Meta Quest Link (Now Meta Horizon Link): The App and Its Fixes

The PC app's Devices page, with a Quest 3 connected. Screenshot: UploadVR, November 2024, when the app was still called Meta Quest Link.

Oculus, Meta Quest Link, Meta Horizon Link: which name is which

One app, renamed twice. In March 2024 Meta renamed its PC software, "previously called the Oculus PC app", to the Meta Quest Link app [7]. Meta's help pages now call it Meta Horizon Link [1], [3]. If you search for any of the three names, you want the same download.

Download and install the app

1. Download. On the Windows PC, open Meta's Meta Horizon Link page and select Download app [1].
2. Make space. Meta's start page asks for "at least 4GB of space" [1], but its troubleshooting page says the app "needs at least 9 GB available" [4]. Keep 9 GB free.
3. Install it and sign in with your Meta account.
4. Update the headset. Meta asks for "A Meta Quest that's updated with the latest software" [2].

Link and Air Link are on by default on a headset with current software. To check, open Quick controls, then Settings, then Link [2].

The app is for Windows only. Meta lists Windows 10 and Windows 11 and nothing else [3].

Link or Air Link

Both run through the same PC app. The headset uses one at a time, so turn Air Link off when you use the cable [4].

Step by step, with the cable choice: connect a Quest to a PC by cable or over Wi-Fi.

What the PC needs

A Windows 10 or 11 PC with at least an Intel i5-4590 or AMD Ryzen 5 1500X, 8 GB of memory and a graphics card on Meta's list [3]. Meta does not yet support Intel Arc cards, and says the RTX 3050 laptop and 3050 Ti "are not recommended" [3]. The full table: what the PC needs.

The settings people look for

Sharpness and smoothness. In the app, select Devices, then your headset, then Graphics preferences. There you set the refresh rate (72, 80, 90 or 120 Hz) and the render resolution, up to 5408 x 2736 [4]. Higher settings look better but can drop frames, "Even top graphics cards" [4]. If Link starts to stutter after you changed them, select Reset to default [4].

Casting and Remote Desktop. The app can show the headset's view on the PC [1]: in the headset, open Quick controls, select Cast, and pick from the list of devices [6]. Since November 2024 it also includes Remote Desktop, which shows the PC's screen in the headset; it used to be a separate app [8].

When the Link app goes wrong

Find what you see. These fixes are Meta's own.

Meta's first steps [4]:

1. Restart the headset and the computer.
2. Update the headset software and the graphics driver.
3. Turn off any firewall or antivirus that may block Link.
4. Uninstall the app and install it again.
5. Sign out of the app and back in.
6. Try the cable instead of Air Link, with Air Link turned off.

Fixes owners report (we have not tested them)

These come from Meta's community forum. Each is one person's or a few people's report.

• Not enough space when you have space. An owner found that the installer "checks the C: volume for available storage" even if you install to another drive (about October 2026) [10]. A forum helper (an "Honored Contributor", not Meta staff) replied with a command to run in the installer's folder: "Setup.exe /drive=D", with D as the drive you want [10].
• "Restart your computer" every time. One owner traced it to a Windows user name containing "(" (late October 2026) [11]. The same helper replied that this bug "has been around for years" [11].
• No pairing code on the PC. A helper asked: "Are you sure the pairing code dialog on the PC is not hidden behind the app or other windows?" Another suggested ending the app in Task Manager, restarting both devices and signing in again (about March 2026) [13].
• The app opens every time Windows starts. One owner complained that neither the app nor Windows Startup apps has a switch for it (about September 2026) [14]. The same helper replied that the app itself no longer starts with Windows, but its background services still run [14]. In an older thread, two owners suggest copying the app's shortcut, or its Client file, into the Windows Startup folder, then turning it off in Startup apps. Later replies there say it did not work for them [12].

Watching PC video in the headset

Link is for VR games. For a film or your desktop on the PC, Remote Desktop in the same app shows the PC's screen in the headset [8], and a flat video stays flat.

Owl3D, the publisher of this guide, makes Owl3D Link, a companion app for Meta Quest headsets. With the Owl3D desktop app running on a Windows PC, it streams what is on the PC to the headset wirelessly, converted from 2D to 3D instantly, as it plays, so an ordinary 2D video arrives in 3D with no file to convert first. It needs an NVIDIA RTX 3060 or better graphics card. Owl3D Link is free to use; on the free plan a session lasts 15 minutes and the picture carries a watermark. It is not a way to play PC VR games; use Meta Horizon Link for those. The 3D is an AI conversion of a flat picture, not a studio's own 3D version of a film.

Frequently asked questions

Is Meta Quest Link free?

Yes. Meta calls it "the free Meta Horizon Link app" [1]. The cable is extra: Meta asks for a USB-C 3.2 cable that supports at least 5 Gbps, and also sells its own [2], [3].

Is there a Meta Quest Link app for Mac?

No. Meta lists only Windows 10 and Windows 11 for the app [3].