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canadianquarter
New Participant
June 10, 2026
Solved

How to stop Oculus from running on launch

  • June 10, 2026
  • 6 replies
  • 651 views

I want to begin this by saying how dare you meta, I disabled oculus from starting up, closed the window and when I went to terminate the task in my task manager, oculus somehow managed to worm itself into opening again. this is beyond invasive, it's disturbing. If I can't stop oculus from opening down at a command line level, then how do I know you're not scanning my files and reporting them back to your data farms, are you that desperate to see the photos I have saved on my computer you perverts??? this application is no different than a virus, the only difference is instead of holding my files hostage, it's stealing my information and selling it to the highest bidder.

Best answer by TomCgcmfc

canadian.quarter​  If, for any reason, you want to stop this running on startup, and in memory, you need to Stop the OVRServices (Oculus VR Runtime Services).  This has nothing to do with your windows startup options btw. 

You can find this using your windows task manager/services and scroll down to it.  You can right click on it and select Stop.  This will stop it working in the background and should clear it from your memory. 

However, next time you restart your PC it will be active again.  This is because its set to automatically startup.  To change this you need to right click on it and drill down to services, then scroll down to find it again.  then right click on it and select properties.  Follow this and change the Auto startup to Manual (then Stop if you haven't already done this).  After some, but not all, meta-link pc updates (esp if you run a meta-link Repair, or reinstall its drivers) you may need to redo this.

Once this is set to Manual, it will not startup after PC resets.  You will then need to manually restart it in order to use the meta-link pc app (if you are using SteamLink or Virtual Desktop you probably don't need to do this).  To restart OVRServices again go into windows taskbar Services, scroll down to it, right click, and select Start.  Afterwards, if you want to stop it you'll need to again do this manually.

If you Google 'how to turn on and off Oculus Runtime Services' you find bat files that you can use to turn this Service on and off.  Personally, I use the Oculus Tray Tool to do this, but this app is no longer supported, and not all that user friendly, so maybe not for you (bat files work fine).  I only use an option to turn on/off OVRServices because I also still use a Vive Pro headset and turning this off helps make sure that SteamVR doesn't try to startup up the meta-link app when I don't want it to. 

TBH if I only used Meta headsets (I have a QPro and Q3) I don't think I'd bother with doing any of this.  Having OVRServices running in the background doesn't use any significant resources imho.  All it does is check that your meta-link app is up to date.

Anyway, hope this helps.  Good luck mate and cheers.

6 replies

Maccyb123
Honored Contributor
June 10, 2026

You are just shouting at other users my friend.. This is a user only forum.

However if you want to abuse Meta employees you can do so directly at the one of the links below, at least until your account is banned. 😁 Maybe if you ask them in a respectful manner they can advise you on how to solve your issue. 

https://www.meta.com/en-gb/help/support/?g1=5960237440706837&g2=26500769372871399&g3=none&et=none&sg=skip

 

canadianquarterAuthor
New Participant
June 10, 2026

My bad 😅, I was just so insulted when I clicked end task and it just... reopened. 

I'll go paste this over there

Maccyb123
Honored Contributor
June 10, 2026

😁 No problem. But remember the headset does not have an open OS and you can't unlock the bootloader or jailbreak the device. Probably you should have researched this before you bought the headset and maybe get a different one. Although I said maybe they can help, it's actually highly unlikely they will. 

    TomCgcmfcAnswer
    Honored Contributor
    June 10, 2026

    canadian.quarter​  If, for any reason, you want to stop this running on startup, and in memory, you need to Stop the OVRServices (Oculus VR Runtime Services).  This has nothing to do with your windows startup options btw. 

    You can find this using your windows task manager/services and scroll down to it.  You can right click on it and select Stop.  This will stop it working in the background and should clear it from your memory. 

    However, next time you restart your PC it will be active again.  This is because its set to automatically startup.  To change this you need to right click on it and drill down to services, then scroll down to find it again.  then right click on it and select properties.  Follow this and change the Auto startup to Manual (then Stop if you haven't already done this).  After some, but not all, meta-link pc updates (esp if you run a meta-link Repair, or reinstall its drivers) you may need to redo this.

    Once this is set to Manual, it will not startup after PC resets.  You will then need to manually restart it in order to use the meta-link pc app (if you are using SteamLink or Virtual Desktop you probably don't need to do this).  To restart OVRServices again go into windows taskbar Services, scroll down to it, right click, and select Start.  Afterwards, if you want to stop it you'll need to again do this manually.

    If you Google 'how to turn on and off Oculus Runtime Services' you find bat files that you can use to turn this Service on and off.  Personally, I use the Oculus Tray Tool to do this, but this app is no longer supported, and not all that user friendly, so maybe not for you (bat files work fine).  I only use an option to turn on/off OVRServices because I also still use a Vive Pro headset and turning this off helps make sure that SteamVR doesn't try to startup up the meta-link app when I don't want it to. 

    TBH if I only used Meta headsets (I have a QPro and Q3) I don't think I'd bother with doing any of this.  Having OVRServices running in the background doesn't use any significant resources imho.  All it does is check that your meta-link app is up to date.

    Anyway, hope this helps.  Good luck mate and cheers.

    i9 13900K water cooled, RTX4090, Z790 MB w/wifi6e, 64Gb 6400 ram, 2x2TB SSD, 1000W PSU, Win 11, QPro, Q3, w/Link and Air Link, Vive Pro1 with 2x2.0 base stations, Etsy lens mod and Index Controllers
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