XBox One controller using Bluetooth and Win 8.1

Sarra · September 30, 2020

I just got a brand new XBox One controller, and I am trying to get it working in Windows 8.1 using Bluetooth. It will connect and download drivers, however, steam does not recognize it as a controller, and none of my steam launched games recognize it. If I plug it in via USB, it's fine. I don't want to run it with a cable, so I've been googling around, and the biggest suggestion is to use the XBox Accessories app to update the firmware, but that app will not install or run in 8.1, so... Now I'm kind of stuck. Is there a way to get this working, or am I going to need to just upgrade to Windows 10?

demonix00 · September 30, 2020

Xbox one controllers are only stated as compatible with windows 10, so you'd have to upgrade to windows 10 to use it and I'm certain there is no way to get it working otherwise in older versions of windows.

Sarra · October 1, 2020

4 hours ago, demonix00 said:

Xbox one controllers are only stated as compatible with windows 10, so you'd have to upgrade to windows 10 to use it and I'm certain there is no way to get it working otherwise in older versions of windows.

So, I have a Win 10 laptop, which is just barely able to play 480p video, forget games, and I can get it to connect to the XBox Accessories app using bluetooth, but I cannot get it to work using a USB cable.

In Win 8.1, I can get it to work with games using the USB cable, but I cannot get it to work with Bluetooth.

Regardless, I came to the same conclusion as you, and I'm going to be looking into ~~upgrading~~ downgrading to Win 10 this weekend.