Water
PS5 or PS4 controller on PC
A PS5 controller (DualSense) or PS4 controller (DualShock 4) connects to a Windows PC with a USB cable or over Bluetooth: plug it in, or hold PS with Create (Share on a PS4 controller) until the light bar flashes and add it in Windows’ Bluetooth settings. If Windows sees it and a game doesn’t, the game most likely reads only Xbox controllers, and Steam Input can stand in for one.
Updated 29 October 2026 · Em português
Connect it with a cable
Plug the controller into a USB port on the PC: a DualSense takes a USB-C cable, a DualShock 4 a micro-USB one. Sony says to use the cable that came with the console, or a compatible one.
On a DualSense the cable is worth it: haptic feedback in PC games needs it, Sony says, and so does the headset jack. Adaptive triggers work in the games that support them, some of them only by cable.
Pair it over Bluetooth
- Turn the controller off: if its lights are on, hold PS until they go out. Unplug its cable.
- Put it in pairing mode. DualSense: hold Create, then hold PS as well, until the light bar blinks. DualShock 4: hold Share, then PS, until the light bar flashes.
- On Windows 11, select the network, sound or battery icon by the clock, then the arrow on the Bluetooth tile, and pick the controller under New devices. Settings › Bluetooth & devices › Devices › Add device › Bluetooth works too.
- On Windows 10: Settings › Devices › Bluetooth & other devices › Add Bluetooth or other device › Bluetooth, then the controller.
- When it pairs, the light bar blinks and the player light comes on. From then on, PS alone connects it.
Sony’s DualSense on PC page lists Windows 10 and 11 over Bluetooth. For a DualShock 4, Sony lists Windows only by cable or with its DUALSHOCK 4 USB wireless adaptor; these steps still pair one with Windows over Bluetooth, though Sony doesn’t list or support that.
Why a game ignores it
Windows seeing the controller doesn’t mean a game will. Many PC games read controllers through XInput, Microsoft’s interface for Xbox controllers, and XInput doesn’t see a PlayStation controller. Other games support the DualSense and DualShock 4 themselves, some with the DualSense’s haptics and adaptive triggers. A game’s Steam store page says which of the Xbox, DualSense and DualShock controllers it supports.
Games in Steam: Steam Input
Steam Input, built into Steam, reads the PlayStation controller and shows the game an Xbox controller, so a game made for Xbox controllers responds. By default, Valve says, Steam does this only in games without their own PlayStation support, and hands the controller straight to the games that have it.
The Controller page of Steam’s settings turns Steam Input on or off for PlayStation controllers, and each game’s controller settings in Steam do the same for that game. While Steam Input stands in, the game may show Xbox buttons on screen.
Games outside Steam
Steam Input works for a game from outside Steam too. In Steam’s Games menu, choose Add a Non-Steam Game to My Library, tick the game, and start it from Steam from then on.
DS4Windows, a free, open-source tool developed by Jays2Kings and then Ryochan7, does the same job without Steam: it shows a DualShock 4 or DualSense to games as an Xbox 360 controller, and installs a driver to do it. Ryochan7’s GitHub repository is no longer online, and a fork that carried it on was archived in March 2026, so the copies online today come from other people’s forks and sites. Steam Input, from Valve, is the safer route. If you use DS4Windows anyway, its README says to turn off Steam Input for PlayStation and Xbox controllers while it runs.
Still not working?
- Windows doesn’t see it by cable. Try another USB port, and the cable that came with your PS5 or PS4: Sony says to connect with that one or a compatible cable.
- It isn’t in the Bluetooth list. Put it in pairing mode again, with its cable unplugged. On Windows 11, Settings › Bluetooth & devices › Devices › Bluetooth devices discovery set to Advanced lists every kind of device.
- It went back to your PS5. A DualSense connects to the last device it used when you press PS. It can keep up to four pairings, one per slot: hold the action button of the PC’s slot (triangle is slot 1, circle 2, cross 3, square 4), then hold PS as well for three seconds to switch back. Otherwise, pair it with the PC again.
- Windows sees it, the game doesn’t. The game most likely reads only Xbox controllers: start it from Steam with Steam Input on, as above, and look for a controller option in the game’s own settings.
- Still nothing. Sony’s first fix is a reset, with the button in the small hole on the back of a DualSense (a DualShock 4 has a reset button too). Sony’s PlayStation Accessories app for Windows updates a DualSense’s firmware, with the controller connected by USB cable or Bluetooth.
Console games, controller ready
In every emulator Water sets up for its 16 consoles, a DualShock 4 or DualSense works with no driver to install and nothing to map. Settings › Controllers in Water lists the controllers connected and pairs a Bluetooth one through Windows’ own pairing. In PC games, Water leaves the controller to the game, so the steps above still apply. One known gap: once an emulator has used a DualShock 4 over Bluetooth, the PSP emulator and some PC games can misread it until you turn the controller off and on.
