A couple of questions:

1. Are you on HorizonOS v2.5 or later?
2. Do you see a UsbNcm device show up on the PC when you start Steam Link on the Quest? (If not, that's the problem; you're somehow missing the UsbNcm driver.)
3. If the device shows up and creates a network connection, does that connection have IPv6 enabled?
4. If the device shows up and creates a network connection, if you manually set the IPv4 address of that connection to 10.86.13.38, does it work? (Note: this requires HorizonOS v2.7 or later.)

With HorizonOS v2.5, Meta added the ability for an app to turn on a USB NCM network connection, but it will only show up as an IPv6 link-local connection. For MOST folks, that will Just Work on Windows. But not everyone. (If you are on HorizonOS v2.4 or earlier, this functionality isn't available.)

With HorizonOS v2.7, they added the ability to manually force IPv4 on for the Quest side of the connection, so if you're on HorizonOS v2.7 or later the Quest side will be set to 10.86.13.37, and if you set the PC side to 10.86.13.38 it should see the Quest properly.

I OWE YOU MY LIFE.
Basically, I discovered the issue, I am going to explain the step by step in case someone has the same problem. Again, thank you so much for the help, and sorry for the late reply, these days have been very busy for me!
Essentially, if you are reading this, and you are having the same issue, you most likely have Windows 10, or your Windows 11 didn't update the USB NCM Driver, let me explain to you how you might solve:

Open Device Manager: Right-click the Start button and select Device Manager.

Locate Your Device: Look under "Other devices" for an entry like "NCM Gadget" or a device with a yellow exclamation mark.

Update Driver: Right-click the device and select Update driver.

Browse Manually: Choose "Browse my computer for drivers".

Pick from a List: Select "Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer".

Select the Correct Driver: Choose "Network adapters" as the device type, then select "Microsoft" as the manufacturer and "UsbNcm Host Device" as the model.

After that, open you Network Adapte connections, and you will most likely see the thing there. If it doesn't work immediately, I would recommend restarting the PC and the Headset, but it should work right away!

hello, read your guide, i'm using meta quest 3, got a link cable today, tried to use steam link wired, but the usb icon stays gray, tried meta horizon app, but it sucks. I wanna use use games that are already in my steam library. Long story short, i got to the point, where with meta app installed i have a "MTP device", without meta app i have "highwind inteface" and "crosswind interface"

p.s. i'm using win10

Hmmm, that happened to me as well initially, unfortunately, I forgot to record how I solved that so I am not entirely sure how I did it.
But, from what I remember, try to do this:

Turn on your meta quest, with the cable already connected, by the way, if you can, uninstall Meta Horizon Link, it tries to connect automatically to it.

After you turn on the quest, with the cable already connected, open Steam Link on Meta Quest. Remove the cable, and insert it again. If you receive the notification "Allow this USB Device?" on your Quest, you can ignore it.

After you reconnect, from what I recall correctly, it should now appear USB NCM along the other two things, the highwind and crosswind interface. Maybe the name won't be USB NCM, but it will have NCM on the name.

If it doesn't appear, try changing the usb slot your Meta Quest is connected, and repeat the process.

And if that doesn't work, don't worry about asking questions

i've resolved the problem, it was stuck as a flash drive, deleted the MTP Device and it fell back to NCM Device

i tried it and it worked kind of. the quality is kind of garbage, pixelations and the USB needs WiFi for no reason.

Originally posted by Blooonkyyyy PL:

i tried it and it worked kind of. the quality is kind of garbage, pixelations and the USB needs WiFi for no reason.

you need to configure bandwidth in steam link menu(mines on 130 mbps) and after connecting you can disable wifi

Originally posted by NEKOSHOW:

Originally posted by Blooonkyyyy PL:

i tried it and it worked kind of. the quality is kind of garbage, pixelations and the USB needs WiFi for no reason.

you need to configure bandwidth in steam link menu(mines on 130 mbps) and after connecting you can disable wifi

it is set to maximum since my cable supports to 1+ Gbps (or more) but as i disconnect the WIFI it somewhat works for 3 minutes and just stops working right after, and the weird noise glitches also. with ALVR worked all fine so not cable issue. STEAMLINK still relies on wifi for no reason

So, basically, I really don't know how this works, but I was having the same issue with SteamVR, so I tested a little bit today and it suddenly started working...? Basically, I lowered the resolution all the way to 64%, which should look terribly, but no, I don't know if it's because I changed my default resolution on SIde Quest, but after I did that AND lowered around to 130-150mbps, I don't remember quite right now, it started running perfectly and much smoother than ALVR AND Horizon Link. I tested only on 90hz, and honestly, I only play H3VR which isn't the perfect game to use as comparison, but the resolution was quite good and it never felt so smooth. I didn't remove the cable to test, but it really was (near) butter smooth, despite on or two stutters from time the time (really rare and it was like, instant)

Originally posted by Shinji Paulista:

