How To Use Xbox One Controller With Pc

The Xbox Wireless Gamepad might have Xbox in the name, but you aren't limited to pairing it with just a console. The controller pairs to Windows 10, as well, letting you utilise information technology wirelessly with whatsoever uniform PC game. Hither'south what you lot need to do to start using your Xbox gamepad with your PC.

Figure Out Which Xbox Controller You Own

How to identify your Xbox One controller

To start, the Xbox Wireless Gamepad included with the Xbox Series South/X, and now widely available as the Xbox Wireless Gamepad, is nearly identical to the Xbox One's controller. They both support Xbox wireless communication and Bluetooth, and the methods for connecting them to your PC are identical. The instructions here employ to both gamepad generations.

Original Xbox One controllers lack wireless connectivity, but the gamepads that shipped with the Xbox Ane S and later consoles include Xbox wireless advice and Bluetooth. You can use both controllers wirelessly with your PC, but the process is dissimilar; y'all must get a wireless dongle for the not-Bluetooth gamepads. The adept news is that Bluetooth controllers have been in production for so long that if you picked yours up in the terminal iv years, there's a adept take chances that information technology already has Bluetooth.

To decide whether you have a Bluetooth or not-Bluetooth Xbox controller, you need to look at the plastic surrounding the Guide push button. If it's the aforementioned plastic as the face of the controller, without whatever seams, yous have a Bluetooth gamepad. If it's the aforementioned plastic equally the bumper buttons, with a seam between the Guide push and the controller'south face, it's a not-Bluetooth gamepad. If it has a small, rectangular Capture button between the Menu and View buttons, and a USB-C port on the top instead of micro USB, it'southward an Xbox Serial controller and also has Bluetooth.

Connect Your Xbox Controller to PC With a Wired Connexion

This is very unproblematic, but you exercise need a physical cablevision connecting the controller to your PC. Here's how you do it.

Plug one end of your USB-to-micro USB or USB-to-USB-C (depending on the version of controller) cablevision into the controller.
Plug the other end into your PC

That's it! Information technology will automatically configure nether Windows 10 and work with virtually any game on your PC.

Connect Your Xbox Controller to PC With Bluetooth

Pairing the Xbox controller with your PC over Bluetooth is almost the aforementioned as pairing it with your Xbox One or Xbox Serial. You activate the controller by holding down the Guide button, and so hold the Pairing button for three seconds until the Guide button flashes. This means it's in pairing fashion. If you're connecting the controller to a console, you agree the Pairing button on the system itself. If y'all're connecting the controller to a Windows 10 PC, you demand to go through some menus. You also need a Bluetooth USB dongle if your PC doesn't have Bluetooth. Hither's the full pace-by-step process:

Concur the Guide button to turn on the controller.
Agree the Pairing button for three seconds until the Guide button flashes.
Right-click the Bluetooth icon in your system tray.
Click "Add a Bluetooth Device."
Click "Add Bluetooth or other Device" and select Bluetooth.
Click "Xbox Wireless Controller." Wait until the Guide button is solid white, and the Bluetooth carte du jour says the controller is connected.

Yous can now use the Xbox Wireless Gamepad with your PC, and play the vast majority of modern games that back up controllers. Nevertheless, yous can't use the headset jack on the gamepad, but like Sony'southward DualShock four and DualSense controllers. Although you can use a wired gaming headset with a controller and its associated game system, audio isn't sent through the jack when it'due south connected to a PC via Bluetooth.

Connect Your Xbox Controller to PC With a USB Adapter

If yous take an older Xbox 1 controller, or yous just want to use your newer one with Microsoft'due south proprietary wireless connectedness instead of Bluetooth (and get headset connectivity), yous demand to get the Xbox Wireless Adapter for Windows x. It's a USB dongle designed to connect direct to your Xbox gamepad without any Bluetooth setup or pairing. All y'all need to do is plug in the dongle and pair information technology to your controller just as if yous were pairing your Xbox, pressing the Pairing push button on each device.

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This $25 adapter has some benefits over Bluetooth. For starters, y'all can use up to eight gamepads with the adapter, while Microsoft recommends using but ane at a time with Bluetooth. The headset jack is also enabled if you use the adapter, with adjustable settings in the Xbox app for Windows 10.

How to Connect Other Game Controllers to PC

We besides have tips for connecting Nintendo Switch and PS4 controllers to your PC. For more controller communication, cheque out our guide on how to choose the right controller for your PC.

One time y'all're prepare to start playing, check out our favorite PC games. And if you're a PlayStation gamer, read up on how to employ a PS4 DualShock four controller on a PC. Nosotros walk yous through the surprisingly complicated process.

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