VRChat added Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) in its 2022.2.2 update, announced on July 25, 2022, because the company said modified clients could enable harmful behavior and create support problems. The change also blocked some modifications that players used for accessibility and quality-of-life features the official client lacked, which is why the reaction was so sharp. The documented effects are narrower than the backlash suggests: the official sources establish the company’s reasoning and a few specific breakages, but they do not measure how many players were affected.
Why VRChat added EAC
VRChat framed the change as a security update. In its July 25, 2022 announcement, the company described malicious modified clients as a threat to user safety and to creators. It listed four kinds of harm it said modified clients could enable: revealing user locations, ripping and archiving avatars, automated harassment, and botnet activity. These are VRChat’s own claims. The announcement does not publish incident counts or independent measurements for any of them.
The company also argued that modifications created a support burden. When a bug was actually caused by a modified client, players could report it as a VRChat problem, and the company said it would have to troubleshoot issues it could not reproduce on an unmodified game. EAC was introduced to make modified clients harder to run alongside the official client.
What happened to VRChat mods
The announcement acknowledged a real tradeoff. Some modifications provided functions that users wanted or needed, including accessibility features VRChat had not built natively. VRChat did not dispute that these tools mattered to players. Instead, it said it was reprioritizing development in response to feedback.
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Two native features were named as planned work: a main menu usable while lying down, and a portable mirror. The announcement does not promise delivery dates for either, so readers should treat them as stated intentions rather than shipped features. On the launch decision itself, VRChat said the update would be released and that it had no plan to revert or roll it back. The follow-up was framed as a change in priorities, not a reversal of EAC.
What the documentation shows, and what it does not
The table below separates each documented effect from its source and from what the source leaves open.
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| Effect | Who it touches | Source | What the source does not establish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modified clients enabling harmful behavior | General threat cited as the reason for EAC | VRChat’s July 25, 2022 announcement | Incident counts or independent verification |
| Loss of accessibility and quality-of-life mods | Players who relied on features the official client lacked | VRChat’s July 25, 2022 announcement | Whether every gap has been closed by native features |
| Virtual Desktop with the Oculus PC version | Users of that specific setup, as of 2022.2.2 | VRChat 2022.2.2 release notes | Any broader Virtual Desktop incompatibility or current status |
| VRChat running inside a virtual machine | Users running the game in a VM | VRChat’s official virtual machine guide | Behavior in every VM product or configuration |
| EAC launch errors | Players who see an EAC error when starting the game | VRChat Help article on EAC launch issues | How often the errors occur or their root cause in each case |
| User complaints from 2022 and 2026 | Includes a VM being blocked and Shadow PC access problems | Community forum and Reddit posts found in searches | Prevalence; these are individual reports, not a survey |
Virtual Desktop on the Oculus PC version
The 2022.2.2 release notes identified one specific incompatibility. Players who used the Oculus PC version through Virtual Desktop could no longer use that setup, because it relied on DLL injection, which EAC blocked. This note describes that version and that configuration. It is not a rule that applies to every Virtual Desktop setup, and it does not describe VRChat’s current behavior. Check the release notes for your own version and the current VRChat documentation before assuming a setup works or fails.
Running VRChat in a virtual machine
VRChat’s official virtual machine guide states that EAC generally fails in a virtual-machine environment. The guide describes one case, Hyper-V passthrough, where EAC may not detect that the game is running in a VM. That is the only exception the guide describes, and it is documented as a possibility, not a guarantee. Do not treat it as a workaround recipe; follow the guide as written.
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How to fix an EAC launch error
VRChat’s Help article titled “I’m having issues launching VRChat due to an issue with Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC)” directs players to repair or reinstall EAC with the setup utility in the game’s files. Steps as summarized from that article:
- Close VRChat completely, including any launcher it may still be running in.
- Open the VRChat game’s program files folder.
- Locate
EasyAntiCheat_EOS_Setup.exe. - Right-click the file and choose Run as administrator.
- Use the utility to repair the EAC installation.
- If the repair does not resolve the problem, use the same utility to reinstall EAC.
- Start VRChat again. If the error persists, open the current Help article, since its steps may have changed, and note the exact error text before contacting support.
What about Linux via Proton?
The question appeared in the FAQ that accompanied the 2022 announcement. The material this article relies on does not establish a current answer for Linux or Proton users, so do not assume compatibility from the 2022 text. Check VRChat’s current documentation for the present status.
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How widespread is the complaint?
The phrase “frustrating many” describes visible backlash in forum threads and social media, not a measured count. The complaints found in searches include a 2022 report of a VM being blocked, a 2026 report involving Shadow PC access, and individual reports of EAC launch or security-violation errors. Each shows that a player ran into a problem and blamed EAC. None establishes how many players were affected, whether the problem persists across configurations, or that EAC caused every crash or performance issue users have reported.
The clearest facts are the company’s stated reasons, the one version-specific incompatibility in the 2022.2.2 notes, the documented VM limitation, and the official launch-error steps. Anything beyond those is an individual report.
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The announcement was bylined to a VRChat author named Tupper. The sources reviewed do not establish that person’s role, so attribute the company’s position to “VRChat’s announcement” rather than to a named spokesperson.
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