An Oculus Rift error left many virtual reality headsets unless until a fix was issued this week for the problem, which was due to Oculus not updating its Windows certificate, the security feature that confirms its software, according to PC World magazine.
Windows started to display a "Can't reach Oculus Running Service" error when the digital certificate expired, leaving virtual reality users up in the air, the magazine said.
The Telegraph reported that some devices were out for more than 15 hours until the virtual reality company, which is owned by Facebook, acknowledged the problem Wednesday and had the fix by early Thursday morning.
"If you are having trouble opening the Oculus application on your PC, this Oculus Install Patch will update your Oculus system files with the proper certificate," the company said on its website.
In an accompanying article detailing the update, Oculus said that the download and update could take up to 10 minutes depending on network connection.
"We're very sorry for the disruption today," the Oculus Team wrote in an email sent out to users Thursday morning, according to Rolling Stone magazine. "We're providing a $15 Oculus Store credit (or currency equivalent) to people impacted by this issue.
"If you used Rift on or after Feb. 1st, 2018 this credit will be added to your account automatically within the next seven days," the email continued, per Rolling Stone.
While the fix has been issued, PC World wrote that the incident was a reminder of how easily the "digital ecosystem" can break down.
"Someone forgets to check a box, and suddenly millions of devices break," PC World wrote.
Social media handled the Oculus interruption with various degrees of humor, support, and anger.
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