So, basically, I really don't know how this works, but I was having the same issue with SteamVR, so I tested a little bit today and it suddenly started working...? Basically, I lowered the resolution all the way to 64%, which should look terribly, but no, I don't know if it's because I changed my default resolution on SIde Quest, but after I did that AND lowered around to 130-150mbps, I don't remember quite right now, it started running perfectly and much smoother than ALVR AND Horizon Link. I tested only on 90hz, and honestly, I only play H3VR which isn't the perfect game to use as comparison, but the resolution was quite good and it never felt so smooth. I didn't remove the cable to test, but it really was (near) butter smooth, despite on or two stutters from time the time (really rare and it was like, instant):saw_holo::td03yuuhi:

better lower the refresh rate to 72hz(tbh its not that terrible in vr mode for my sensitive eyes, than on monitors) and use 100% resolution

Originally posted by Blooonkyyyy PL:

Originally posted by NEKOSHOW:

you need to configure bandwidth in steam link menu(mines on 130 mbps) and after connecting you can disable wifi

it is set to maximum since my cable supports to 1+ Gbps (or more) but as i disconnect the WIFI it somewhat works for 3 minutes and just stops working right after, and the weird noise glitches also. with ALVR worked all fine so not cable issue. STEAMLINK still relies on wifi for no reason

its not the issue of a cable, it's the steam vr, for some reason it can't use the max bandwidth on meta quest 3, some people have issues with hand tracking, i've tweaked mine for 6 damn hours just to make it work properly, and i can't blame steam vr link 'cuz it's a beta version for meta quest headset

Originally posted by NEKOSHOW:

Originally posted by Blooonkyyyy PL:

it is set to maximum since my cable supports to 1+ Gbps (or more) but as i disconnect the WIFI it somewhat works for 3 minutes and just stops working right after, and the weird noise glitches also. with ALVR worked all fine so not cable issue. STEAMLINK still relies on wifi for no reason

its not the issue of a cable, it's the steam vr, for some reason it can't use the max bandwidth on meta quest 3, some people have issues with hand tracking, i've tweaked mine for 6 damn hours just to make it work properly, and i can't blame steam vr link 'cuz it's a beta version for meta quest headset

Oh yea i forgot to mention, also like 600ms delay on calbe too. horrible

Originally posted by Blooonkyyyy PL:

Originally posted by NEKOSHOW:

its not the issue of a cable, it's the steam vr, for some reason it can't use the max bandwidth on meta quest 3, some people have issues with hand tracking, i've tweaked mine for 6 damn hours just to make it work properly, and i can't blame steam vr link 'cuz it's a beta version for meta quest headset

Oh yea i forgot to mention, also like 600ms delay on calbe too. horrible

600ms delay means it does not utilize cable, cuz with certified oculus link cable i have less than 1ms

Originally posted by Packetdancer:

A couple of questions:

1. Are you on HorizonOS v2.5 or later?
2. Do you see a UsbNcm device show up on the PC when you start Steam Link on the Quest? (If not, that's the problem; you're somehow missing the UsbNcm driver.)
3. If the device shows up and creates a network connection, does that connection have IPv6 enabled?
4. If the device shows up and creates a network connection, if you manually set the IPv4 address of that connection to 10.86.13.38, does it work? (Note: this requires HorizonOS v2.7 or later.)

With HorizonOS v2.5, Meta added the ability for an app to turn on a USB NCM network connection, but it will only show up as an IPv6 link-local connection. For MOST folks, that will Just Work on Windows. But not everyone. (If you are on HorizonOS v2.4 or earlier, this functionality isn't available.)

With HorizonOS v2.7, they added the ability to manually force IPv4 on for the Quest side of the connection, so if you're on HorizonOS v2.7 or later the Quest side will be set to 10.86.13.37, and if you set the PC side to 10.86.13.38 it should see the Quest properly.

Originally posted by Shinji Paulista:

I OWE YOU MY LIFE.
Basically, I discovered the issue, I am going to explain the step by step in case someone has the same problem. Again, thank you so much for the help, and sorry for the late reply, these days have been very busy for me!
Essentially, if you are reading this, and you are having the same issue, you most likely have Windows 10, or your Windows 11 didn't update the USB NCM Driver, let me explain to you how you might solve:

Open Device Manager: Right-click the Start button and select Device Manager.

Locate Your Device: Look under "Other devices" for an entry like "NCM Gadget" or a device with a yellow exclamation mark.

Update Driver: Right-click the device and select Update driver.

Browse Manually: Choose "Browse my computer for drivers".

Pick from a List: Select "Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer".

Select the Correct Driver: Choose "Network adapters" as the device type, then select "Microsoft" as the manufacturer and "UsbNcm Host Device" as the model.

After that, open you Network Adapte connections, and you will most likely see the thing there. If it doesn't work immediately, I would recommend restarting the PC and the Headset, but it should work right away!:SaberDojo::al1meiya::al1meiya:

this whole time it hasnt worked because windows 10 just doesnt enable it from the start... i finally got my link cable connection without having to revert to a 2025 nvidia driver. so far anyways. seems to be connected via cable according to the little steamvr window that opens on the desktop