Forum Discussion

Corbeau05's avatar
Corbeau05
Explorer
2 years ago
Solved

oculus program launching automatically when windows starts

How to prevent the oculus program from lauching automatically whem windows starts ?

Meta Quest 2
Meta Quest 3
  • Corbeau05's avatar
    Corbeau05
    2 years ago

    Thank you for answering.

    The occulus application (OcculusClient.exe) does not appear in the list of programs that launch at startup, neither in the task manager nor in windows setting-App-Startup.

    However, after experimentation, I think I understood why it launches seemingly randomly when Windows initializes :

    When I close the occulus application BEFORE turning off my computer, it does not appear automatically upon restart, however if I turn off my computer with the OcculusClient.exe program running, it restarts automatically when Windows starts.

    Now I know it, it bothers me less.

25 Replies

  • MetaQuestSupport's avatar
    MetaQuestSupport
    Community Manager
    2 years ago

    Hey there! We appreciate you reaching out to us to voice your concern. We'd love to assist you with getting that feature disabled, as we want you to be able to utilize the device in your preferred state. So rest assured, we'll be happy to assist you.

     

    You can complete this task by following the steps provided here. Let us know if you have any further questions. We'll be looking forward to hearing back from you on this.

    • Corbeau05's avatar
      Corbeau05
      Explorer
      2 years ago

      Thank you for answering.

      The occulus application (OcculusClient.exe) does not appear in the list of programs that launch at startup, neither in the task manager nor in windows setting-App-Startup.

      However, after experimentation, I think I understood why it launches seemingly randomly when Windows initializes :

      When I close the occulus application BEFORE turning off my computer, it does not appear automatically upon restart, however if I turn off my computer with the OcculusClient.exe program running, it restarts automatically when Windows starts.

      Now I know it, it bothers me less.

      • MetaQuestSupport's avatar
        MetaQuestSupport
        Community Manager
        2 years ago

        Hey there! We're glad you got it figured out. If you ever need us again in the future, please don't hesitate to reach out, and we'll gladly assist!

    • PlayfulBarracuda8144's avatar
      PlayfulBarracuda8144
      Honored Guest
      2 months ago

      Under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), designated gatekeepers like Meta must allow end users to disable or uninstall any non-essential software, including auto-start functionality, making practices that block disabling autostart in breach of Article 6(3) of the DMA. Furthermore, the DMA explicitly shields consumers from anti-competitive tying and pre-installation practices, prohibiting gatekeepers from preventing users from choosing or removing software components. Parallelly, under the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD), any aggressive or misleading practice that materially distorts consumer choice—such as silently forcing software to autostart—can be deemed unfair and thus illegal across all EU Member States. Preventing users in the EU from disabling the Meta Quest app’s autostart violates both the Digital Markets Act and the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, rendering it illegal. Consumers and regulators alike have clear grounds to demand or enforce the right to disable unwanted startup software.

    • Vachon8449's avatar
      Vachon8449
      Honored Guest
      15 days ago

      And what do you do when Meta Quest Link (5) shows up in task manager "Processes" but does NOT show up in "Startup apps"? Nor does it show up under settings Apps>Startup. How do we prevent it from starting when we start our computer then? How do we turn it off? Besides deleting the app and buying a competitor's VR headset? Because I'm just about at that point with this thing. And to be honest, in my opinion, HTC Vive Focus Vision is a much better VR headset. My son-in-law has one of those and I've used it. I'm very close to scrapping Meta and going with HTC Vive. But IF I can get this to only open when I want to use it and not every **bleep** time I start my computer I'll settle with what I've already paid for. This will also determine any future plans I may or may not have in buying Meta products in the future. 

      • Mijin757's avatar
        Mijin757
        Honored Guest
        15 days ago

        Not a fix, but what I ended up doing was writing a bat script that kills any processes that begin "OVR" or "Steam". You can get this script to run on startup or manually run it (as admin) as needed. On my setup, there is no issue terminating everything that begins with these names, but please be careful that the same is true for you.

        echo off
        echo Terminating processes beginning with "steam" or "OVR"...
         
