got home as microsoft decided that my graphics card was no longer supported so just uninstalled the drivers. Both times I've had to clean install win10 losing all my data and live in fear its just going to happen again.

bremen1874 · 6 Aug 2019 at 00:26

Boycey0211 said:
Both times I've had to clean install win10 losing all my data and live in fear its just going to happen again.

How can reinstalling Windows cause you to lose any data?

What are your plans for when Windows 7 goes EOL?

Boycey0211 · 6 Aug 2019 at 11:50

bremen1874 said:
How can reinstalling Windows cause you to lose any data?

What are your plans for when Windows 7 goes EOL?

Because having an install so broken and unable to even log on to repair it meant I had to completely wipe my OS drive and start again. Trust me I had three months to try other fixes

And yes I will update to 10 but not sure why I need to bother when I've got a currently supported OS that's given me no issues.

I don't think it's daft to assume that when something is no longer supported it just becomes inoperable?

Dano · 6 Aug 2019 at 15:02

Boycey0211 said:
Assuming I did want to upgrade and got myself a new SSD, i'm currently on 1mb internet. its not the initial download that bothers me, its the constant auto updates even when disabled that will ruin using my PC.

You are overreacting somewhat there.

Boycey0211 said:
Because having an install so broken and unable to even log on to repair it meant I had to completely wipe my OS drive and start again. Trust me I had three months to try other fixes

No backups? no ability to connect the drive to another device to copy data? Sounds more like bad planning than W10's fault.

And yes I will update to 10 but not sure why I need to bother when I've got a currently supported OS that's given me no issues.

We're ignoring the issues you posted about then? Not bothered about ongoing security of your system?

I don't think it's daft to assume that when something is no longer supported it just becomes inoperable?

Whatever you want to think come the time when oculus stop supporting W7 it might very well just stop working due to an update.

Boycey0211 · 6 Aug 2019 at 17:27

Dano said:
You are overreacting somewhat there.

No backups? no ability to connect the drive to another device to copy data? Sounds more like bad planning than W10's fault.

We're ignoring the issues you posted about then? Not bothered about ongoing security of your system?

Whatever you want to think come the time when oculus stop supporting W7 it might very well just stop working due to an update.

From my personal experience its not overreacting. That exact reason has left me sat in a room for weeks with nothing to do except look at the walls.

And no, not unless I was willing to dismantle my laptop to retrieve the drive and then find someone willing to let me somehow plug into theirs to transfer data.

I am bothered about security, which is why I'm planning to upgrade before January, when the support ends. That doesn't address the issue of planned obsolescence of a product less that three years old. Oh and win 10 released the year before that so you could argue they could have been on it from day one. And its still doesn't reflect the issue that this was done with an overnight auto update, no warning and contrary to what was previously stated.

Either way I've got it working now so I suppose me and the other 36% of luddites still using windows 7 can carry on for now...