Since the controller works elsewhere but not correctly in the Xbox app and appears incorrectly in Device Manager, the most relevant guidance from similar issues is to clean up problematic or stale Bluetooth/USB drivers and then re-pair the controller.
Follow these steps on Windows 11:
- Open Device Manager
- In the search box on the taskbar, type
device managerand select Device Manager from the results.
- In the search box on the taskbar, type
- Show hidden devices
- In Device Manager, select View > Show hidden devices.
- Remove problematic Bluetooth/USB entries
- Expand Bluetooth and Human Interface Devices (and Xbox Peripherals if present).
- Look for:
- Any device entries with a yellow triangle (warning icon), especially Bluetooth-related or controller-related entries.
- Old or duplicate Bluetooth drivers or controller entries.
- For each such entry:
- Right-click it and select Uninstall device.
- This mirrors the successful resolution where removing hidden/old Bluetooth drivers and then re-pairing fixed an Xbox controller that would not behave correctly.
- Unpair the controller
- Open Settings > Bluetooth & devices.
- Find the controller in the list.
- Select it and choose Remove device.
- If removal fails initially, repeat after the driver cleanup above.
- Re-pair the controller
- Put the controller into pairing mode.
- In Settings > Bluetooth & devices, select Add device and pair the controller again.
- After pairing, verify that in Device Manager it appears under the appropriate controller/USB/Bluetooth categories without warning icons.
If the controller still does not appear correctly or the Xbox app continues to fail, repeat Device Manager cleanup (ensuring hidden devices are visible) and verify that Windows is fully updated and that apps from Microsoft Store (including the Xbox app) are working correctly by following the general app repair guidance (repair/reset the Xbox app from Settings > Apps > Installed apps if needed).
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