Starting a couple of days ago, my Rift S decided to black screen with a desktop notification “Hardware Notifcation - Meta Quest Link isn’t working”
Audio worked, and the device showed green dots in the Meta app for the headset and controllers, but on putting it on the display would not light up and the notification popup was received.
I tried:
- fully uninstalling and re-installing quest apps
- upgrading graphics drivers
- unplugging all other USB devices
- trying all sorts of combinations of USB ports and Display ports
I had given up thinking it was broken but…
Today I found the linked article TLDR: https://piunikaweb.com/2026/01/19/meta-quest-link-isnt-working-correctly-error/
Adding a firewall rule to block OculusDash.exe from connecting outbound fixes this issue.
Hope this is some help to others who may be having the same issue.
edit: missed link
Option 2: Uninstall Meta Horizon completely, use Steam Link (it’s really good now)
Steam Link doesn’t work on my Quest 3. it used to, about 2 or 3 versions ago, but for a year I had to revert to “previous version”. And then a couple months ago they rolled another one, the new one still doesn’t work, and the old one that did is now out of reach. I can’t get more than 3 minutes of streaming before a mysterious 451 error crash. Not even playing a game, just being on the SteamVR interface.
I’ve tried everything, I’ve reported many times on the Steam VR discussions, and plenty of people with Quests are struggling there too. I have used the exact same PC and wifi router (that’s completely dedicated to the headset to PC connection) at two different places, and in one it sorts of work, but in the other it’s completely unplayable.
Of course I can’t recommend using Meta Link either. It’s crap and it doesn’t play nice with Steam VR (which is still required for playing Steam games). Instead I’ve given up and got Virtual Desktop. Best streaming I ever had, in all configurations, and connections that last hours.
Steam Link wont work on a Rift S though.
So the only real other option would be to go the Linux route with Envision/Monado. But from what i gathered WMR/Rift S support can still be a bit iffy here and there.