After months of promises, Microsoft finally released Windows drivers for its Xbox One controller, allowing it to pull double duty as wired controller for PC gaming.
- Xbox One S Controller Driver Pc
- Xbox One S Controller Driver Windows 7
- Xbox One S Controller Driver Win7
Unlike the Xbox 360 wireless controller, which required a separate dongle for PC use, all you need to use the Xbox One controller on PC is a standard Micro-USB cable. The wired connection provides the power, so you don’t even need batteries. Unfortunately, you can’t use the Xbox One controller wirelessly on a PC at this time.
Compatible with Xbox One Play and Charge Kit and Xbox One Chat Headset. Here's other similar drivers that are different versions or releases for different operating systems: Microsoft Xbox 360. With a few caveats, YouTube user Lucas Assis has uploaded video instructions and a driver that will make your Xbox One controller work with your PC. The video is 11 minutes long, so it’s not.
Driver Installation
To set up the controller, head to Major Nelson’s blog and download the drivers for either a 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) machine. (If you’re unsure which file to grab, open Control Panel, type About in the search bar and click System. Then, look under 'System Type.')
Open the file you just downloaded. Amusingly enough, Windows will show an 'unknown publisher' warning, even though the drivers are coming from Microsoft. Click Run in the box that pops up. You don’t have to plug in the controller to install the drivers.
A setup wizard should appear. Read and accept the license agreement, wait for the installation to finish, then click Finish.
Now, plug in your Xbox One controller. It may vibrate briefly, and you should see a 'driver software installed successfully' message on the System Tray.
At this point, you should be ready to play. Games that support Microsoft’s Xbox 360 controller should automatically recognize the Xbox One controller without any additional setup (with some exceptions described below).
Potential issues
The biggest problem is that several of the games I tested would not recognize the controller, including Dark Souls II, Transistor and Eldritch. The controller did recognize several other games, including Dishonored, Super Meat Boy and Trials Evolution. Uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers did not help, so hopefully this is just a temporary issue that Microsoft and game developers can resolve through updates.
Also, the first time I installed the driver, Windows 7 showed a 'Runtime Error' after plugging in the controller, followed by an 'XboxStat.exe has stopped working' error. The controller still worked, but the message was a nuisance. These messages went away after reinstalling the driver.
Finally, keep in mind that plugging the controller into a PC will break its wireless connection to the Xbox One. You’ll have to plug the controller back into the console via USB to pair them again.
I bought an Xbox One S controller to use over Bluetooth with my PC, however Microsoft only appears to support the controller in Windows 10.
I'm running Windows 7, so is there a way to fix or hack it to get the controller working via Bluetooth in Windows 7?
2 Answers
Yes, you can, however you need a specific model of controller. In the image below, take note of the top-front of the controllers. Xbox One controllers that are Bluetooth compatible have a solid face plate with no gaps, whereas non-Bluetooth models have diagonal splits along the shoulder buttons:
You will also need to update the controllers firmware. To do this, either connect the controller to your Xbox One while connected to the Internet, or connect it to your PC with a micro USB cord. See this link for updating the firmware through a PC.
To pair the device, hold the sync button on the top-left of the controller while you search for new Bluetooth devices on your PC. It should appear as 'Xbox One wireless controller for Windows'.
If you still have issues connecting your controller, you can also use the Moga Serial to Windows Interface tool to use the controller as an XInput HID.
I have used all of these methods successfully on Windows 7, 8, and 10.
The issue seems to stem from rather evil active efforts by MS to make 7 actively avoid the driver required, a guy over on this reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/3vuvg8/manually_download_xbox_one_controller_driver_for/ Has for the past 2 years been kindly keeping us supplied with the driver, install it and mess around with the wired/wireless stuff on the controller and it should work.
Xbox One S Controller Driver Pc
Spent a week trying various fixes his driver was what worked.