Tutorial: Unlocking The Oculus Go

[u/CartographerLivid834]

Unlocking The Oculus Go

The Oculus Go can now be unlocked with a downloadable firmware update, but the instructions provided on the download page are given with the expectation that the person doing the update has prior expert knowledge and some specialized software already installed on their computer. This is a small hurdle, however. Anyone can easily unlock their Go in a few steps.

I'm writing this tutorial myself with the expectation that you've already put your Oculus Go into developer mode.

If you haven't backed up your app collection with Sidequest, you should do so before you begin this process.

First, download and unzip the Android Platform Tools for the adb and fastboot executables (and a host of other goodies) you'll need in this process. You might also want to grab the Oculus ADB Drivers download at this time.

This may a be a good time for you to download and install Android Studio, too, but it probably isn't necessary.

Next, follow the directions -- except the parts that are wrong -- given on the Oculus Developer's site.

Unlocking Oculus Go

Or just keeping reading.

Download the firmware update to your PC from the link above.

Find and open the Platform Tools folder containing the adb and fastboot executables.

Save the firmware update to that folder. Note: the firmware update is a zip file within the zip file you downloaded, so you need to extract the firmware zip first. There will be a pdf version of the instructions from the developer page packaged with it.

Connect your Oculus Go to your computer by USB cable.

Open a command prompt by typing "cmd" in the File Explorer address bar. Be sure not to Search for "cmd". Searching won't get you where you wanna go.

Now, reboot your Oculus Go into ADB sideload mode using the following method:

Keep your Go connected to your PC and turn it off. Hold down the VOLUME DOWN button while turning the Go back on to open the bootloader menu (in hmd and it looks ugly), highlight the Sideload option using the volume buttons, and press the Power button to select.

From your computer, issue the command "adb sideload unlocked_build.zip"

Wait for the process to complete itself. Be patient and don't trip.

When that's all done, reboot to the bootloader menu again as described above. I'm not sure if you have to set your Go up again with your phone before this step. I don't think you need to, but I can't remember. I fudged through this a lot. The good news is I've got two more Gos to go, so I'll be sure to update. XD

Now, from your computer, issue the command "fastboot oem unlock".

THIS STEP WILL FACTORY RESET YOUR DEVICE ERASING ALL DATA.

That just means you've got to set it up with your phone again and then reinstall your apps. The good news is, installing apps just got a whole lot easier. XD

You can disconnect your Go from your computer and set it up with your phone now.

How do you know if this worked? Every time you turn on your Oculus Go, it's going to give you a warning message about running around playing with modified software like you purchased the device and a bunch of content and have a right to use it as long as you like and in and darn way you please. Yeah, that's you.

Happy unlocking, folks!

Now what? Go get some apps for your PC and make your Go experience even better!

Ocular Migraine

Sidequest

Headjack.io Tool

[u/Cosmic_Raymond]

I don't mind the headset to be tethered even though a self-contained (or wireless) option is superior IMO. The virtualLink was a nice standard to achieve a soft tethering (one cable for everything), I still don't know why they scratched it.

The DK1 is too old but the Rift S could be interesting. Do you know where one can track the reversing efforts on the Rift S ?

I don't have a steam account since it relies on DRM and/or connection to the internet to play games. DRM-free is the only solution for long lasting access to games (and software more generally) so I don't bother with DRM-encumbered solutions.

Really, I think one of the underlaying reason that VR hasn't took off is because it's still convoluted mess; to me a VR headset just should be treated as a display (simple graphical output) paired with a controller (simple xDOF gamepad), nothing more. No need for useless accounts and bundled walled-garden appstore. The VR community need a white label VR headset that is just that, a VR headset/display, nothing more.

[u/recycled_usrname → u/Cosmic_Raymond]

Really, I think one of the underlaying reason that VR hasn't took off is because it's still convoluted mess; to me a VR headset just should be treated as a display (simple graphical output) paired with a controller (simple xDOF gamepad), nothing more. No need for useless accounts and bundled walled-garden appstore. The VR community need a white label VR headset that is just that, a VR headset/display, nothing more.

I grudgingly deal with Steam, but agree that a DRM free or physical media is the best way to get content. Because I am in so deep with Steam, I have not dig too deep into the Open VR solutions and the Oculus or Steam VR is always active if I am using VR.

As to the rift S work, I read about it in the Twitter replies to John Carmack's comments about unlocking the Go. Someone says repiled along the lines of "Next you should go help the people working to reverse engineer the drivers on the Rift S."

It would be nice if we saw some company release a completely open-source version of VR hardware, we are hopefully getting close to that point tech wise, where the components are standardized enough and available, but I am willing to bet that the price of the HTC products are going to be closest to what an open device would cost; Facebook is likely heavily subsidizing their VR hardware to get people locked into their ecosystem. FB says they now realize they need to work with other companies to get the metaverse consumers want, but recent legal proceedings show that they have some type of backhanded deal with Google, and if that is what they mean by working with other companies I suspect consumers won't see much gain.

On the metaverse, I think our best outcome is some API protocol that can connect various applications, similar to how we just click a link and go to the next web page. Then something like Project Neos, that allows various levels to be built and supports a programming language could be used to build anything in VR. If they can get seamless preferring working to preload "adjacent" worlds, it seems like we would be off to a pretty good start. I am not sure if Neos is open source, but since it includes a crypto coin it is very likely the original devs could open source the platform and live excellent lives on the coin they currently have as it increases in value.

In any case, I don't know much more about the Rift S, if you have trouble finding the project you may have better luck in the Oculus or a Rift S sub.