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System requirements

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This chapter lists the minimum system requirements to work with Azure Remote Rendering (ARR).

Development PC

  • Windows 10 version 1903 or higher or Windows 11.
  • Up-to-date graphics drivers.
  • Optional: H265 hardware video decoder, if you want to use local preview of remotely rendered content (for example in Unity).

Important

Windows update doesn't always deliver the very latest GPU drivers, check your GPU manufacturer's website for latest drivers:

The table below lists which GPUs support H265 hardware video decoding.

GPU manufacturer Supported models
NVIDIA Check the NVDEC Support Matrix at the bottom of this page. Your GPU needs a YES in the H.265 4:2:0 8-bit column.
AMD GPUs with at least version 6 of AMD's Unified Video Decoder.
Intel Skylake and newer CPUs

Even though the correct H265 codec might be installed, security properties on the codec DLLs may cause codec initialization failures. The troubleshooting guide describes steps how to solve this problem. The DLL issue can only occur when using the service in a desktop application, for instance in Unity.

Devices

Azure Remote Rendering currently only supports HoloLens 2 and Windows desktop as a target device. See the platform limitations section.

On desktop, it's required to install the latest Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable package to be able to run any Azure Remote Rendering application.

It's important to use the latest HEVC codec, as newer versions have significant improvements in latency. To check which version is installed on your device:

  1. Start the Microsoft Store.
  2. Select the "Library" button in the bottom left.
  3. Find HEVC Video Extensions from Device Manufacturer in the list. If it isn't listed under updates, the most recent version is already installed. Otherwise select the Get Updates button and wait for it to install.
  4. Make sure the listed codec has at least version 1.0.21821.0.
    1. Select the HEVC Video Extensions from Device Manufacturer entry from the list.
    2. Scroll down to the Additional Information section.
    3. Check the Installed version entry.

Network

A stable, low-latency network connection is critical for a good user experience.

See dedicated chapter for network requirements.

For troubleshooting network issues, refer to the Troubleshooting Guide.

Network firewall

Remote Rendering virtual machines use shared IP addresses from the following IP ranges:

Name Region IP prefix
Australia East australiaeast 20.53.44.240/28
East US eastus 20.62.129.224/28
East US 2 eastus2 20.49.103.240/28
Japan East japaneast 20.191.165.112/28
North Europe northeurope 52.146.133.64/28
South Central US southcentralus 20.65.132.80/28
Southeast Asia southeastasia 20.195.64.224/28
UK South uksouth 51.143.209.144/28
West Europe westeurope 20.61.99.112/28
West US 2 westus2 20.51.9.64/28

Make sure that your firewalls (on device, inside routers, etc.) don't block these IP ranges and the following port ranges:

Port Protocol Allow
49152-65534 TCP / UDP Outgoing

Software

The following software must be installed:

  • The latest version of Visual Studio 2019 (download)
  • Visual Studio tools for Mixed Reality. Specifically, the following Workload installations are mandatory:
    • Desktop development with C++
    • Universal Windows Platform (UWP) development
  • Windows SDK 10.0.18362.0 (download)
  • To work with the samples repository:
  • Optional: To view the video stream from the server on a desktop PC, you need the HEVC Video Extensions (Microsoft Store link). Ensure that the latest version is installed by checking for updates in the store.

Unity

For development with Unity, install a supported version of Unity (download). We recommend using Unity Hub for managing installations.

Important

In addition to the supported versions mentioned below, make sure to check out the Unity known issues page.

Make sure to include the following modules in your Unity installation:

  • UWP - Universal Windows Platform Build Support
  • IL2CPP - Windows Build Support (IL2CPP)

Unity 2019

For Unity 2019, version 2019.3 or 2019.4 LTS is supported. However to work with the OpenXR version of the plugin, a 2020-based version is required.

ARR for Unity 2019 supports both the legacy built-in XR integration for Windows Mixed Reality and the new XR SDK plug-in framework.

Unity 2020

For Unity 2020, use latest version of Unity 2020.3.

Important

When working with the OpenXR version of the plugin and the Universal Render Pipeline (URP), it has to be verified that the Universal Render Pipeline has version 10.5.1 or higher. To check that, open the Package Manager from the Unity Windows menu and refer to the Universal RP section: Version of the Universal RP

Unity 2021

For Unity 2021, use latest version of Unity 2021.3.

WMR vs. OpenXR

In Unity 2019 and Unity 2020, you can still choose between the WMR (Windows Mixed Reality) and OpenXR plugin. WMR has been deprecated for Unity 2021 and onwards. A known limitation of the WMR version is that it doesn't work in linear color space.

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