The Switch Pro Controller is the easiest Nintendo controller to use on a PC: it has a standard layout, a proper USB-C port, and full gyro. BetterJoy turns it into a virtual Xbox 360 (XInput) or DualShock 4 controller and can stream its motion data to emulators. This guide covers both connection methods — Bluetooth for wireless play and USB for a wired, interference-free setup — plus the disconnect, reconnect, and remove-device flows you will need sooner or later.
Before you begin
Make sure BetterJoy itself is installed first: extract the v7.1 ZIP to a permanent folder, run the ViGEmBus driver installer from the Drivers folder, and reboot. If you have not done that yet, start with our complete BetterJoy install and first-run guide, then come back here. Grab the package from the BetterJoy download page if you need it.
For Bluetooth, your PC needs a working Bluetooth adapter. Joy-Cons and Pro Controllers are chatty wireless devices, and the official project wiki notes you want a decent adapter that is comfortable handling several connections at once — a weak built-in radio is the root cause of many lag complaints.
Method 1: Connect over Bluetooth
- Open BetterJoyForCemu.exe so it is ready to detect the controller.
- On the Pro Controller, find the small round Sync button on the top edge, next to the USB-C port. Hold it down for about five seconds, until the four player LEDs at the bottom start cycling back and forth. That cycling pattern means the controller is broadcasting and ready to pair.
- In Windows, open Settings → Bluetooth & devices (Windows 11) or Settings → Devices → Bluetooth (Windows 10) and choose Add device → Bluetooth.
- Select the Pro Controller when it appears in the list and wait for Windows to confirm the pairing.
- Look at the BetterJoy window: the controller’s icon should appear. BetterJoy continuously scans, so a controller that connects while the program is already running is picked up automatically.
The icon’s background colour gives you a rough battery indication while you play, and BetterJoy can pop up a low-battery notification before the controller dies.
Method 2: Connect over USB
- Run BetterJoyForCemu.exe.
- Plug the Pro Controller into your PC with a USB-C cable. Use a data cable — some cheap cables only carry power and will charge the controller without ever showing up as a device.
- Give Windows a few seconds to finish setting the device up, and the controller icon will appear in BetterJoy.
Wired play is the right choice if your room is full of wireless interference, if your Bluetooth adapter is weak, or if you are troubleshooting: switching to USB is the fastest way to prove whether a problem is wireless or something else.
Disconnecting and reconnecting
To disconnect, hold the Home button (or the Capture button) down for about two seconds. The controller powers down and drops out of BetterJoy. To reconnect later, just press any button on the controller — because the pairing is already stored in Windows, it reconnects without repeating the Sync process, and BetterJoy picks it up again while it is running.
Removing the controller from Windows (and when to do it)
Sometimes a pairing goes stale: the controller shows in Windows but never appears in BetterJoy, or it worked yesterday and not today. The clean fix is to remove the device completely and pair it fresh:
- Open Settings → Bluetooth & other devices.
- Find the Pro Controller in the device list, click it, and choose Remove device.
- Optionally toggle Bluetooth off and back on — this clears a surprising number of stuck states.
- Hold the controller’s Sync button until the lights cycle, and pair again from scratch, as in Method 1 above.
Making games see the controller
Windows pairing alone is not the last step. Games do not talk to the Pro Controller directly — they talk to BetterJoy’s virtual controller. In BetterJoy, choose XInput output for the widest compatibility (or DS4 output for tools that expect a PlayStation controller), then in your game or emulator select the XInput controller and map the buttons. If you want motion controls in an emulator, BetterJoy’s UDP motion server on 127.0.0.1 port 26760 supplies the gyro data.
Want to customise what the extra buttons do? The Pro Controller’s Capture button can be bound to a keyboard key — see our guide to remapping buttons in BetterJoy. And if you are pairing Joy-Cons as well, the process is similar but each Joy-Con pairs separately — see connecting Joy-Cons to PC.
Frequently asked questions
Can I charge the controller while playing?
Yes — playing over USB charges the controller at the same time. Over Bluetooth it runs on battery, and BetterJoy’s icon colour and low-battery warning help you keep an eye on it.
The controller pairs but nothing happens in my game. Why?
Usually because BetterJoy is not running, the ViGEmBus driver was never installed (or the PC was not rebooted afterwards), or the game is looking at the raw controller instead of the virtual XInput one. Check those three things first.
Does this work with the Switch 2 Pro Controller?
No. BetterJoy v7.1 predates the Switch 2 and only recognises the original Switch Pro Controller, Joy-Cons, and SNES controller. The Switch 2 Pro Controller uses a different Bluetooth protocol and is not supported by BetterJoy.
Where are all the tutorials?
Everything is indexed on our BetterJoy tutorials hub, from first install to gyro mouse control and the configuration file.