Wireless 360 Controller not working? Try this

Firstly if you have a 3rd party wireless receiver -  forget it, I have 2 and have had nothing but issues with these devices.  Getting them to install by force loading the driver is not the only bug and the problems just multiply from there ranging from dropouts and constant connectivity issues.

Since I bought an official Wireless 360 controller for Windows I have had not one single issue though certain games like Dark Souls appeared not to work at all.

I  purchased Deadly Premonition on Steam which had a patch added recently for controller support - this is the way the game should be played but after launching, just like Dark Souls I could not get my 360 controller working at all, other games like Tomb Raider were fine mind you.

The Solution

After an extensive troubleshooting crusade which involved disabling things like my G13 and various other USB input devices I stumbled on a legacy controller setting within the Advanced controller properties for my device - which I must highlight, will only be seen if you have the controller turned  on.

For Windows 7:

  1. Turn your 360 controller on (important)
  2. Navigate to Control PanelHardware and SoundDevices and Printers
  3. Right click on Xbox 360 Wireless Controller and select Game controller properties.
  4. Select Controller (xbox 360 Wireless Reciever for Win) and then click Advanced.
  5. Now select your 360 controller as your Preferred device for use with older programs.

Older-programs-360

Games like Deadly Premonition and Dark Souls should now work without issue.  This issue appears to arise when you have more than one input game controller.  In my case my Logitech G13 was the default legacy device.  Changing this fixed my problems and I hope this method works for you too.