PICO Hand Tracking Fix

Fixes hand tracking on the PICO 4 Enterprise with PICO Connect 10.6.6 on Windows.

If your hand tracking works standalone but silently stopped working when streaming to PC — controllers work fine, but putting them down never shows your hands in SteamVR — this tool fixes it, without modifying PICO Connect or the headset in any way.

The root cause

On startup, PICO Connect decides whether hand tracking is enabled based on two events racing each other:

1. The headset connecting to the PC — this pushes handTracking: false.
2. A remote-config HTTPS fetch to setting-global-api.picovr.com returning — this pushes handTracking: true.

Whichever lands last wins for the whole session. On a fast internet connection the config fetch almost always returns before the headset connects, so false is applied last and hand tracking stays off — every session, no matter what the in-app toggle says.

What this tool does

It guarantees the correct order by briefly holding the config fetch until the headset has connected:

1. Resolves the real IP of setting-global-api.picovr.com and remembers it.
2. Temporarily points that hostname at 127.0.0.1 via the Windows hosts file.
3. Runs a local TCP relay on port 443 that accepts PICO Connect's HTTPS connection but stalls it (no bytes forwarded yet).
4. Tails the PICO Connect logs. The moment the headset connects, it releases the held connection, which then completes normally against the real server.

Result: the headset connect (false) always lands first, the config fetch (true) lands last → hand tracking ON.

Notes on safety:

• It is a raw byte relay — TLS is not intercepted or decrypted. The real PICO server terminates TLS and the certificate validates normally. No CA certificate is installed.
• The hosts-file entry is removed automatically when the tool exits (including on Ctrl+C), and stale entries from a crashed run are cleaned up on the next start.
• Pure Python standard library. No third-party packages, nothing installed system-wide.

Requirements

• Windows 10/11
• PICO 4 Enterprise + PICO Connect 10.6.6
• Administrator rights (needed to edit the hosts file — the script asks via UAC automatically)
• Internet access for the one-time environment install

Install

1. Download/clone this repository anywhere.
2. Double-click Install Environment.bat. It downloads Miniconda, installs it locally into this folder (nothing is added to your PATH or registry, and any Python/Anaconda you already have is left untouched), then creates a local environment in env\.

If the folder's path contains characters the Miniconda installer can't handle (a space, parentheses like PicoHandFix (1), etc.), the installer says so and automatically puts the environment in %LOCALAPPDATA%\PicoHandFix instead — the run script checks both locations, so everything still works.

That's it — everything lives inside this folder. To uninstall, just delete the folder.

Usage

Order matters. Do this exactly:

1. Make sure PICO Connect is fully closed (check the system tray).
2. Double-click Run PICO Hand Tracking Fix.bat. Accept the UAC prompt.
3. Wait until it prints ARMED.
4. Put the headset on its "connecting to PC" screen first, and leave it actively searching.
5. Then launch PICO Connect on the PC. The headset should latch on within a couple of seconds.
6. The tool confirms the win (handTracking:true pushed after connect), cleans up the hosts file, and exits.
7. Put your controllers down — your hands appear in SteamVR.

The fix applies per session: run it each time you start PICO Connect. If a run reports it "lost the race", just close PICO Connect and run it again, making sure the headset is already actively trying to connect before you launch PICO Connect.

Options

Pass arguments straight through the .bat:

"Run PICO Hand Tracking Fix.bat" --restore      &rem emergency: remove the hosts entry and exit
"Run PICO Hand Tracking Fix.bat" --hold 20      &rem hold the fetch up to 20s (default 15)

Keep --hold short — PICO Connect's own HTTP client times out a fetch that's stalled too long. Pre-arming the headset (step 4) works better than raising the hold time.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
ERROR binding 127.0.0.1:443	Something else is using port 443 (another proxy, IIS, etc.). Close it and retry.
still resolves to 127.x	A stale hosts entry survived. Run the .bat once with --restore, then retry.
"lost the race"	The headset connected too slowly. Get it actively searching before launching PICO Connect, then rerun.
Fetch ERRORED in the log	The tool must be armed before PICO Connect launches. Close Connect, rerun the tool, then launch Connect.
Hosts file left dirty after a crash	The next run cleans it automatically, or run with --restore, or manually delete the # PICO-HT-FIX line from C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts.

A timestamped log of each run is written to fix_run.log next to the script.

Files

File	Purpose
pico_handtracking_fix.py	The fix itself (Python 3.8+, stdlib only)
Install Environment.bat	One-time setup: installs Miniconda locally into miniconda\ and creates a local conda env in env\
Run PICO Hand Tracking Fix.bat	Runs the fix using the local environment

Credits

Thanks to LordChaotix (Crocodile) for supplying the PICO Connect log files that made it possible to find the startup race and build this fix.

Disclaimer

This tool edits your Windows hosts file (temporarily, self-cleaning) and briefly delays one HTTPS request made by PICO Connect. It does not decrypt traffic, patch binaries, or touch the headset. Use at your own risk. Not affiliated with PICO/ByteDance. Tested with PICO Connect 10.6.6 and the PICO 4 Enterprise — a future PICO Connect update may change the startup logic and make this fix unnecessary (or ineffective).

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