Technology
How to Connect Your Nintendo Switch Pro Controller to Your PC

The Nintendo Swap Professional Controller is likely one of the priciest “baseline” controllers within the present console technology, however it’s additionally sturdy, feels good to play with, has a superb directional pad, and options spectacular movement sensors and vibration tech. On high of that, the gamepad makes use of Bluetooth, so you do not want an adapter to attach it together with your PC.
The Professional Controller(Opens in a brand new window) seems to Home windows as a DirectInput controller relatively than an XInput controller just like the Xbox Sequence S/X and Xbox One gamepads, so it may be a little bit of a chore to get it working together with your PC video games. Fortuitously, Valve added full Swap Professional Controller help to Steam, in order that in all probability covers chunk of your recreation library. Non-Steam video games require extra steps that we’ll stroll you thru.
After all, you possibly can’t use your Swap Professional Controller together with your PC till you first join it to your PC. You’ve gotten two choices: wired and wi-fi. Wired is easiest, however wi-fi is, properly, wi-fi. And it requires a bit of labor.
Join Your Swap Professional Controller to PC With a Wired Connection
(Picture: Will Greenwald)
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Plug your Professional Controller cable (or any USB-A-to-USB-C knowledge cable, or USB-C-to-USB-C knowledge cable in case your PC has a USB-C port) into the controller.
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Plug the opposite finish of the cable into your PC.
That is it! The controller will probably be detected by Home windows 10 as “Professional Controller.” You possibly can transfer on to Steam setup steps under.
Join Your Swap Professional Controller to PC With a Wi-fi Connection
You want a Bluetooth adapter or onboard Bluetooth for this, however it’s additionally straightforward.
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With the Professional Controller charged, press and maintain the Sync button on the highest of the gamepad for just a few seconds till the indicator lights begin flashing.
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Open the system tray and right-click the Bluetooth icon.
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Click on “Add Bluetooth Machine.”
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Click on “Add Bluetooth or different system.”
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Click on “Bluetooth” (as a result of Home windows 10 must be reassured that you simply need to use Bluetooth).
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The Professional Controller ought to present up on the listing of accessible gadgets (if it would not, be sure the indicator lights are nonetheless flashing backwards and forwards). Click on it, and pair the controller.
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Now you possibly can transfer on to Steam setup.
Steam Setup
To verify the whole lot works because it ought to between the Professional Controller and your PC recreation, you need to use Steam’s Huge Image mode, the couch-friendly lean-back menu system that works properly with a gamepad.
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If Steam would not open routinely into Huge Image once you join the Professional Controller, open Steam and enter the Settings menu.
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Click on Basic Controller Settings, which opens a full-screen, Huge Image window.
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Click on “Swap Professional Configuration Help.”
If the Professional Controller is linked, the mouse cursor ought to disappear and you need to have the ability to navigate Huge Image with the gamepad. You possibly can toggle “Use Nintendo Button Format” relying on whether or not you like the A/B/X/Y buttons to be mapped as they’re on the Professional Controller (clockwise X, A, B, Y from the highest), or as they’re mapped on an Xbox controller (clockwise Y, B, A, X from the highest).
When arrange by means of Steam, the Professional Controller ought to work like an Xbox gamepad with any Steam recreation. You possibly can toggle vibration on and off by clicking the controller beneath “Detected Controllers” in the identical setup display screen as earlier than. If the analog sticks appear off, you possibly can manually calibrate them by clicking Calibrate. You too can set how lengthy the controller stays linked earlier than disconnecting, in order that it goes to sleep.
Utilizing Huge Image ensures that Steam’s controller help and over-the-game remapping and configuration choices seem as they need to, which will not probably be the case in case you open a recreation from the desktop. This occurred once we performed No Man’s Sky(Opens in a brand new window); the controller labored with the sport by means of Huge Image, however the mapping was unusual when launched by means of the desktop.
With the sport operating by means of Huge Image mode, you need to enter the Professional Controller’s controller choices to deliver up Steam’s Swap Professional Controller overlay. It enables you to examine the controller mappings for various conditions and repair them when wanted. You possibly can manually map every enter on the Professional Controller to any keystroke or gamepad enter, however the default configuration ought to work for many video games. That is useful if any controls appear barely off with the default settings; operating in No Man’s Sky by clicking the proper stick was finicky with out handbook corrections.
{Hardware} Various: 8BitDo Wi-fi USB Adapter
Steam’s Professional Controller help is welcome, however you are out of luck if you wish to play non-Steam video games with the controller due to how Home windows detects it. You possibly can repair this in certainly one of two methods: utilizing a {hardware} Bluetooth adapter particularly designed for a number of gamepad varieties, or utilizing a software-based, XInput wrapper.
The 8BitDo Wi-fi USB Adapter(Opens in a brand new window) is a $20 Bluetooth adapter that permits you to simply join the Swap Professional Controller, Swap Pleasure-Cons, and even the Wii U Professional Controller to your PC. The adapter handles the entire XInput particulars, so connecting the Swap Professional Controller to it with the bodily sync button as an alternative of by means of your PC’s Bluetooth menu makes it work like a PC-friendly Xbox gamepad.
Software program Various: DirectInput-to-XInput Wrapper
That is essentially the most highly effective and most complex choice. As a substitute of counting on Steam or a USB adapter to do the job, you utilize a software program wrapper to translate the Professional Controller’s inputs right into a format that Home windows 10 can higher work with.
X360ce(Opens in a brand new window) is an open-source program that permits you to management how Home windows sees your non-XInput controller. It is a strong wrapper that emulates an Xbox 360 gamepad by mapping practically some other enter to the gamepad’s inputs. The venture will get up to date very hardly ever; x360ce was final up to date in 2020.
Software program wrappers ought to get the job carried out in case you’re keen to put in and tinker with them a bit till the Swap Professional Controller works the best way you need it to. It could take greater than a bit of labor; third-party driver wrappers are extraordinarily finicky.
What About Pleasure-Cons?
(Picture: Will Greenwald)
Pleasure-Cons are extremely highly effective and versatile on the Swap, however they’re awkward on the PC. The excellent news is you can join Pleasure-Cons to your PC simply by pairing them over Bluetooth just like the Swap Professional Controller. The dangerous information is that every Pleasure-Con will register as its personal controller, and getting two Pleasure-Cons to work collectively as one gamepad is, in accordance with this Reddit put up(Opens in a brand new window) outlining the way to do it with Dolphin, arduous at finest.
Learn how to Join Different Controllers
For extra, see our information on how to decide on the proper controller in your PC. When you’ve got a PS4 or Xbox controller that you simply need to connect with PC, we’ve got directions for these gamepads, too.
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