Xbox controller not showing via USB or Bluetooth

Jaydon64 · Nov 29, 2022

Hello. I have owned my PC for awhile now and never really had this issue until recently. I've used my Xbox One controller for PC gaming mostly through steam and sometimes my brother has used it for Fortnite via Epic, no issue whatsoever. It would be plugged in via USB, batteries or no batteries, didn't matter. Controller wouldn't disconnect at all and would work everytime. Recently I played the new Spiderman when it was released on PC and it worked beautifully on my controller. However, maybe a week or two after playing the game, I got on again to play and it just didn't work. Power came to the controller but no signal in the game. So I went to my device manager to see if I could spot the controller in the list of devices but to no avail. I've tried front and back panel USB ports (Possibly every port on the PC). I've tried different cables, different controllers, batteries and no batteries, troubleshooting via windows device troubleshooter, troubleshooting online and here in the community, installing every windows update and optional update available, updating the controllers on console, trying to find them in the accessories app, but still no answers. I see a lot of people saying driver issues which is what I've come to think, considering I play quite a few games and could've easily messed up one of my drivers somehow. I look online for Xbox Controller drivers for windows and I can't seem to find any on it. The reason I tend to think this is a PC issue is because I've tried 3 separate controllers, all standard xbox one wireless controllers that work on my console, but when I plug them in via USB or start pairing via bluetooth, nothing.

:)

MarvinaPerez

Hi Keith, There are two ways to connect an Xbox controller to a PC: with a USB cable or via Bluetooth.

Connect with a USB cable

Plug one end of the USB cable into the USB port on your PC.

Plug the other end of the USB cable into the USB port on your Xbox controller.

The controller should automatically connect to your PC.

Connect via Bluetooth

Make sure your Xbox controller and PC have Bluetooth.
Activate Bluetooth on your PC.

Press and hold the pairing button on the Xbox controller for 3 seconds.

The controller should appear in the list of Bluetooth devices on your PC.

Select the Xbox controller from the list and click "Connect."

Let me know if the information is still useful.

Sincerely,
Marvina.

Geri M.

Hello Jaydon64,

We haven't heard from you in 72 hours, so we assume that your issue has already been resolved. We will not be monitoring this thread moving forward so, if you need further assistance, please create a new thread to discuss these concerns by clicking this link: Create a new question or start a discussion (microsoft.com)

Thank you for your understanding.

Kind regards,

Xbox Forum Moderator

Microsoft Community

Geri M.

Hi Jaydon64,

Thank you for posting Xbox Community Forum. We hope that you are doing well.

We understand the inconvenience caused. Let us check on this together and sort this out to assist you and help you back to gaming.

We know that you have done and exhausted a lot of troubleshooting steps through some research, we appreciate for your time and effort on that. However, before we proceed, we would like to ask some questions about it.

Can you send to us any error message, if any while encountering the issue?
What windows version do you have on your PC?
Can you please tell us what troubleshooting steps have you done so far?
Lastly, since you have tested 3 separate controllers that is working on your console, which also made you analyze the issue comes with the PC, have you tried the power cycle or hard reset?

How to Power Cycle your Computer

Turn off your computer

Unplug the power cable to the computer from the back

Hold the power button of your computer while it is unplugged for 30 seconds and then release

Plug the power cable back into the computer

Power on the computer

Check for any changes.

Just in case you have some steps missed while doing online research and doing the troubleshooting steps on these article, Troubleshoot your Xbox Wireless Controller | Xbox Support kindly check and let us know so we could help you and do further research for accurate resolutions.

If you have other clarifications, you can get back to us by replying to this post. We are looking forward to your response.

We will be glad to follow up and help you.

Sincerely,

Xbox Forum Moderator

Microsoft Community

ajdrig

Hi,

I recently bought a new laptop and a new xbox one controller.

The Xbox One is connected via bluetooth, I've updated the xbox one controller using a USB C cable on the xbox accessories app.

However when I unplug the USB cable, the controller (still connected to the PC via bluetooth) does not work i.e. it is still connected and the bluetooth is recognised but when I try play a game (ubisoft ghost recon breakpoint), although the analogue sticks work, the other buttons (A,X,Y,B) do not work.

After the newest driver update for the controllers, I'm having issues too, I can only get it to work if I use the USB as well, The controller shows "connected" and shows the battery life etc, But no longer opens Game bar, Hopefully someone can report this to Microsoft.

PalmettoBling

Yes, there will. If it's connected via wire, it's going to draw power from the USB instead of the battery when it's on Bluetooth. If you open the battery compartment of the controller (or on the back of the controller in the event of an Elite Series)
it will show the power draw. I'm looking at a Project Scorpio edition controller and it says 5v -- 480mA. So there will be a 5v ~ 480mA difference in power consumption when connected via USB opposed to bluetooth; but then again, I'm no electrician.

Xbox controller not showing via USB or Bluetooth