        :: Kill processes starting with "steam"
        for /f "tokens=1 delims= " %%A in ('tasklist ^| findstr /i "^steam"') do (
            taskkill /f /im %%A
        )
         
        :: Kill processes starting with "OVR"
        for /f "tokens=1 delims= " %%A in ('tasklist ^| findstr /i "^OVR"') do (
            taskkill /f /im %%A
        )
         
        echo Process termination complete.
        pause

         

  • SLIXICK's avatar
    SLIXICK
    Honored Guest
    10 months ago

    Did you not read the message. He did not get the problem solved, he repeated himself because your solution did not work.So why is OVRServer_x64.exe always running and come back even when forced off? It should not be running unless I ask it too.

    • LordArceus's avatar
      LordArceus
      Meta Quest Support
      10 months ago

      Hey there, SLIXICK and welcome to the community forums!

      There are a few fixes in this reddit thread  that may work for you. The most popular solution would involve going to:

      1. WIN then typed "Services"

      2. Searched for "Oculus VR Library Service" and "Oculus VR Runtime Service"

      3. Right Click => Properties

      4. Startup type => Manual

      Hopefully this works for you and stops the Link app opening every time you boot-up. Let me know if you need any further help 🙂

      • Skwiisgaar's avatar
        Skwiisgaar
        Honored Guest
        8 months ago

        Hey there,

        I got the same issue as posted here. Everytime when I boot up my PC, the Meta Quest Link app is launched. I set both services to manual startup, that didn't help.

        There is no setting in the app, there are no startup options. I don't want it to run, only when I intent to use the VR headset.

        What else I can do apart from uninstalling the app?

  • Mihalytabornok's avatar
    Mihalytabornok
    Honored Guest
    8 months ago

    as of now following the instructions given by LordArceus  unfortunately do not solve the issue of the connect app auto launching. It launches even when the service is set to manual launch.

  • obijuan26's avatar
    obijuan26
    Honored Guest
    8 months ago

    Hi All. My Meta App started launching automatically recently. I have not been able to get it to stop launching at windows startup. Only way that I could get it to stop launching was to log out of the app. Any solutions? 

  • TC_VR's avatar
    TC_VR
    Explorer
    8 months ago

    I have this re-occurring issue as well.

    Meta Quest Link auto starts every time I start my computer.
    Windows 10, all up to date.
    I tried setting the services to manual. That worked, but after what must have been an automatic software update, that fix no longer works.

    This is garbage META! Fix your bugged software!!

    And if it's not bugged, and this is being done on purpose, then this is a serious violation of a windows users rights to manage their own computer as they see fit. Maybe META makes it auto start to get more eyes on the store?

  • Samycharlie's avatar
    Samycharlie
    Honored Guest
    7 months ago

    Seríais tan amables de dar una solución a este lanzamiento de aplicación involuntario?? Es muy invasivo y molesto, no hay manera de anularlo, será la única solución desinstalar Meta???

  • Mijin757's avatar
    Mijin757
    Honored Guest
    6 months ago

    Same issue for me in 2025.

    Services set to manual startup.
    Oculus client (and OVR service) closed when shut down PC.

    - Next time boot PC, there's oculusclient and the OVR service running.
    It's particularly annoying because for me the OVR service is constantly trying to load something or do other work, so every PC start I now need to bring up task manager and manually kill it.

  • LabTinnion's avatar
    LabTinnion
    Honored Guest
    4 months ago

    This is clearly being ignored by Meta. Their only answer in this whole thread was to refer users to a Windows issue fix. 

  • MentalShepherd's avatar
    MentalShepherd
    Honored Guest
    2 months ago

    Sadly there is no way this is an error or bug by Meta, there used to be an option to enable/disable startup with windows, it has purposely been removed. It's a dirty trick and they can go jump.

  • spacegoogie's avatar
    spacegoogie
    Honored Guest
    2 months ago

    Meta,

    This just started happening to me as well. No way to stop it from launching with windows.

    All the complaints on here are the same as mine. 

    Why have you not responded with a fix or information?

    Please don't tell me to navigate to the windows task manager because I have tried everything I would have to stop any other program, but your program is not allowing this.

    Please provide me with relevant  information to the application starting with my windows 11 that I no longer want your program auto starting with my system.

    Thank you.