One question - just for my own clarification. (Getting older so I need these sometimes! LOL) Everyone in this an other threads keep referring to an "Xbox controller". I assume we are all talking about the Xbox ONE S series (which is the one I have) as earlier Xbox controllers didn't have Bluetooth.
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Apple M1 Since update of Parallels Desktop 17.1 USB gamepad recognized but not working in Windows 11
- Thread starter GeoffreyC2
- Start date
Correct.One question - just for my own clarification. (Getting older so I need these sometimes! LOL) Everyone in this an other threads keep referring to an "Xbox controller". I assume we are all talking about the Xbox ONE S series (which is the one I have) as earlier Xbox controllers didn't have Bluetooth.
GeoffreyC2
Junior Member
Hello, the thread was about a XBOX 360 controller connected in USB (read the first post).
About that: I saw there was an upgrade of parallel posted on November 18th. Did someone tried it and checked if USB gamepad are working again ?
Thanks
About that: I saw there was an upgrade of parallel posted on November 18th. Did someone tried it and checked if USB gamepad are working again ?
Thanks
GeoffreyC2
Junior Member
Thanks GabeZs, Parallels just informed me they are working on a fix for a future update
GeoffreyC2
Junior Member
Hello, problem solved with the last Parallels Desktop update : Version 17.1.1 (51537)
Here is a detailed summary of my problem.
When Parallels is NOT in use:
According to Apple Support, the fact that I can pair, unpair, and re-pair Bluetooth devices and they don't automatically re-pair by themselves means the Bluetooth on Mac OS works as expected and there are no problems with it.
Now, if I turn on parallels, here is where the problem begins.
The problem appears to be that Parallels does not stop Mac OS from taking control of the device back from Parallels Windows 11.
When Parallels is NOT in use:
- I can pair the Xbox controller with Mac OS Monterey.
- I can unpair the Xbox controller with Mac OS Monterey
- Once the Xbox controller is unpaired, I can power it off and then back on and It DOES NOT automatically re-pair with Mac OS Monterey.
- If I want it to re-pair, I have to go through the pairing process again.
According to Apple Support, the fact that I can pair, unpair, and re-pair Bluetooth devices and they don't automatically re-pair by themselves means the Bluetooth on Mac OS works as expected and there are no problems with it.
Now, if I turn on parallels, here is where the problem begins.
- I have an Xbox controller that is in an unpaired state with respect to Mac OS Monterey
- I power the Xbox controller on and put it in pairing mode
- So far it's not paired with Mac OS because I didn't pair it with Mac OS, which is good. I want it paired with parallels windows 11 and not Mac OS. So far so good.
- I then proceed to pair the Xbox controller in Windows 11 via parallels.
- It pairs with Windows 11 via Parallels but as soon as it does, BOOM it also pairs in Mac OS and then Windows 11 loses access to it.
- I can unpair it from Mac OS Bluetooth but as soon as Windows 11 via parallels find it and connects to it, Mac OS re-connects to it.
The problem appears to be that Parallels does not stop Mac OS from taking control of the device back from Parallels Windows 11.
In my case (and I have not tried my Xbox controller via USB only Bluetooth) it pairs and connects easily with Monterey. If I hit the power X button, it will flash but will eventually connect either by itself or if I click the Xbox controller in the Bluetooth menu in the Menu Bar.
But even though it says "paired" in Windows 11 ARM when I go to Settings/Bluetooth Devices it will not connect no matter what I click on. But if I hit the Pairing button, it will eventually pair back with Mac OS Monterey. Frustrating but at least the few games I am currently playing on Windows 11 ARM don't use a gamepad.
But even though it says "paired" in Windows 11 ARM when I go to Settings/Bluetooth Devices it will not connect no matter what I click on. But if I hit the Pairing button, it will eventually pair back with Mac OS Monterey. Frustrating but at least the few games I am currently playing on Windows 11 ARM don't use a gamepad.
In my case (and I have not tried my Xbox controller via USB only Bluetooth) it pairs and connects easily with Monterey. If I hit the power X button, it will flash but will eventually connect either by itself or if I click the Xbox controller in the Bluetooth menu in the Menu Bar.
But even though it says "paired" in Windows 11 ARM when I go to Settings/Bluetooth Devices it will not connect no matter what I click on. But if I hit the Pairing button, it will eventually pair back with Mac OS Monterey. Frustrating but at least the few games I am currently playing on Windows 11 ARM don't use a gamepad.
That appears to be the nature of the problem, yes?
The controller will not remain paired in windows 11 via parallels.
It will keep getting pulled back out of the VM and into Mac OS.
Is that what you are validating as the same problem you are encountering?
