Desktops sometimes not appearing in SteamVR

[Reonu]

I'm having a very annoying issues in where, upon entering SteamVR, it will simply fail to show the buttons to access my desktops from within VR. Like there's supposed to be 2 little monitor icons at the bottom, next to the SteamVR icon, right? Sometimes they just... don't show up. Sometimes they show up if I exit SteamVR and enter it again, and sometimes they won't show up until I restart my entire PC.

This is very annoying because it completely prevents me from using my desktop within VR which is often necessary.

I'm running Windows 11 and connecting via Steam Link with a Quest 3.

I have a suspicion that the issue only shows up if my monitors have gone to sleep at any point before launching SteamVR, but I'm not 100% sure.

Let me know fi I can help diagnose the issue.

[DominikLOL]

Originally posted by Reonu:

I'm having a very annoying issues in where, upon entering SteamVR, it will simply fail to show the buttons to access my desktops from within VR. Like there's supposed to be 2 little monitor icons at the bottom, next to the SteamVR icon, right? Sometimes they just... don't show up. Sometimes they show up if I exit SteamVR and enter it again, and sometimes they won't show up until I restart my entire PC.

This is very annoying because it completely prevents me from using my desktop within VR which is often necessary.

I'm running Windows 11 and connecting via Steam Link with a Quest 3.

I have a suspicion that the issue only shows up if my monitors have gone to sleep at any point before launching SteamVR, but I'm not 100% sure.

Let me know fi I can help diagnose the issue.

sometimes happens to me as well, had to reset the settings by deleting file called "steamvr.vrsettings" in \Steam\config\

[Reonu]

Originally posted by DominikLOL:

sometimes happens to me as well, had to reset the settings by deleting file called "steamvr.vrsettings" in \Steam\config\

Does that fix it permanently? This issue pops up randomly and a SteamVR restart sometimes fixes it, and a PC restart always fixes it. If deleting that file fixes it only for the next session, then it still needs a proper fix by Valve...

[Reonu]

Update: Today I've confirmed that whether my monitors have gone to sleep before launching SteamVR or not has no effect. I got this issue right after a cold boot. Restarting SteamVR "fixed" it.

[DominikLOL]

Originally posted by Reonu:

Originally posted by DominikLOL:

sometimes happens to me as well, had to reset the settings by deleting file called "steamvr.vrsettings" in \Steam\config\

Does that fix it permanently? This issue pops up randomly and a SteamVR restart sometimes fixes it, and a PC restart always fixes it. If deleting that file fixes it only for the next session, then it still needs a proper fix by Valve...

well not permanently but it doesn't happen after new sessions, happens sometime but it fixes it for some time

[Reonu]

Is Valve aware of this issue? It's super frustrating :(

Again, I can help debug it if you can't reproduce it or whatever

[DominikLOL]

Originally posted by Reonu:

Is Valve aware of this issue? It's super frustrating :(

Again, I can help debug it if you can't reproduce it or whatever

I don't think they are aware of this issue

[Skuva]

It's been like this since SteamVR 1.X

I've never managed to reproduce it or fix it consistently. Really seems to be random. So whenever I really want those windows, I keep restarting everything until they show up.

[DominikLOL]

Originally posted by Skuva:

It's been like this since SteamVR 1.X

I've never managed to reproduce it or fix it consistently. Really seems to be random. So whenever I really want those windows, I keep restarting everything until they show up.

resetting the settings (removing the file) seems consistent fix until it breaks again

[dettox1]

+1

[Reonu]

I found a fix for this. Opening XSOverlay (paid app) always forces the desktop icons to show up for some reason. So ever since I set XSOverlay to open automatically when SteamVR opens, I've never had this issue again...

Of course, that requires purchasing XSOverlay... it's possible other SteamVR addons cause the same behaviour, but I'm not sure.

This leads me to believe that the entire issue is just SteamVR giving up on refreshing the desktops before it should, and opening XSOverlay forces it to "search" for desktops again. If this is the case, all Valve needs to do to fix this is just making SteamVR look for desktops for longer. Then again I have no idea what I'm talking about so idk