Xbox Elite 2 Controller Bluetooth issues Windows 10/11 [SOLVED]

Hardware

*Honestly I'm pretty sure it does not matter but adding it just for reference*

NZXT N7 B550 (with intel bluetooth v5.2)

Ryzen 5800X

RTX 3080 ti FE

32Gb RAM 4400 dual-channel

OS: Windows 11, latest

Disclaimer:

- I'm posting this message here because I honestly believe this is the place it should be. Hopefully MS Support team will learn from it and refer customers with similar issues to this solution, plus customers that reach this post can troubleshoot themselves easily or quickly.

- As tech lead I understand the issues we face in software but I'm ashamed about how MS deals with production issues around Xbox controllers, I expect them to proceed in a more standard way; test before release, test after the release and rollback if something went wrong. I'm pretty sure by experience that management had to do something around that, probably due to some xbox specific feature (guys, block this upgrade in PC, C'mon). As a consumer, on the other hand, I just want things to work properly or to get a quick solution whenever they don't, like everyone else.

Issue

Long story short, if it's connected through USB it's OK.

If It's connected through BlueTooth it transmits a weird output.

Examples:

Pressing A becomes A+Y on Tekken 7.

Pressing A (jump) on Super Meat Boy does nothing, B now makes the character jump.

etc

Other people raised a question about the controller being disconnected after some time, I honestly couldn't face this issue due to the aforementioned issue and the fact that I received the controller just 5h ago.

I noticed that it was fine before I downloaded the Xbox Accessory App and upgraded the firmware.

Moreover it was detected as Xbox Elite Wireless Controller before the firmware upgrade and Xbox Wireless Controller after the firmware upgrade.

Test setup

I had been using Tekken 7 as testing software. The reason is that it has a "controls test" feature inside options->controls so I could see clearly which actions were performed when I press a single button.

As I said before super meat boy was working wrong as well (B to jump instead A).

I also tested Samurai Warriors 5 and GTA V Online, both seemed to work properly but without having the ability to see the input they receive it can just be that they ignore the "second" input if it's too quick (maybe 1ms/near instant) so no clue at all.

Workaround

So to recap, with the old firmware, everything was fine.

I tried then to flashback it but it was not possible AFAIK. At least not from this Xbox accessory app despite this documentation that said it was possible with a link that raises the Accessories App, allegedly to help you rollback the firmware but IRL nothing happened other than me staring at this app home for some seconds/minutes. (I bet it tries to do what you'll find below but some code may be broken).

Also I couldn't find this Xbox Assist App mentioned here.

After spending like 2h with Xbox support I was almost preparing the RMA of the controller but then I found someone in Reddit that shared the following

Solution

1- Plug your Elite 2 controller through USB.

2- Open Xbox Accessories App,

3- Press Win+R

4- paste the following command in the box:

xboxaccessories:\\firmwareupdate?legacyDowngrade=true

5- Hit Enter

Xbox Accessories App will prompt a message and you can begin with your firmware rollback/flashback.

And that's how I fixed it.

Thanks to deadwizard Reddit user, you can check the original post here.

PD: Support headed me to the nearest shop where they (anyone) sell Xbox to try and upgrade the firmware from an Xbox console.

Please, don't do that. Never. Anymore. It's Microsoft responsibility to fix this and if I were the guy of the shop I'd be quite angry to receive people asking that, specially when usually 100% of the Xboxes are sealed in them boxes while an angry kid (or not so kid) is bothering about "please connect my controller to an Xbox to upgrade". That was weird and of course -at least to me- not an option.

:)