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The wired Xbox 360 controller is USB, so using it for PC gaming is easy–but things get a bit more complex if you have a wireless controller. Let’s take a look at how you can enjoy wireless game play on your PC while minimizing the headaches.
The Three Prong Path khổng lồ Wireless Freedom
When it comes khổng lồ wireless Xbox 360 on Windows you have three options: the expensive và easy way, the cheap & somewhat frustrating way, and the grey market middle ground. If you’re sitting at your computer desk & not across the living room, for example–then you might just want to skip the whole hassle, just buy an official wired Xbox 360 controller for $27, & be done with it. A wired controller is pure plug & play with no hassle–but if you absolutely must have wireless play at your PC, you’ll need khổng lồ buy a USB-to-wireless adapter.
That’s right, you can’t just connect a wireless Xbox 360 controller to lớn your PC using Bluetooth, or anything like that. Xbox 360 controllers use a propriety 2.4Ghz communication method that need a specific a USB adapter made for the Xbox 360 controller–no substitutes allowed.
RELATED: How lớn Use an Xbox 360 Controller On Your Windows PC
This is where the decision making process gets slightly complicated. Microsoft doesn’t sell the adapter by itself. They sell it in a bundle with a wireless controller–but if you already have a wireless controller, you probably don’t want khổng lồ buy another one just lớn get the adapter.
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If you want lớn buy the adapter separately, you can, but you’ll either be buying a Chinese knockoff product, or an official adapter that’s been separated from its kit by a third party. Picking from these potential options is the most important step in the project.
The Official Bundle: Expensive, But Headache-Free
If you don’t mind paying a premium (and potentially buying an extra controller you don’t need) then the most frustration-free & guaranteed-to-work method is to lớn buy the official Xbox 360 wireless controller for Windows bundle. Despite the Xbox 360 getting a little long in the tooth, you can still find official Xbox 360 “For Windows” controller packs both on the shelves at many electronics retailers, online, và directly from Microsoft. & hey, if you only need the USB receiver, you can always sell the controller on Craigslist và try lớn get your money back.
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The MSRP of the official bundle $59.95, & you’ll usually find it at close lớn that price at places lượt thích Best Buy. If you can find it cheaper from a reputable retailer, then by all means jump on it. If you must shop on Amazon, be sure you’re buying a sản phẩm marked “fulfilled by Amazon” & be ready khổng lồ return it if it ends up that the product is not an official model. (Remember, “fulfilled by Amazon does not guarantee a genuine product.)
The Dubious Aftermarket Clones: Cheap and Doable, but a Headache
On the opposite side of things, you’ll find piles upon piles of knockoff USB receivers sold separately all over Amazon, eBay, and other big online marketplaces. Typically, you’ll find them ranging in price from $7-15 và they’re either flawless clones that are indistinguishable from the official adapter dongle or they’re terrible knockoffs that will give you a headache setting them up.
The official Microsoft Xbox 360, seen above left, is always branded as “Microsoft” on the front and says “Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless Receiver for Windows” on the back. The knockoffs are almost always branded “X360”, seen above right, & usually say “PC Wireless Gaming Receiver” or a variation on the back. Lưu ý the purposeful omission of any copy or trademarked names like “Microsoft”, “Xbox 360”, or “Windows”.
In general, we don’t recommend buying these. But if you already have one, we’ve got your back–scroll down for detailed instructions on getting it up & running, even when Windows doesn’t want lớn place nice.
The Official Orphans: A (Nearly) Sure Bet, as Long as You Can Find One
In between the expense of buying an official Xbox 360 Windows controller bundle & cheap $7 eBay specials, you’ll find a sort of grey market happy medium if you’re willing to lớn make a small gamble. If you look on Amazon & eBay, you’ll find hundreds of official Microsoft brand Xbox 360 PC dongles that have been separated from their controller mates.
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Your best bet is khổng lồ look for listings that include not just the dongle (with proper markings and tags, as we saw above) but also include an official driver CD và booklet. While you don’t need either of those things to use the controller (Windows will tải về the drivers automatically), it’s generally a good indicator that the listing is legitimate. It’s not really profitable (or legally wise) for companies to lớn go lớn the extra hassle of creating giả Microsoft tư vấn materials.
Just remember that Microsoft does not officially sell these separately, so if you’re buying one separately, you are taking a bit of a gamble. While we recommend you carefully study each listing, read reviews, and make sure there is a good return policy for whatever online retailer you’re using, we can say that we’ve had great luck purchasing these official adapters for $15 a piece off Amazon (specifically fulfilled by RushHourWholesalers). Every one we’ve ordered has shipped with a driver disc, documentation, và is identical in terms of branding, construction, & labeling to lớn those found in the official bundle.
How lớn Install an Official Microsoft Adapter
If you’ve purchased the official bundle, got your hands on an official adapter, or just happened to lớn have purchased a knockoff adapter of exceptionally good quality, then the installation process is incredibly simple.
