How to enable developer mode on standalone headsets, plus every tool you need before you start sideloading.

Before You Start

This page covers Quest 1, 2, 3, 3s, and Pro headsets. This is not a guide for Pico headsets — head to r/PicoPiracy for those.

There are a lot of words here. That’s because if you want this to actually work you need to follow instructions exactly. Reading and understanding everything is the hardest part — once you know the process, the actual setup takes around 15 minutes. When you’re done you’ll have access to thousands of VR games and apps, all through high-speed direct download, with games installed on your headset automatically.

Enabling Developer Mode

Developer mode is REQUIRED to sideload any content onto your Quest headset. This is the first step.

1. Follow the official Meta guide to Enable Developer Mode on your headset.
2. You’ll need a Meta developer account — the guide walks you through creating one.
3. Once enabled, your headset will allow USB debugging and sideloaded app installs.

Note: Developer mode only needs to be enabled once. It persists across reboots and updates.

USB Drivers & Connection

You’ll need proper USB drivers and a decent cable to connect your Quest to your PC.

1. Download and install the Quest USB Drivers on your PC.
2. Connect your headset to your PC using a USB 3.0+ cable.
3. Put on the headset — you should see a prompt to Allow USB Debugging. Accept it.

Tip: If your PC doesn’t detect your headset, try a different USB cable and/or port. Not all cables support data transfer — make sure yours does. Meta Developer Hub can be useful if you have issues enabling dev mode.

Installing Rookie Sideloader

Rookie Sideloader is a Windows PC application. For the best and easiest experience, use a Windows PC … it doesn’t have to be a powerful gaming PC, anything relatively modern works.

For Mac and Linux users, check out VR CyberDeck on the Quest Standalone Sources page. Some solutions rely on torrents with slower speeds and manual installs.

If you plan to get a lot of games, a cheap used Windows PC plus Rookie saves massive time versus torrents and manual installs.

Setup steps:

1. Make sure you’ve completed the Developer Mode and USB Drivers setup above.
2. Download Rookie Sideloader from the official GitHub.
3. You may get a browser or antivirus warning – this is a false positive. Allow the browser to download the file. If the browser won’t let you, then it’s most likely a chromium based browser that thinks it knows better than you what’s right or not. If that’s the case, be based and go download Firefox to have actual control of your data.

FYI: Some antivirus software may flag Rookie due to its use of ADB, archive extraction, and runtime downloads. Both the Sideloader and the Sideloader Launcher are fully open source — you can inspect and build the code yourself.

4.Open your C: Drive
5.Create a folder named: RSL
6.Inside RSL, create another folder named: Rookie
7. Move the Rookie exe to a folder like C:\RSL\Rookie.

If the file goes missing or windows defender won’t let you use it you need to exclude and or the folder it will reside in. To do that open Windows Security → Virus & Threat Protection → Manage Settings → Add or Remove Exclusions Add Folder exclusion: C:\RSL\Rookie
Click APPLY

8. Set up the public JSON for access to the game list, Video Tutorial

9. Connect your headset via USB and allow USB debugging (From within the headset).

10. Double-click AndroidSideloader.exe to run Rookie.

That’s it!
Rookie downloads what it needs and shows you a list of available games.
Double-click a game and Rookie downloads it, unzips it, and installs it on your headset automatically.
You’ll see progress at the bottom … “Downloading”, “Wait for Install”, “Installing APK”, “Moving OBB”.
Have patience with larger games (some are 30GB+).
A “Success” message means you’re ready to play.

Finding Your Sideloaded Games

Anything you install that isn’t from the Meta Store won’t show up in the normal library area. Here’s how to find your sideloaded games:

• Unknown Sources: The Library app has an “Unknown Sources” section (either a dropdown or an icon on the left, depending on your headset version). It works, but it’s a plain text list and some games appear under different names (e.g. Batman shows as “Manta”).
• Use a Launcher (Recommended): Launchers replace the default Library view, showing pirated and purchased games together with cover art, sorting, and organization. The first few items in Rookie are launchers — install one and pin it to your Quest menu bar for one-click access.

