SOLVED: SteamVR error 475

[Kniv3s187]

So, i spent several days this past week doing nothing but trying to figure out why my Oculus Rift S was not being detected by SteamVR after it had JUST worked the first day i had it, for a short time. Apart from the Oculus software not starting the OVRServer automatically - I currently have to start the server myself when i want to use it, then the Oculus software will load - which there still doesn't seem to be a permanent solution to, It now runs what few VR games i currently have on Steam.

UPDATE 11/3/20:

After scouring the net for anybody having the same issue as me, and finding no answers, i realized there was one solution that completely solved it for me, that i thought i already had been doing: RUN STEAM AS AN ADMINISTRATOR. it is VERY important, and i'm not sure why it has to be, but running steam normally prevents steamvr from detecting my headset and controllers properly. NOrmally it would start up and give the "OH No! STEAMVR has encountered and unexptected problem." And it would show my headset icon as green and ready for just a second or two and shut down. but my controllers were not being detected as "Ready."

The important thing to do, if you're having this error, is to make a shortcut to steam that is set to run as an admin. For the not-so-tech-savvy, if you have a shortcut on your desktop for steam, just right click->properties. Under the Compatibility tab, look for the check box labeled "Run as Administrator. if it is greyed out, you should see a button labeled "Change Settings for all users" with a colored shield icon on it. If Windows UAC is set up to warn you about changes like this, just click yes, and check the box mentioned earlier. Once that is set correctly, the steam icon on your shortcut should have the same shield icon in the corner of it.

Upon running this modified shortcut, you should get two warnings: First is Windows UAC, asking for permission to run the program, which will always be the first sign that you're running steam as an ADMIN. the second will be a warning from steam saying that you should turn off compatibility mode. if you dont check the box labeled "Never show this message again" you will get it every time you start steam in this manner. From one of the warnings i recieved, unless you use Big-Picture mode, or the SteamVR environment mode quite often, it should not affect anything significant. This tiny little solution worked for me and my Oculus works practically flawlessly.

In addition to the Steam setting, i also had to purchase a PCIe USB 3.0 expansion card because apparently none of the USB 3 & 3.1 ports (there's a total of 8, plus 2 2.0 ports) on my mobo were adequate for the Rift S, even the two that were labeled "VR Ready." But that also alleviated the headache of losing tracking quite frequently. I still sometimes have to run the device setup on the Oculus software, but that's usually if i lose picture in the HMD. otherwise it detects them instantly, rather than taking 30s to a full minute with other ports.

I don't know about other HMDs, i don't see why it wouldn't, since it's just SteamVR that was the issue in the end, but this definitely saved me a third trip to MicroCenter to return it if i hadn't figured this out when i did. If this solution works for you, please spread the knowledge.

UPDATE 11/3/2020:

FIrstly, It would seem i have forgotten the name and location of this file, (it is NOT the OVR services, but rather the server application) and perhaps why it has not worked for some people. Sorry about that. It is located in (by default)
C:\Program Files\Oculus\support\oculus-runtime\OVRServer_64.exe

This is the file that, by using this solution, i need to start, along with the Oculus Home software (it seems completely random as to whether OH will start automatically when this file is run. sometimes i start it manually anyway.)

That being said, I believe having to run that application manually - it is run as an admin by default and cannot be changed - leads to the additional problems, such as having to run Steam in Admin mode to get SteamVR to work properly, which in-turn causes other problems, unforseen to me until now.

Second: I have since learned that using this method, at least for myself, causes a few other programs to behave abnormally, one of them being Discord's Overlay. But just this evening i have discovered that running Steam as Admin also breaks the voice recognition for Phasmophobia, both in normal and VR mode. But as per this solution, i HAVE to run Steam as an Admin in order to get SteamVR to run properly, ergo completely disabling certain functions, such as voice recognition. I am currently searching and testing methods and solutions that can give me a completely fresh installation of the Oculus software so that the proper applications and services will run correctly.

UPDATE 11/4/2020: I HAVE FINALLY GOTTEN OCULUS REINSTALLED CORRECTLY AND FUNCTIONING PROPERLY AND NO LONGER HAVE TO USE THIS WORK-AROUND!!!!!!

