I’ve used my various virtual and augmented reality glasses for work a lot over the years. The dream has always been to float my work apps in a tranquil world that helps me stay focused while freeing up the angles and sizes of my screens. In the real-world screens have to sit on desks or be mounted to walls. You can’t change their sizes or shapes to match your workflow or flick the one you’re not using out of the way. VR lets you re-size, re-shape, and re-position your screens in almost any configuration. However, the limitations of VR technology have translated into mediocre results in practice. VR screens that can replace your monitor are useful in some situations, but they have remained far from the realm of mainstream useability.
I started my virtual screen journey with Virtual Desktop on the Oculus Rift. I have used the app all the way through my current Quest 3 and written several articles that feature it. The handy app lets you stream your computer’s real monitor output to a virtual screen in a virtual world. I always like the high-rise city apartment setting. There are limitations and issues when you want to use Virtual Desktop to do actual computer work. For me, the most challenging issue is that you can only have one virtual screen showing your real computer’s output at a time. Besides that, fuzzy text, and typing latency can be annoyingly difficult to tune out of your system and network.
Speaking of tuning, Virtual Desktop can be overwhelming to configure and tweak if you aren’t used to that sort of thing. Codecs, streaming protocols, and bitrates oh my, the app is too complicated for most of us. What Virtual Desktop is really good at is playing/streaming PC VR games on your Quest headset. Until a few years ago, before Quest Link and Steam Link came to be, Virtual Desktop was the only way you could do it. If you’re interested in that function, see this post. As for using it to do typical computer work, in my opinion, Virtual Desktop can get you by in a pinch but isn’t ideal for everyday use.
Of course, it didn’t take long until other developers thought they could do better. I first tried the free starter edition of Immersed on my Quest 2. The application is specifically designed to address the challenges that working in Virtual Desktop presents. The free version allows you to stream up to three screens from your computer into the VR environment, but there’s a catch. There has to be an equal number of real screens attached to your PC.
The Pro ($5.99/month) version of Immersed does not have the real screen equivalency requirement imposed on the free edition. You can create up to 5 virtual monitors in the VR world of your choice even if your computer only has one physical monitor connected. The paid version also supports virtual meeting rooms, screen sharing of the virtual monitors in apps like Teams, and other work-oriented functions.
Now, Microsoft and Meta have teamed up to bring a virtual monitor experience to the Quest 3 and the Quest 3/S. Microsoft’s Mixed Reality Link application is free in the Microsoft Store on your Windows 11 PC. It works in conjunction with the newest version of the Quest operating system. Install the app on your desktop and make sure your Quest 3 is updated to the newest version. Put your headset on and open the Virtual Display app from the Quest app drawer. Follow the on-screen prompts to pair your headset to your computer. That’s it.
You can display up to three screens in any combination of portrait or landscape. You can push and pull the screens and generally move them wherever you would like (there is a snap grid, it isn’t “free” movement). The screens can be huge like a movie theatre or small like a monitor. You can also curve or flatten them or adjust their transparency. You can choose to anchor one or more of the monitors in place or have them follow you around.
In passthrough mode the virtual screens displaying your computer’s output are superimposed over the Quest’s camera feed of the real world. Thanks to the improvements Meta has made to passthrough recently, the results are impressive. Turn off passthrough or select the option to “Go to the Loft” and the screens will appear in your Quest Loft environment rather than the real-world.
If you just updated your Quest to try the Mixed Reality Link, you may feel a little lost regarding the loft and your previous home environment. Click the menu button on your left controller to change the scenery and move the Loft from the mountains to a city for example.
Like most PC VR streaming activities, using Mixed Reality Link requires a robust, modern network and computer. Systems with a GPU and CPU will perform best. However, a separate GPU isn’t strictly required. The results from my gaming PC were fantastic. I could run three screens at the highest possible resolution without issue. I was also able to run Mixed Reality on my multi-year-old Dell XPS i-7 laptop, but it struggled there when I tried to go to three virtual screens. Microsoft has an excellent document that lists the various requirement details and even includes common troubleshooting steps if you run into issues; see: About Windows Mixed Reality Link | Microsoft Support.
Some of the options people might look for are in odd places. For example, the toggle to keep your screen layout between uses of Virtual Display is not in the Virtual Display app. It is in the Link settings page on your Quest’s settings menu. So is the option to show a physical keyboard in your VR environment. Those are the type of “complaints” that I can come up with so far. I’ve been impressed with how easy the Mixed Reality Link is to get working, how good it looks once you do, and the options it includes for free. If you’ve been looking for a way to use your Quest 3 or Quest 3/S headset instead of traditional monitors, Mixed Reality Link is a good place to start.