FAQ: Game Trials, Horizon+, and Pirated Games

No. As of today not a single person has been banned or punished in any way for piracy on the Quest platform. You are safe to pirate as much as you want, while connected to WiFi, all on your main Meta account. Purchased and pirated games can coexist on the same account. The rumor that quest bans people for piracy frequently (or even at all) is just that; a rumor.

2. Does rookie have a virus / is rookie a virus?

No, rookie does not have a virus and has never contained any malicious code. In fact – rookie is fully open source and the code can be examined by everyone who feels like it.

Some antivirus software may flag Rookie due to its use of ADB, archive extraction, and runtime downloads, these are false positives.

Still don’t trust the precompiled .exe? Feel free to compile it yourself!

3. I followed the guide but rookie still won’t connect.

Sometimes the connection gets blocked by certain ISP (Internet service provider). To remedy this you need to install a VPN like proton or cloudflare WARP. You can disable the VPN again after you are done using rookie etc.

There is also the chance that you may be using an older and thus unsupported version of rookie / Cyberdeck. The current minimum version requirements are:

Rookie Sideloader 3.4+ with 3.4 currently being the latest release

VR CyberDeck 1.2.1+ with 1.7.3 currently being the latest release

4. Is rookie down?

Most likely not. If you have connection issues please refer to question 3.

5. Is game XY on rookie? / I can’t find game XY!

If you’re looking for a specific app or game and you can’t find it on rookie, then it either hasn’t been donated by the community yet or it is uncrackable.

6. Game XY just released, when will it be available on rookie?

When it’s ready.

7. My game only shows 3 dots, what do i do?

This may be caused by missing game files. The most common issue is the "obb" folder. Some games require it, while others do not.

When transferring the game using a USB 2.0 cable, the file transfer may have failed or some files may not have transferred correctly. Always use a proper USB 3.0 cable when transferring games to your Quest.

The "obb" folder is typically named something like “com.XYXY” and should be placed in:

/internalsharedstorage/Android/obb/

8. I’ve already used a free trial or played the game through Horizon+. What can I do?

Your options are to purchase the game, perform a factory reset and use a different account, or rename the game’s package before installing it by using a tool such as Quest APK Renamer, APKognito, or Phunk on your PC.

9. Can I use a game’s free trial and still pirate it later?

Generally, no. Free trials are tied to your Meta account, and installing a pirated copy of the same game may trigger an anti-piracy warning. See question 2.

10. I played game X through Horizon+. Can I still pirate it?

The same restriction applies to Horizon+ (formerly Quest+) games. Installing a pirated copy under the original package name may trigger an anti-piracy warning. See question 2.

11. Are game demos affected?

No. Game demos are typically published as separate store listings with different package names, so they are safe to use.

12. Should I use a second account for piracy?
If you want piracy to be simple, only have one account on your headset. While it is possible to pirate with multiple accounts, it’s far more of a pain. Unless you want to learn a bunch of ADB commands and spend hours per game instead of minutes, stick to a single account.

13. What firmware do I need? Can I do system updates?
You don’t need any specific firmware version. You are safe to update, and since many updates have drastically improved things like passthrough on the Quest 3 and 3s, we encourage it. Stay on the latest version but do not sign up for the PTC (Public Test Channel). For more info see: Should I Update?

I would like to support the project, how can i help?

Feel free to donate to the_vrsrc.

14. What games can I get?
Pretty much all of them — 2800+ titles. A few exceptions exist for games with uncracked protections or online-only games with server-side account verification.

15. Can I play multiplayer?
Sometimes. A surprising number of Quest games have multiplayer that works on pirated copies, but it can change with any update. You typically need the most recent version of a game for multiplayer to work. See the Quest Multiplayer List.
This list is very outdated and in general,

Do not have any expectations of online features actually working if you need any multiplayer features to work then buy the game.