Now that that's out of the way, this was MY solution. After scouring the 'net for just over a year and change, i've sussed out the solution for this problem. I came across a YT video explaining how to reinstall Oculus software from scratch. Having tried this video's method, and summarily failing to solve the issue, i went one step further.

First step, uninstall the oculus software through the setup program or Windows. Once that has been completed, there will still be files left on the system drive, and/or drive Oculus is installed, so instead of wandering aimlessly through all the folders, i just went to my C: drive and searched for "oculus"

Once that is finished i simply deleted EVERY FILE/FOLDER that contained the word "oculus" within it, except for the installation file, of course you can download it again if necessary. After every Oculus-related file has been deleted, I went into Registry Editor and did the same thing, although manually finding folders relating to "Oculus" and deleting them.

The final step was reinstalling the Oculus software. Once that was installed, i FINALLY got the login screen for the first time since i first installed it back in July of 2019. The setup process properly identified my Rift, and controllers, and started the Home dashboard, where everything was as it was the last time using it. The pies de resistance was starting up SteamVR with ABSOLUTELY NO ERRORS!!!!!! i am so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ excited that this worked for me after all this time. It seems that merely uninstalling Oculus in this situation will not correct whatever mistake i made to require this work-around. Please let me know if this works for anybody else, i had my doubts at first, but now i'm totally stoked i can play Phasmophobia proplery now. I plan to lock this thread if this works for anybody else.

[Kipsta]

Thank you so much man. Suddenly SteamVR appeared to be broken(error 301 & 309) and nothing helped, but running as admin has fixed it. How the ♥♥♥♥ did I not try this? It's just so strange when software starts to act up from one day to the next without anything happening inbetween.

[Kniv3s187]

glad to hear i'm not the only one that had this problem. Please, pass on this info if you know of others that are having this issue.

[One Sneezy Boi]

Thank you! You are just the best, because you saved my day and probably my whole future!

[Dork Demon]

im sorry but i did everything in this thread but it still didnt work

[Stew]

tysm!

[Lawrl Cawrl]

I tried to start SteamVR through Virtual Desktop and i tried many solutions but none has worked yet...

[toodles]

Your solution didnt work for me but if this helps anyone else I solved my 475 error by going inside oculus - beta tab - restart oculus!

as soon as it restarted i launched up steamvr no problem

[Kniv3s187]

Originally posted by Phineas:

Your solution didnt work for me but if this helps anyone else I solved my 475 error by going inside oculus - beta tab - restart oculus!

as soon as it restarted i launched up steamvr no problem

I wish it had been that simple for me, but that also reminds me that anyone who hasn't done so must also make sure that "Allow Unknown Sources" is enabled in the Oculus General settings. And because i dont play VR games on the reg, i've come across another minor bug involving my Oculus not being detected with audio devices. The only fix/workaround i've come across is to either start the software with the usb cable unplugged, or disconnecting and reconnecting while it is running. It seems every time i decide to play a vr game, an Oculus update ends up breaking something like that. I deal with it in the meantime. i'm glad at least some of you have had success with my fix.

[polaritus {ham mafia}]

I tried doing it, but it didn't work, I got unknown sources up, and it still didn't work. If you have a solution for that, please do tell me.

[Eztak ᨐ ∫]

If anyone is still having issues getting steamVR to work, try completely unplugging the headset and closing down both steamVR, and Oculus. This might require you to open task manager and kill any background tasks, because for some reason Oculus' app decides it can detect your headset even though it doesn't. Hope this helps, it helped me anyways.

[Azrae]

Anyone have any solutions on how to fix this issue via virtual desktop then please let me know.

[Dick Longflop]

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ IT WORKED!!!!! I've spent 11 hours on this now, and i finally got my Quest 2 to run steamvr!! I mean... I can't play any games through it, because my pc isn't strong enough, but hey, IT F***EN WORKED!!!!!

[bg71387]

Did this work for anyone who had an infinite loading screen

[bg71387]

because i just tried it it never worked for me it just says the same thing and i have been tring to fix this issues for days

[iamsantelmo]

2024 and still having the same issue with Quest 3.... what to do?