Quest 3 Update Taking Forever? (Here’s The Easy Fix!)

If your Quest 3 update taking forever, in most cases, there is no point in waiting any longer!

If the headset has been stuck on “updating” for more than 20 minutes, it’s clear that something went sideways, hence you’ll need to interfere.

In this guide, we will walk you through everything you can do including force-restart, Wi-Fi inspection, switching IPs, and updating manually.

Let’s get started…

Quest 3 Update Taking Forever – The Best 6 Ways To Fix!

Note: Some firmware updates may take up to 15–20 minutes based on your internet connection speed, hence be patient before rushing into conclusions.

1. Force-Restart Meta Quest 3

If your Meta Quest 3 is stuck on updating, whether you’re just booting it up for the first time, or during a regular software update, restart always helps.

To perform a force-restart, especially if your Quest 3 is unresponsive, hold the Power button for about 30 seconds continuously, until the headset turns off.

Then power it on again, and check whether the update will go through!

2. Fully Charge your Headset

Another potential reason for failed system updates on Quest 3 is the battery charge during the session, especially if you’re not keeping the headset connected.

It’s crucial to have at least 50% charge of your Quest 3 before you update or keep your headset connected the entire time.

If your Quest 3 battery is low, connect the headset and wait for 30 minutes to ensure that the battery is charged sufficiently.

Then, reboot the headset and wait to see whether it will update. If not, continue reading…

3. Verify the Wi-Fi Connection

One of the main culprits when Meta Quest 3 can’t update or gets stuck on “updating”, is the Wi-Fi connection, and its consistency.

If your Wi-Fi goes offline, or disconnects, even for a second during the update, this may brick the process, leaving you on the “update” screen indefinitely.

Hence, it’s crucial to ensure that your Wi-Fi is currently accessible, and if possible move the headset closer to the Wi-Fi router.

Here are a few things to do and check:

Test your Wi-Fi: Use your smartphone to connect to the Wi-Fi and verify that it is accessible and currently online.
Optimize Wi-Fi: Move the headset closer to the source and ensure that your Wi-Fi router is not covered or obstructed.
Alleviate Wi-Fi: Disconnect any devices from the Wi-Fi that you’re not using and stop ongoing downloads or uploads.

If your Wi-Fi is spot on, try updating your Meta Quest 3 again. If you’ve found potential Wi-Fi drops or inconsistencies, reboot your router.

4. Clear Some Quest 3 Storage

Another common reason why is your Meta Quest 3 update in progress indefinitely is not enough available storage for the new firmware build.

Your Meta Quest 3 storage may be full, and when there is not enough space for the update to install, the process will get stuck or fail to download.

That’s why one of the best steps is to clear some storage space and try updating your Quest.

To check the available storage on Meta Quest 3, hover over the clock and go to Quick Settings → Settings → Storage.
To free up storage on Quest 3, from the Storage tab, select any application or game you want to remove and select “Delete”.

Verify that you have at least 30 GB of free storage space, and then try updating your Quest 3.

5. Try via a Different IP Address

If your Meta Quest 3 is stuck on update in progress, especially if it’s constantly turning off and getting back to updating in a loop, it’s probably due to the Meta update servers.

The exact reasons for this are unclear, but according to many users, switching your IP address redirects you to a different update server.

The easiest way to switch your IP without making any changes to your router would be via updating the VR headset using a different Wi-Fi network.

Guess it? Yes, your phone’s hotspot is the perfect way to do this!

However, if your headset is stuck in an update/restart loop, you’ll need to factory reset it first:

1.1 Factory Reset Meta Quest 3

Warning: This will erase everything from your VR Headset.

Turn OFF your Meta Quest 3 headset.
Press the Power + Volume (-) buttons.
Press the Volume buttons to navigate.
Highlight and select the Factory Reset.

Quick Tip: If your Meta Quest 3 is paired with the app, go to Menu → Devices Headset Settings → Advanced Settings → Factory Settings → Reset.

1.2 Connect to Personal Hotspot

Now that the Meta Quest 3 is factory reset, you can proceed with the initialization steps, but this time, instead of connecting it to the router’s Wi-Fi, share a hotspot Wi-Fi from your smartphone.

How to Share a Mobile Data Hotspot?

iOS: Go to Settings → Personal Hotspot → Allow Others to Join
Android: Go to Settings → Network & internet → Hotspot & tethering → Wi-Fi hotspot

How to Connect Quest 3 to Hotspot?

When your smartphone is sharing a hotspot, and your Quest 3 is factory reset, simply follow the instructions on the headset to select a language and connect to Wi-Fi.

Make sure to keep the smartphone close to your Meta Quest 3 and select the Wi-Fi that your smartphone is sharing.

When you’re connected to the smartphone’s Wi-Fi, your Quest 3 will start updating, and now that you’re using a different IP, the process should complete.

Tip: If you have a friend that you can go over to and use their Wi-Fi to update, it would also change your IP address and Meta update server.

6. Sideload the Firmware Update

If nothing so far worked, and your Meta Quest 3 won’t update or gets stuck in the process, you may need to manually sideload the firmware.

This is very quick and easy, as long as you have access to an online desktop computer, whether it’s working on Windows, macOS, or even Linux.

However, many PCs don’t have a USB-C port, hence you may not be able to use the provided Meta Quest 3 Link cable.

Instead, you’re going to need a USB-C to USB-A cable to connect it.

Here’s how the sideloading firmware process goes:

On the PC, open the Meta Quest Software Update Tool.
Select the “Meta Quest 3” option and back up your data.
Power off your Quest 3 and enter the USB Update Mode.
To enter the mode, press and hold Power + Volume (-).
Use the Volume buttons to navigate and Power to select.
Then, highlight and select the “Sideload update” option.
Plug your headset into the PC via USB-C to USB-A cable.
Select the “Connect device” from the software update tool.
Follow the remaining instructions to sideload the firmware.

This process will manually update your Meta Quest 3 to the latest firmware version, hence the headset should no longer need to update.

When the update is over, reboot the headset and test.

Meta Quest 3 Still Not Updating?

Sometimes the problem is not on your side, rather than with the Meta Quest update servers, especially if the newly released update is buggy.

If your Meta Quest 3 update is taking forever, check whether you can use your headset without updating, especially if you can complete the initialization.

If yes, then don’t worry, and rock your headset on the current firmware build for as long as you can, or until a new update is released.

Note: If you can’t use your Quest 3 headset due to the inability to update, get in touch with Meta Customer Service for additional assistance.

Finn Wheatley

Finn Wheatley, a Master’s graduate in Computer Science from UCL, London, honed his skills at small data science consultancies. There, he helped large corporations enhance their data capabilities by deploying cutting-edge machine learning analytics and resolving technical hurdles.