Installation and Setup

Installation & Setup

You need three things: a build of the editor, adb, and the old home file. The annoying parts (signing, choosing the right APK, installing) are automatic.

0. Get a build

From Releases:

File	For
"Quest Home Editor.exe"	Windows, 2013+ CPU (AVX2 — fastest texture cooks)
Quest-Home-Editor-windows-x64.zip	Windows, any 64-bit CPU (SSE4.1). If the exe dies instantly with 0xc000001d, you need this one.
Quest-Home-Editor-linux-x64.AppImage / .tar.gz	Linux
hsr_renderer-macos-*.dmg	macOS (Apple Silicon + Intel; MoltenVK bundled)

Or build from source on any OS — see the Developer Guide.

A Vulkan-capable GPU is required. The renderer replicates the Quest's own Vulkan pipeline — there is no D3D11/GL fallback. On macOS Vulkan runs through MoltenVK (bundled in the .dmg; brew install molten-vk when building from source). Very old iGPUs (pre-2013 Intel) have no Vulkan driver on Windows at all.

1. ADB

The converter installs to the headset with Google's adb. You do not need the full Android SDK — just these files, placed next to the editor binary:

"Quest Home Editor.exe"          (Windows)          hsr_renderer        (Linux/macOS)
adb.exe                                      adb
AdbWinApi.dll
AdbWinUsbApi.dll

The tool searches for adb in this order:

1. $HSR_ADB (if you set it to an adb path)
2. beside the exe (the files above, or a platform-tools/ folder next to the exe)
3. C:\Android\platform-tools\adb.exe (Windows)
4. adb on your PATH

Get the files from Google's SDK Platform-Tools zip (copy just those out of it). On Linux/macOS only the single adb binary is needed (apt install adb / brew install android-platform-tools also works — it lands on PATH).

2. Developer Mode on the headset

1. In the Meta Quest phone app → your headset → Developer Mode → On.
2. Connect the headset over USB.
3. The first time, the headset shows "Allow USB debugging" — accept it (check "always allow").
4. Verify on the PC: adb devices should list your headset.

Wi-Fi instead of USB: enable "Wireless debugging" on the headset, then in the Cook tab type the headset IP in Wi-Fi IP and press Connect before cooking.

3. Signing toolchain (automatic)

APKs must be signed or the Quest rejects them (INSTALL_PARSE_FAILED_NO_CERTIFICATES). The tool signs automatically. Build-tools are found from an installed Android SDK, or — on a clean PC with no SDK and no Java — auto-downloaded beside the exe on first use (needs curl + a network connection; Windows 10+/Linux/macOS all ship curl).

Pre-fetch the toolchain anytime:

"Quest Home Editor.exe" --fetch-tools

Next: Cooking a Home.