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I bought myself an XBox wireless adapter for PC, so I can use my XBox Controller when playing platformers on PC. Worked great while I used XP, but for Christmas I gave myself an SSD and a Windows 7 Upgrade.

Now Windows 7 does not recognize the USB dongle and I can't seem to get it to work. I checked the Microsoft site for drivers and found the Xbox 360 Accessories Software 1.2 64-bit for Windows 7 but it did not remedy my problem, the dongle is still not recognized.

I have no idea what to do. Can sombody help me?

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  • You link to a german wireless adapter. Are you using a german version of Windows? I don't think that would cause a problem, but I don't know what else to say.
    – McKay
    Dec 26, 2011 at 18:54

3 Answers 3

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All devices that you have plugged in should show in the Windows Device Manager, whether they have a driver or not. In Windows 7, hit the windows key and type device m in the search and you should see device manager, select that.

In the top level of the device manager, if you plug in the wireless controller, you should see a top level of "Microsoft Common Controller For Windows Class" if you don't see that, and the device is actually working, it should show in an "Other devices" or "Unknown devices" section. If that's the case follow the instructions in this article. Or better yet, this article here which seems to work for people that can't get it going any other way. It says it's for Vista but Vista and Windows 7 share the same driver model.

If you plug it in and nothing happens at all, then you probably have a dead device. I believe the light comes on when it gets power, even before the proper driver is loaded. (not 100% on this) Try it on a second computer.

I had a perfectly good Xbox 360 wireless adapter that worked for a few years, not tons of use. Then I pulled it out of a drawer after it lay dormant for 6 months or so, and plugged into a computer it worked on before, it didn't do anything. I tried a second computer, same thing. The computers didn't even recognize it as a device.

I went out and bought a new one at Best Buy, plugged it in, and it worked, no problem.

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  • In a comment to my answer he said it appears as an unknown device in device manager
    – McKay
    Dec 26, 2011 at 22:43
  • oops, my bad. editing to show another link to something that seems to work for people with the unknown device problem. Dec 26, 2011 at 22:46
  • Yay, the step by step solution from your second link worked! You sir, are a scolar and a gentleman!
    – Sorcy
    Dec 27, 2011 at 11:35
  • Just if that link ever vanishes, here a copy of what I did: - Uninstall any drivers I've installed already - LEAVE DEVICE PLUGGED IN. - Restart PC - Download and install latest driver from Microsoft - Restart PC. - Go to device manager, it still shows up as an unknown device. Right click and Update Driver. - Click "Browse my vomputer for software". - Click "Let me pick from a list of drivers on my computer". - Select Microsoft, then Xbox Wireless Receiver for Windows - It will warn you about possible incompatibility, install it anyway. - Now try pairing your controller with the receiver.
    – Sorcy
    Dec 27, 2011 at 11:37
  • glad it worked for you! Dec 28, 2011 at 3:13
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Go into "driver managers" and right click "Unknown device" -> "update driver software" -> "browse manually". Select "microsoft controller for windows" and it should load a working driver.

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  • Hello, welcome to gaming.stackexchange.com, and thank you for your answer. As you can see I've edited it a bit to improve readability. Jan 14, 2013 at 5:28
  • I had this issue too, the drives would not install. Manually installing them made them work perfectly.
    – Mandemon
    Aug 27, 2014 at 16:55
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The wireless USB dongle works fine for me on Windows 7. I haven't even installed any drivers, I just plugged it in, and it recognized it, and my wireless controllers work fine. Perhaps you're not in administrator mode?

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  • This matches my experience with the Wireless Adapter, but I also bought it in the (official) controller bundle to make sure I didn't get a cheap knockoff.
    – user2974
    Dec 25, 2011 at 22:03
  • Nope. I even tried it with the hidden Administrator account (just to make sure), but it doesn't help. Whenever I plug that thing in it is not recognized and appears as an unknown device in the hardware manager. :(
    – Sorcy
    Dec 26, 2011 at 1:59
  • @Powerlord The one he linked to doesn't look like a cheap knockoff
    – McKay
    Dec 26, 2011 at 18:53
  • @McKay It's hard to say. One thing IS for certain, it won't be in the original packaging, because Microsoft only sells these adapters in a combo package with a controller.
    – user2974
    Dec 26, 2011 at 19:03
  • Did you have the old drivers on your computer, and you upgraded to win 7? Maybe a clean install with windows 7 would work better?
    – McKay
    Dec 26, 2011 at 22:42

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