Use your controller as a mouse and keyboard on Windows.
Works great with the new Windows Xbox mode but not required!
- Mouse — the sticks move the cursor and scroll; buttons click, type keys and run shortcuts. Hold the left trigger for precision: the cursor slows down for small targets.
- Console-style typing — click a text box and the on-screen keyboard pops up by itself, exactly like on an Xbox or a PlayStation. You type with the controller and never reach for a keyboard. Together with a cursor you drive with the stick, that gives you the complete console experience on a normal PC.
- Automatic profile switching — each app gets the layout you gave it. Open a browser and the browser profile loads; open a video player and its profile loads. You never switch anything by hand.
- Second layer — hold one button and every other button does a second job.
- Knows when to step back — games and apps that read a controller themselves, such as the Xbox app, the Microsoft Store, Start and Xbox mode, keep the controller. Desktop Gamepad wakes up again when you leave them.
- Clean screen — hides the mouse pointer when it isn't needed, and puts it back when you move it.
- Conflict warning — tells you when another app is using the same controller, which can cause problems.
- Small and quiet — no drivers, no background hooks in games, and it sleeps while no controller is connected.
Built and tested with Xbox controllers, over USB or Bluetooth. PlayStation pads and other controllers should work too. Most third-party pads report themselves as Xbox pads and behave exactly like one; anything else falls back to plain names such as Button 1 and L1. If your controller does not work, please open an issue and say which one it is.
Click a text box, and the keyboard is there:
Every stick, button and trigger is yours to set, per profile:
Out of the box: the left stick moves the cursor, the right stick scrolls, A clicks, B is Esc, the D-pad does arrows and volume, and holding RT gives every button a second job. The Browser profile follows YouTube hotkeys.
Every one of those is only a starting point. Each stick, button and trigger can be set to any key, any shortcut, a mouse click, scrolling, the keyboard, or nothing at all, and each profile keeps its own set.
- Download the setup file from Releases.
- Run it. It installs for you only, so it needs no administrator rights.
Windows may show a blue Windows protected your PC box, because this app is not signed with a paid certificate. Click More info, then Run anyway.
- Windows 10 version 1809 or later, or Windows 11
- .NET Framework 4.8 and the WebView2 runtime — both come with Windows 11, and the installer tells you if one is missing
No account, no ads, and nothing leaves your PC.
You need the .NET SDK and Node.js.
cd ui
npm install
npm run build
cd ..\src\DesktopGamepad
dotnet build -c Release
The app is then in src\DesktopGamepad\bin\Release\net48.
MIT. See LICENSE.
Controller button art based on Xelu's Free Controller & Key Prompts.