How to factory reset your Meta (Oculus) Quest or Quest 2

If you’re selling or giving away one of Meta’s Quest headsets — say, because you’re planning to upgrade to the Quest 3 — you’ll need to perform a factory reset. As its name implies, the process reverts your Quest to a factory state, allowing someone else to set it up as new and link it to a Meta account. Here’s how to factory reset the original Quest or a Quest 2.

How to factory reset your VR headset in the Meta Quest app

This is the preferable method, for the obvious reason that you don’t have to (briefly) cut yourself off from the outside world for an experience that’s much less fun than a Quest is supposed to be.

1. Make sure your Quest is charged to 50% or higher, or better still, keep it plugged in. If power dies in the middle of a reset, Meta warns that a headset can become “irreparably damaged.”
2. Open the Meta Quest app.
3. Tap Menu, then Devices.
4. Select your Quest. If you don’t see it, it may be that your phone or your Quest is connected to a different network ID (say, if your Wi-Fi router has separate 2.4 and 5GHz logins).
5. Tap Headset Settings, then Advanced Settings.
6. Tap Factory Reset. This is your last chance to back out.
7. If you’re sure you’re ready, tap Reset.

How to factory reset the Meta Quest by using your VR headset

If it’s more convenient for whatever reason, you can always reset a Quest using the headset itself.

1. Make sure your Quest is charged to 50% or higher, or better still, keep it plugged in. If power dies in the middle of a reset, Meta warns that a headset can become “irreparably damaged.”
2. Turn off your Quest if it’s not already powered down.
3. Press and hold the power and volume-down buttons simultaneously until a boot screen appears in the eyepiece.
4. Using volume-up and volume-down as controls, select Factory Reset in the boot menu, then press the power button.
5. Select Yes, then press the power button.

What happens when you factory reset your Meta Quest

A factory reset removes all account information, as well any apps or other content downloaded after you first set up your Quest. Don’t worry though — anything you’ve purchased directly through Meta (or Oculus for that matter) will still be linked to your account and won’t cost anything extra to re-download on new hardware from the company.

When someone gets your Quest, they’ll have to set it up as if it were a new device. That includes linking it to an existing Meta account or creating a new one. They’ll also have to reconfigure basic settings such as room boundaries, but that’s par for the course given how personal any VR headset will be.