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Easy peasy lemon squeezy, here’s how you to connect your Meta Quest 3 to PC in just a few steps.
Connecting your new VR headset to your PC is a necessary step if you want to discover an even wider catalogue of VR games for Quest 3. There are three different ways you can try: either with USB, wirelessly or via AirLink. Relatively straightforward to do, simply follow the relevant steps below and you’ll be in a whole new world in no time.
Before starting, double check the following:
Make sure your PC can handle VR gaming
You’ll need a high-end GPU especially if you want to play stunning, but demanding games like Microsoft Flight Simulator. You’ll also need a CPU that’s either Ryzen 5 or equivalent, and a generous 16GB RAM, not forgetting a HDMI 1.3 port to actually connect your headset. In our opinion, avoid going much lower than these in specs – you might experience lagging and frame rate drops.
Firmware updates
Ensure your Quest 3 has all the latest firmware updates. At the time of writing, the latest update was October 25th. You can check this by going to quick settings and tapping Device to check for the latest updates.
If you’re connecting via Air Link make sure you’ve enabled it first
Go to the Settings Menu > Experiements and turn on Air Link. For now, it’s still an experiemental feature which is why you need to manually turn it on.
Fully reboot your headset
If you’ve performed a firmware update, or enabled Air Link, the final stage here is to reboot the headset so the changes can take effect.
How to connect Meta Quest 3 to PC with USB cable or Meta Link cable
The smoothest connection results will be achieved with the Meta Link cable, but a premium USB cable should be enough (make sure it’s at least 5m long). Go for this choice to avoid limitations to your wireless connection. Before starting, make sure you’ve downloaded the PC Meta Quest app.
- Plug the Meta Link cable into the USB-C port on your Quest 3 and a blue USB 3.0 port on your computer.
The USB 2.0 ports tend will be slower so avoid them.
- Put on your Quest 3.
Allow any link connections when prompted.
- Allow the PC Meta Quest app to setup your play area using the camera on your headset.
- Load the Rift game library by navigating to the Games tab and Bob’s your uncle!
How to connect Meta Quest 3 to your PC wirelessly
Method 1: via Airlink
Airlink is in the experimental stage, and many users on Reddit have reported it being frustratingly buggy. For the more reliable method, try with Virtual Desktop which we’ve explained further down. Still though, Airlink is worth a try (and it’s free) so here’s how to do it:
- Open the Occulus software on your desktop.
- Go to Devices and click Add Headset.
- Once your headset has been autodetected, put it on.
- Swipe down from the top to open the Quick Settings menu.
- Tap on the Airlink option to activate it.
- Your Quest 3 should connect to your PC over your Wi-Fi network.
- Now you can start playing Rift games!
As we briefly mentioned, Airlink is still a bit, well, dodgy. You’ll need to look out for compression artefacts, latency and choppy frame rates via your Quest 3. If these problems persist, try moving your router closer for a stronger signal.
Method 2: via Virtual Desktop
Virtual Desktop isn’t free, but probably worth the £15 pricetag if you play a lot of VR games via Steam. It’s also been updated for the arrival of the Meta Quest 3, meaning you get 120 fps in all environments, AV1 codec support and higher resolutions. It’s not perfect, and many would still recommend troubleshooting Airlink first before trying Virtual Desktop.
Frequently asked questions
Will a proxy server or VPN improve the Oculus Link connection quality?
Unfortunately, no. Using either a proxy server or VPN will likely make your connection slower and less stable. To avoid this, connect your PC and Quest 3 to the same local network
Can you use multiple PCs with your Quest 3 by connecting Oculus Link?
Yes, although you can only have one active Link connection at a time. Simply setup the Oculus PC software on each PC you’re planning to use and pair your Quest 3 headset to each PC. Switching between the Linked PCs is fairly easy to do.