On Windows 8 and above, you can simply plug the adapter right into your PC. A few seconds later, it will be automatically detected và Windows will install the drivers. You can confirm this by opening up the Windows Device Manager–press the Start button and type “device manager” khổng lồ access it. Look down at the bottom of the hardware danh mục for the Xbox adapter entry:
On Windows 7 và earlier, you’ll be prompted by the “Add Hardware” wizard to địa chỉ the USB adapter. You can select “Install the software automatically”, & if your version of Windows has the drivers the process will continue automatically. If you don’t have the drivers already on your PC, you can either use the included driver disc or download the appropriate drivers from the official trang web here.
Once the adapter is installed (and you’ve confirmed its presence on the Device Manger list) you can jump down the section “Pairing Your Controllers to lớn Your PC”.
How khổng lồ Install a Knockoff Adapter
If you’re stuck with one of the lower-quality knockoffs, we’re sorry–by comparison, it’s a huge pain. Fortunately for you, it’s not hard to get them up & running as long as you know the completely non-intuitive way to lớn do it.
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First, plug your device into your computer. We recommend plugging it directly into a port on the back. If you must plug it into a USB hub, make sure it’s a powered hub. We’d also recommend picking a port that you’ll be able to lớn leave the device more or less permanently attached to. Whenever you unplug it, you’ll need khổng lồ repeat the annoying steps we’re about khổng lồ outline–so you’ll want to lớn leave it plugged in at all times, if you can.
Let’s emphasize that last point again: with the majority of aftermarket adapters we’ve come across if you unplug the adapter you have lớn repeat the annoying multi-step installation process. In my experience, it was worth the extra money to lớn buy another genuine adapter just to avoid this hassle.
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With the adapter plugged in, navigate khổng lồ the Windows Device Manager. Press the Start button & type “device manager” lớn access it. Look under “Other Devices” in the menu of devices under the entry for your computer.
We know it’s quite nondescript, but unless you have multiple Unknown Devices on your PC, that little “Unknown device” entry is your knockoff Xbox 360 controller adapter. Right click it and select Properties.
Select the Driver tab in the Unknown device Properties box and then click Update Driver.
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When prompted to lớn select whether you want Windows to search automatically or for you lớn browse your computer for the drivers, select “Browse my computer for driver software”. Don’t worry, you don’t actually need any drivers, as they’re already included with Windows. (On the off chance that yours have gone missing, however, you can tải về the drivers here.)
You’ll be given the option to tìm kiếm for the drivers in a location you specify or you can pick from a danh mục of device drivers already installed. We want the latter, so select “Let me pick from a danh mục of device drivers on my computer”.
Scroll down the danh sách until you see “Xbox 360 Peripherals”. Double click on it.
Note: These screenshots are from the setup process on Windows 8 & 10; under Windows 7 it’s possible that you may need khổng lồ look under “Microsoft Common Controller” instead of “Xbox 360 Peripherals”.
On the next screen, select “Xbox 360 Wireless Receiver for Windows Version 6.3.xxxx”. Click Next. When prompted by the driver update warning, click Yes. The hardware signature of the knockoff doesn’t, in fact, match the driver signature, but it will work fine just the same.
You’ll receive a confirmation that the device was installed properly.
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If you get the error “Xbox 360 Controller for Windows / This Device Cannot Start. (Code 10)”, then you’ve accidentally selected the drivers for the controller, not the receiver. You’ll need khổng lồ go back into the device manager, delete the erroneous entry and repeat the tutorial from the start.
Back in the Device Manager, scroll down khổng lồ the bottom và double check that there is now an entry for the Xbox receiver:
If you see that entry, you’re in business–it’s time to địa chỉ cửa hàng your controllers khổng lồ your PC.
How to lớn Pair Your Controller(s) lớn Your PC
The only thing left to bởi vì at this point is khổng lồ sync your controller khổng lồ the new wireless receiver. If you’re an Xbox 360 user porting some or all of their old controllers lớn their PC, then this process will seem very familiar, as its only a hair different than the process of pairing controllers with the actual Xbox 360.
Press the button on the receiver (the light will blink) then, immediately after, press the connect button on your wireless controller (located at the đứng top of the controller just above the battery pack).
The green ring of lights on the Xbox controller will rotate around và then the controller will signify which controller it is by lighting up the appropriate quadrant (the wireless receiver will tư vấn up khổng lồ 4 controllers for those rare multiplayer PC games).
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One final step you may wish khổng lồ take, even though it’s not required lớn get the controllers lớn work, is to tải về the 360 for Windows controller software, it adds in a really convenient function: you can tap và hold the Xbox biểu tượng logo on the controller lớn get a battery status check.
That’s all there is lớn it! Before you dash off to play, however, we strongly recommend bookmarking, Evernote clipping, printing, or otherwise saving this tutorial if you have an aftermarket dongle. As we mentioned at the start, if you unplug the receiver you have khổng lồ go back into the Device Manager & install the drivers again.
