If you are one of those Xbox Gamers who love to change the button layout on the controller, depending on the game you play, you should know that it is possible to remap those buttons according to your liking. If you are surprised, then Mapping buttons aren’t new. Gamers had been using custom controllers for a while now, and because of this Xbox One started supporting this feature, especially with their Elite Controller.
Microsoft has an official app for this which is available for both Xbox One and Windows 10. Xbox One controller is supported on Windows 11/10 PCs as well for gaming, including an option to update them.
In this guide, I will share how you can remap Xbox One Controller buttons, sticks, bumpers, etc, according to your preferences on Xbox One and Windows PC.
Install Xbox Accessories apps on Windows 10 & Xbox One
- Open Microsoft Store, and search for Xbox Accessories.
- You can install on your Windows PC and Xbox One right from there.
- Here is the link to download the app.
Remap Xbox One Controller buttons on PC & Xbox One
The steps remain same for both PC & Xbox One with the exception that you don’t have to connect the controller using a wire with Xbox One, but for PC you might have to.
- Launch the Xbox Accessories app.
- If your controller is not connected, it will ask you “Connect an Xbox One controller to get started.”
- You can connect your Xbox One controller to your PC either by USB Cable or if you have the Wireless USB adapter or Bluetooth.
- Once it detects the controller, you should see your Xbox Account listed there as well. In case you don’t, it will prompt you to sign-in.
- Click on Configure > Button mapping.
- The next window will let you select one of the buttons on the controller, and swap it with a different one. So if you are left-handed, and you want the right bumper to act as a left bumper, it can do it for you. You can do the same for triggers, D-pad buttons, and sticks.
- To do it even faster, just press two different buttons one after the other, and it will be swapped. Just long press any of the buttons, and you will have the option.
- Once done, click back, and it will be all set.
What is good about the configuration here is that by looking at the image of your controller in the app, you can figure out what is swapped with what.
Apart from these, you have options to:
- Swap Sticks.
- Invert right stick Y axis.
- Invert left stick Y axis.
- Swap triggers.
- And Disable vibration.
And if you feel things aren’t right, and you need to start over, just hit the Restore Original, and everything will be back to default settings.
If you happen to own an Xbox Elite Wireless controller, you will get more options. The Elite controller can actually store a lot of configurations on PC, and two on the controller. This makes it super useful when you play different games, and have one for every game.
I really wish that this option was available for all controllers, and not just for the Elite controller. I am sure if configurations can be stored with the Accessories app, it can be done for all the controllers. Maybe in the future, we will see this rolling out.
PC or Xbox One doesn’t detect Controller
In case your controller isn’t getting detected by your PC or Xbox One, I would suggest you find someone, and connect to its Xbox One. It may so happen that it will just work again when you connect back to your devices, or an Update might just fix it.
Xbox One Accessories app doesn’t support anything else now. Even though Bluetooth keyboard is supported, there is no way to configure it. I am assuming that Microsoft will only support gaming accessories with this app.
There is no “restore original”, there use to be.