So you bought a Quest 2 and want to wireless connect to your PC, play Steam VR, work or watch movies on a giant virtual screen? It’s a few steps but easy enough. Following this guide on how to install Virtual Desktop on your Oculus Quest 2, you will basically setup OculusLink, but completely wireless. That’s right. You could play SteamVR or Oculus Rift content, wireless right from your Oculus Quest 2 headset.
Not an Official Product
Before we get started, Virtual Desktop is NOT an official Oculus product. Using it to play games and stream experiences, depending on your home network, computer and router you may have stuttering, lagging or other issues you likely wouldn’t experience with an OculusLink cable. My setup works perfectly 99% of the time, but occasionally will experience a moment of lag or two. Otherwise being completely wireless playing PC level VR games on the Oculus 2 is totally worth it! Let’s get started
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PC Requirements for Virtual Desktop
Your PC computer will need these requirements to run Wireless Virtual Desktop for Oculus Quest 2:
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Windows 10 (There currently is a beta version for MacOS so check out their webpage for more details.)
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Nvidia or AMD GPU recommended but not required
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Intel Core i5-2500k or equivalent
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Wired computer to 5 GHz AC or AX Wi-Fi router
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If you have a Windows ‘N’ edition, make sure to install the Media Feature Pack for your version of Windows
How to Install Virtual Desktop on the Quest 2
As long as your have all of that you can install Virtual Desktop!
You will need to Purchase Virtual Desktop on the Oculus Quest 2 store. This is the ONLY purchase you will need to make. There are lots of version of Virtual Desktop but the Quest 2 version is the only one you need. Download and Install this app on your Oculus Quest 2.
Then you need to install the Virtual Desktop streamer app.
You will also need to install Oculus Quest app on your PC if you haven’t done so already. Click this link and then select the Oculus Link Download Software button to set that up.
Open up the Desktop Stream App and enter your Oculus username into the box.
Put on your Quest 2 headset and open up Virtual Desktop. After a few moments a screen should pop up with your computer on it. Select it to connect. Congratulations! You should see your PC inside your Oculus Quest 2!
How to Get SteamVR working with Oculus Quest 2 and Virtual Desktop
UPDATE 2/25/2021 – You no longer need to load sidequest to get PCVR games working on your Quest 2. You can skip the next paragraphs if you only want SteamVR games working on you Oculus Quest 2, as it is now included as part of the Virtual Desktop Quest app. Once you install Virtual Desktop and get the Virtual Desktop streamer working on your PC you should be able to play steam games! If you still want to install Sidequest and use it for various games the steps below are what you will need to do.
How to Install SideQuest on Oculus Quest 2
Sidequest for the Oculus Quest 2
You will need to download Sidequest. Sidequest is an non-official 3rd party product and directory that allows to you easily sideload content onto your Quest 2. There are TONS of free games on Sidequest as an added bonus. Sometimes the apps that don’t make it into the official Oculus store will be located in the Sidequest directory. You can check out many games in development here too. We use Sidequest in this tutorial, so we can install a tiny patch to Virtual Desktop that will allow us to play SteamVR games.
Is Sidequest safe for Oculus Quest 2?
Sidequest is safe to use. Sideloading is part of the developer ecosystem. Sideloading is NOT piracy. It is a way to load the applications game developers make on to the Oculus headset as they make the games. Sidequest is just an easy program to allow you to do that. That being said, there IS a risk in download apps from unknown developers, just like there is on your smartphone. Sidequest reviews the app that get listed in their directory and there are reviews from other users for the apps listed there. Remember to install only from developers you trust.
How to install SideQuest
Sidequest has a detailed up to date installation tutorial for you, including a video on how to get it working and installed on this page. The basic idea is that you will need to enable developer mode on your Quest 2. install the drivers for the Quest 2. Enable developer mode in the Oculus app. Connect the headset with a USB. Allow the computer to connect in the headset. Boot up Sidequest. Again for details of all these steps, follow the settings on the Sidequest setup page.
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Installing the Virtual Desktop patch in Sidequest
Once you have Sidequest installed and working you will need to install the simple patch for Virtual Desktop for SteamVR. With your headset connected and Sidequest open, simply click install to headset. Over 395.3k people have done this step to date.
How to Type in Virtual Desktop in VR
As a side note, since you will be in your VR headset the best way to enable typing in Virtual Desktop if you are on Windows 10 is to right click on the taskbar on your PC when you are not in VR. From the pop up menu will appear “show touch keyboard”. Enable that and then you will have access via this button to a touch keyboard anytime you are in VR by clicking on this button.
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That is it! You can now play SteamVR on your Oculus Quest 2. Simply load up Virtual Desktop on your headset, connect to your PC and select the Launch SteamVR button from the bottom left. You will be able to use SteamVR and any games you purchase in SteamVR wirelessly! Enjoy.
Perfect. Got it working right away. Thanks