Vive without Steam!

[Williamson County Schools]

I'm a tech for a school district and one of our teachers just bought the Vive VR headset.  They want to use it with AutoCAD to do walk thru of the houses students create.  However we block everything to do with Steam.  Is there no way to use your VR headset without Steam.  I know of no school district that would allow or open their systems to Steam.

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Moderator edit:  

We now offer a tool called the Vive Enterprise Device Manager that’s able to handle network management of SteamVR distributions. It enables SteamVR to be deployed without the need for the Steam client on secured/firewalled networks.

 

This tool is available to all Enterprise Advantage customers. For more information about the tool, or to download and activate it please visit https://enterprise.vive.com/us/product/dms/. If you have further questions, you can submit a support ticket here: https://developer.vive.com/us/contactus/

[Synthesis]

 

You can use it with the Vive software. You really just need the SteamVR client to run, but Steam isn't required for that.

Thanks,

-John C

[Williamson County Schools]

How do I install it without Steam.  Install stops everytime it can't connect to Steam site.  Tech chat support just told me it won't run at all with out it.

[Synthesis]

You may need to do the install on an open network too.

Thanks,

-John C

[Williamson County Schools]

I am the tech for the school and we'll not open any connection to Steam. I'll need offline installs so I can get this system up and running or we'll have to return it.

[Synthesis]

I'll ask around, but I don't think offline installs exist. At least, not that Valve has made available. If there's a way to for you to do the install on a different network you can then update and go into Offline mode and you can run it no problem from there. That's how we deploy demo machines to many locations.

Are you aware of any offline executables for SteamVR or Steam that can be used without a network connection back to the Steam servers? AFAIK they have to talk to the Steam servers at least one time to handshake and verify authencity. 

Thanks,

-John C

[virtual_dario]

You can also just copy the SteamVR folder alone to have an offline install.  I've installed from a usb "thumb"drive this way without having to be online. Also in SteamVR settings you can uncheck "check for steam". Many applications can be launched without having to log into Steam unless they require a DRM check. So it's really more on the content in question, So I would ask Autocad in this case about offline installs.

 

-Dario

[HackPerception]

, 

Did you try 's solution? You only need the SteamVR folder as it contains all of the compositor layer stuff required to run the HMD. The Chinese version of the Vive installer contains a Standalone SteamVR folder since Steam severs cannot be legally accessed from the mainland.

-------------

Moderator edit:  

We now offer a tool called the Vive Enterprise Device Manager that’s able to handle network management of SteamVR distributions. It enables SteamVR to be deployed without the need for the Steam client on secured/firewalled networks.

 

This tool is available to all Enterprise Advantage customers. For more information about the tool, or to download and activate it please visit https://enterprise.vive.com/us/product/dms/. If you have further questions, you can submit a support ticket here: https://developer.vive.com/us/contactus/

[Williamson County Schools]

We had to pack the whole system and take it to the teachers home.  Once installed we could mark Steam for "Offline Mode" and it worked.  Not ideal, but it's working.  For educational market you should have an independent install that does not require contacting Steam.  Thank you for your help.

[Synthesis]

 

That's a good idea. Unfortunately, we don't develop Steam/SteamVR; Valve does, so they'd be the ones to talk to about this. As far as I know, they've never developed anything like that and usually suggest the solution you've decided on: Offline Mode.

 

Thanks,

-John C