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Air Light VR

lastmod 2025-06-14created 2025-06-143 edits

Stream VR games from your PC to your headset via Wi-Fi.

About

ALVR, short for "Air Light VR", is open-source streaming software that lets you play PC VR games wirelessly on standalone VR headsets (mainly the Meta Quest series).

Its key features are:

  • Wireless PC VR streaming: sends SteamVR games running on a PC to a Quest headset over Wi-Fi so you can play without a cable.
  • Low-latency transmission: streams video and audio in real time with low latency so gameplay is not affected.
  • Free and open source: unlike commercial solutions such as Virtual Desktop or Meta's Air Link, it is completely free to use.
  • Customizable: encoding settings, resolution, bitrate, and more can be finely tuned to optimize for the user's network environment.

Install the ALVR server on the PC and the ALVR client on the Quest headset, then connect them, and you can enjoy PC VR games such as Half-Life: Alyx and Beat Saber wirelessly. It performs best on a stable 5GHz Wi-Fi network.

alvr_fw_config.sh

During installation it asks for administrator privileges because it needs to open the firewall. The script is as follows: 

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Basic script to add / remove firewall configuration for ALVR
# Usage: ./alvr_fw_config.sh add|remove
# Exit codes:
# 1 - Invalid command
# 2 - Invalid action
# 3 - Failed to copy UFW configuration
# 99 - Firewall not found
# 126 - pkexec failed - Request dismissed

firewalld_cfg() {
    # Iterate around each active zone
    for zone in $(firewall-cmd --get-active-zones | grep -P '^\w+'); do
        if [ "${1}" == 'add' ]; then
            # If running or permanent alvr service is missing, add it
            if ! firewall-cmd --zone="${zone}" --list-services | grep 'alvr' >/dev/null 2>&1; then
                firewall-cmd --zone="${zone}" --add-service='alvr'
            fi
            if ! firewall-cmd --zone="${zone}" --list-services --permanent | grep 'alvr' >/dev/null 2>&1; then
                firewall-cmd --zone="${zone}" --add-service='alvr' --permanent
            fi
        elif [ "${1}" == 'remove' ]; then
            # If running or persistent alvr service exists, remove it
            if firewall-cmd --zone="${zone}" --list-services | grep 'alvr' >/dev/null 2>&1; then
                firewall-cmd --zone="${zone}" --remove-service='alvr'
            fi
            if firewall-cmd --zone="${zone}" --list-services --permanent | grep 'alvr' >/dev/null 2>&1; then
                firewall-cmd --zone="${zone}" --remove-service='alvr' --permanent
            fi
        else
            exit 2
        fi
    done
}

ufw_cfg() {
    # Try and install the application file
    if ! ufw app info 'alvr'; then
        # Pull application file from local build first if the script lives inside it
        if [ -f "$(dirname "$(realpath "${0}")")/ufw-alvr" ]; then
            cp "$(dirname "$(realpath "${0}")")/ufw-alvr" '/etc/ufw/applications.d/'
        elif [ -f '/usr/share/alvr/ufw-alvr' ]; then
            cp '/usr/share/alvr/ufw-alvr' '/etc/ufw/applications.d/'
        else
            exit 3
        fi
    fi

    if [ "${1}" == 'add' ] && ! ufw status | grep 'alvr' >/dev/null 2>&1; then
        ufw allow 'alvr'
    elif [ "${1}" == 'remove' ] && ufw status | grep 'alvr' >/dev/null 2>&1; then
        ufw delete allow 'alvr'
    else
        exit 2
    fi
}

iptables_cfg() {
    first_port_match_count=$(iptables -S | grep -c '9943')
    second_port_match_count=$(iptables -S | grep -c '9944')
    if [ "${1}" == 'add' ]; then
        if [ "$first_port_match_count" == "0" ] || [ "$second_port_match_count" == "0" ]; then
            if [ ! -d '/etc/iptables' ]; then
                mkdir '/etc/iptables'
            fi

            iptables -I OUTPUT -p tcp --sport 9943 -j ACCEPT
            iptables -I INPUT -p tcp --dport 9943 -j ACCEPT
            iptables -I OUTPUT -p udp --sport 9943 -j ACCEPT
            iptables -I INPUT -p udp --dport 9943 -j ACCEPT
            iptables -I OUTPUT -p tcp --sport 9944 -j ACCEPT
            iptables -I INPUT -p tcp --dport 9944 -j ACCEPT
            iptables -I OUTPUT -p udp --sport 9944 -j ACCEPT
            iptables -I INPUT -p udp --dport 9944 -j ACCEPT
            iptables-save >/etc/iptables/rules.v4
        fi
    elif [ "${1}" == 'remove' ]; then
        if [ "$first_port_match_count" == "4" ] || [ "$second_port_match_count" == "4" ]; then
            iptables -D OUTPUT -p tcp --sport 9943 -j ACCEPT
            iptables -D INPUT -p tcp --dport 9943 -j ACCEPT
            iptables -D OUTPUT -p udp --sport 9943 -j ACCEPT
            iptables -D INPUT -p udp --dport 9943 -j ACCEPT
            iptables -D OUTPUT -p tcp --sport 9944 -j ACCEPT
            iptables -D INPUT -p tcp --dport 9944 -j ACCEPT
            iptables -D OUTPUT -p udp --sport 9944 -j ACCEPT
            iptables -D INPUT -p udp --dport 9944 -j ACCEPT
            iptables-save >/etc/iptables/rules.v4
        fi
    else
        exit 2
    fi
}

main() {
    # If we're not root use pkexec for GUI prompt
    if [ "${USER}" == 'root' ]; then
        # Check if firewall-cmd exists and firewalld is running
        if which firewall-cmd >/dev/null 2>&1 && firewall-cmd --state >/dev/null 2>&1; then
            firewalld_cfg "${1,,}"
        # Check if ufw exists and is running
        elif which ufw >/dev/null 2>&1 && ! ufw status | grep 'Status: inactive' >/dev/null 2>&1; then
            ufw_cfg "${1,,}"
        elif which iptables >/dev/null 2>&1; then
            iptables_cfg "${1,,}"
        else
            exit 99
        fi
    else
        pkexec "$(realpath "${0}")" "${@}"
    fi
}

main "${@}"

See also

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author Zer0 sitemap