Virtual Reality (VR) Games May Fail to Run on Multiple Computers With Intel 11th Generation CPU

Some Virtual Reality (VR) games may crash or fail to run on select Dell computers with Intel 11th Generation processors (CPU) such as i5, i7, or i9-11xxx that support hardware acceleration of Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA) instruction extensions. This only happens when the computer is connected to the Internet while playing VR games.

Affected Platforms

• Alienware Aurora R12
• Alienware m15 R6
• Alienware x15 R1
• Alienware x17 R1
• G15 5511
• OptiPlex 5090
• OptiPlex 7090
• Precision 3650 Tower
• Precision 5760
• Precision 7560
• Precision 7760
• XPS 8940
• XPS 9710

This issue is caused due to the Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA) instruction extensions.

Method 1

Disconnect the computer from the Internet (WiFi or Ethernet) before launching virtual reality (VR) games to play.

Method 2

Use the Windows operating system environment variables to disable the use of SHA instruction extensions. Follow the steps mentioned below.

1. Turn on the computer.
2. Press the Windows + Q key on the keyboard.
3. In Windows Search, type Edit the system environment variables and click Open (Figure 1).

   
   Figure 1: Edit the system environment variables.

4. In the System Properties window, Click Environment Variables (Figure 2). (Windows may ask for admin permission.)

   
   Figure 2: Environment Variables.

5. Under the System Variables section, click New (Figure 3).

   
   Figure 3: Create an environment variable.

6. In Variable name, type OPENSSL_ia32cap. In Variable value, type ~0x20000000, and then click OK (Figure 4).

   
   Figure 4: New system variable entry.

7. Click OK on Environment Variable window and the System Properties window to apply the change.
8. Restart the computer.
9. Open the virtual reality (VR) game.