Windows 10 Tip: Disable the Mixed Reality Portal Hardware Checks

Microsoft started shipping Acer and HP Mixed Reality headsets this week and developers are starting to gripe about the hardware requirement checks built into the Windows Mixed Reality Portal app. Fear not, there’s always a workaround and in this case, it’s simple.

First, do consider the warning. Microsoft didn’t fabricate the hardware requirements to drive hardware component sales. Mixed Reality needs this stuff, so do consider upgrading some hardware if you can.

Obligatory warning out of the way, here are the steps:

1. Open the Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Holographic\FirstRun (you can paste that into the address bar at the top).
2. Create a new DWORD (32-bit) value (either via Edit or context menu) and give it a name of AllowFailedSystemChecks.
3. Double-click that value and set its data to 1.
4. Restart Mixed Reality Portal and click Next on the hardware check screen you were previously stuck at.

To reverse the change, simply delete the value or set its data to 0.