this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2026
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402
New bootloader lets you take the "Meta" out of the original Meta Quest (arstechnica.com)
submitted 1 day ago by new_otters_raft@piefed.ca to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Remember the original Quest headset that Meta (then Oculus) trumpeted back in 2019? Meta seems to hope you don’t, since the company officially stopped supporting the wireless VR headset in 2023 to focus on the more popular Quests 2 and 3. However, tinkerers haven’t abandoned the hardware and recently released a new root-access exploit and bootloader that gives “developers and enthusiasts full control over Quest 1 hardware.”

The QuestStack project integrates previously known vulnerabilities in the Quest’s Android fastboot process into a privilege escalation chain that leads easily to full root access on the device. The bootloading process is now streamlined enough that it can be completed without any downloads through a web interface after connecting the headset to a PC.

With this exploit, the original Quest hardware can now be officially divorced from any reliance on Meta’s servers or services to be useful. That means enterprising Quest owners should be able to sideload apps without needing to register for a Meta Developer account and activating Developer Mode through Meta’s mobile app. It also means users should be able to go through the initial setup and login steps for a fresh Quest headset even if and when Meta decides to shut down the servers that currently support this process.

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[–] schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works 59 points 1 day ago (6 children)

The original quest is a perfectly capable little VR headset if you're looking to tinker.

[–] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 10 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Got one for really cheap about a year or so before support was dropped. It still gets regular use. Although I've been waiting for the Frame for the more open system. Would be funny if this exploit enabled me to install SteamOS on it.

[–] schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works 4 points 15 hours ago

Probably not immediately, but they're both on Snapdragon ARM chips, so very possibly in the future.

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