Like I said. In settings in Windows it says paired but never actually connects no matter what I do. Whether it is parallels or Windows issues with Bluetooth I don't know. I know that my Apple Keyboard, Apple Magic Mouse and Logitech Bluetooth mouse have no problems being shared between MacOS and Windows.That appears to be the nature of the problem, yes?
The controller will not remain paired in windows 11 via parallels.
It will keep getting pulled back out of the VM and into Mac OS.
Is that what you are validating as the same problem you are encountering?
Like I said. In settings in Windows it says paired but never actually connects no matter what I do. Whether it is parallels or Windows issues with Bluetooth I don't know. I know that my Apple Keyboard, Apple Magic Mouse and Logitech Bluetooth mouse have no problems being shared between MacOS and Windows.
Awesome. Thanks for the clarification. Hopefully parallels software engineering team gets this resolved. I spent a great deal of time with them providing a great deal of technical detail and my case was escalated to the development and engineering team for further investigation with the goal of a hot fix if possible.
It would be great for those who use gamepads a lot. For me most of the games I play (or would like to play like Diablo II - Resurrected) don't use a gamepad. I loaded one game I had previously purchased to test out the gamepad and it worked on previous versions of Windows but not 11/ARM. (Not sure at this point if it worked on Windows 10/ARM but I think it did.)Awesome. Thanks for the clarification. Hopefully parallels software engineering team gets this resolved. I spent a great deal of time with them providing a great deal of technical detail and my case was escalated to the development and engineering team for further investigation with the goal of a hot fix if possible.
For me the bigger issue - and it seems it is a MS one - is that the xbox app won't properly download any games.
Just wanted to chime in with my findings:
I'm using an Xbox One Gamepad, connected by Bluetooth to my Mac running Monterey (12.0.1). When just using MacOS, the bluetooth connection works well - pairs quickly and stays connected. Works great with (Mac) Steam games.
In Parallels, when I select "Share Bluetooth devices with Windows" in the settings, I can successfully pair the controller over bluetooth with my Windows 11 ARM VM. It takes a bit longer, but eventually gets connected. However, the controller never shows up in "Game Controllers", and no Windows games recognise the controller.
If I use a wired connection via USB and allow it to connect to the VM instead of my Mac, it shows up as expected and works great.
This is with Parallels 17.1.1 running on my M1 MacBook Air. I can use a wired connection for now, but I would really like bluetooth to work in the future.
I'm using an Xbox One Gamepad, connected by Bluetooth to my Mac running Monterey (12.0.1). When just using MacOS, the bluetooth connection works well - pairs quickly and stays connected. Works great with (Mac) Steam games.
In Parallels, when I select "Share Bluetooth devices with Windows" in the settings, I can successfully pair the controller over bluetooth with my Windows 11 ARM VM. It takes a bit longer, but eventually gets connected. However, the controller never shows up in "Game Controllers", and no Windows games recognise the controller.
If I use a wired connection via USB and allow it to connect to the VM instead of my Mac, it shows up as expected and works great.
This is with Parallels 17.1.1 running on my M1 MacBook Air. I can use a wired connection for now, but I would really like bluetooth to work in the future.
Have to admit I'm a bit annoyed about this. It appears this issue was first reported mid October and it's still not fixed. I didn't know about this bug when I first started a trial for parallels 2 weeks ago. My whole purpose of using it was to play some games in windows but my xbox controller won't connect because of this bug. So my trial ran out and I haven't even been able to try gaming within the vm
hey there. I keep running in the same error as described here by many others before me. (both my xbox one, and series x controller being force connected to MacOS instead of Win11, even though I keep connecting it in Windows). It is happening on an M1 Mac Mini with MacOS 12.1 and Parallels 17.1.1 (51537). Has there been any solution since?
Haven't tried my Nimbus controller in a while (trying to determine which Apple Arcade games work with the Xbox controller) and found before M1/ARM that the Xbox seemed to work better with my earlier VMs than the Nimbus, so I just automatically keep trying the Xbox controller. When I have a chance I will try the Nimbus again with the Windows11ARM VM and see if I see what you see. (But I assume the same issues - which seems to be a Bluetooth issue not related to a particular controller. Even though my two Bluetooth Mice - Apple Magic Mouse and Logitech M720 and the Magic Keyboard that came with the M1 iMac - both pair, connect and work properly with the ARM VM.)Experiencing same problem with a different controller. Nimbus SteelSeries controller pairs/unpairs with MacOS Monterey and Parallels 17.1.1 running Win11. But inside Win11, no controller keys ever detected
Was hoping the two updates that I installed today would have an effect on this issue and the Xbox app one but nope - same still happens with both. Though my Xbox controller actually lit up as connected in the Bluetooth settings but by the time I got a game running the controller wasn't seen again.