How to use a PS3 controller with Windows 10 [Quick Guide]
- Many users would rather play games on their Windows 10 devices using their joystick without investing in another expensive gamepad.
- You can now easily connect your PS3 controller to your PC and in this article, we will show you the specific steps.
- Head over to our How to Hub for more exciting guides and information.
- Make sure you don't forget to check out our dedicated Gaming section for more useful content.
Windows 10 is closely connected with Microsoft’s own Xbox One console, but there are some exceptions that could be made.
For example, you can use Xbox‘s bitterest rival’s joystick as your regular computer joystick, with the little trick I’m going to show you in this article.
If you own a PlayStation console and don’t want to spend money on expensive gamepads for their computers there is a workaround that will allow you to use the joystick you already have.
In this article, we will explore how you can use a PlayStation 3 controller with Windows 10, so keep reading.
How can I use PlayStation 3 controller on Windows PC?
1. Use Motioninjoy
So, to be able to get your PS3 gamepad working on Windows 10, you have to do a couple of things first. The very first thing you need to do is to download the proper driver for your PlayStation 3 joystick.
There are a lot of drivers of this kind, but we recommend you download Motioninjoy.
Okay, so you downloaded and installed the driver, but your PS3 joystick still doesn’t work on your Windows 10 machine? Well, that’s normal, because Microsoft won’t let you use PS3 hardware by default.
So you have to do a little trick, called disabling driver signature enforcement, in order to be able to the PlayStation 3 gamepad on Windows 10 computer.
To disable driver signature enforcement, follow these steps:
- Go to Start Menu and open Settings.
- Go to Update and Security.
- Choose Recovery from the left panel.
- Under Recovery section, choose Advanced Startup.
- Your computer will restart and you’ll get advanced startup options on the next boot.
- In these options, choose Troubleshoot.
- Now head to Advanced options and select Startup Settings.
- The computer will restart again and it will give you the list of startup settings you can change.
- You should look for Disable driver signature enforcement, to turn off this option, press F7.
- Restart your computer and boot normally.
After disabling driver signature enforcement, your Motionjoy drivers should work just fine.
After you set up your drivers, follow the instructions from Motionjoy, and you’ll be able to use PlayStation 3 controller on your Windows 10 computer.
2. Use Bluetooth dongle
- Make sure you have the latest Xbox 360 drivers installed on your computer.
- Plug in your PS3 controller with your USB.
- Now, download the XInput Wrapper drivers.
- Unpack the file using WinRAR (or any other compression software) and run the ScpDriver.exe file from the ScpServerbin folder.
- Finish the installation process.
- Restart your computer.
3. Use a third-party software
For an error-free gaming experience is always a good idea to use dedicated software that will make sure all your drivers will be up to date. One tool that does exactly this, is DriverFix.
This software will keep your controller connected to the PC and will keep you away from connection/recognizing errors while playing games.
DriverFix is reliable, fast, efficient and your drivers will be updated in no time.
Once you download it, make sure to select Surface Pro, and from there on the software will proceed to update and fix any old, missing, or damaged drivers.
That’s it. After performing this, you should be able to use your PS3 controller with official Xbox 360 drivers.
You can also check out the best controllers on the market right here. If you have any more questions, feel free to drop them in the comments section below.
