<aside> ⚠️ This will also stop UWP apps and games from the Microsoft Store (like Minecraft Bedrock) from accepting controller input. Do not use if you're playing games from there.

</aside>

Windows 10 makes it such that guest's controllers can move through the start menu, which can be very annoying. Below is a workaround that consists of installing an older Xbox controller driver to remove that behavior.

Windows 11

Save this link as a .reg file and run it, then restart the computer. To re-enable, edit the file and change the last number to a 1, and run that.

I couldn’t get this to work personally. If it fails for you, fall back to the Windows 10 steps.

Windows 10

Do the following steps on the host you want to disable the behavior on. You should get as many guests as you plan to play with so you can configure all the controller slots right away, and ask them to press buttons for their controllers to show up. If you only configure it for 2 guests for example, and a third guest joins your stream later, they will still be able to control the start menu.

• Download this driver cab file (if your browser won't download it, copy the link and paste in a new tab)
• Extract the cab file into a folder using 7zip or WinRAR
• Open Device Manager (press Windows key + R, type devmgmt.msc and press Enter)
• In Xbox 360 Peripherals, double-click a controller you want to tweak
• Go to the Drivers tab
• Select Update driver
• Select Browse my computer for files
• Select Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer
  • If this is the first controller you're tweaking, select Have disk..., select Browse, and select the .inf file inside the extracted folder from before
  • If this is not the first controller you're tweaking, select the driver containing 2.1.0.1349 [8/13] and click Next

After installing it in each of the controllers, restart the computer to apply the changes

How to re-enable

• Open Device Manager (press Windows key + R, type devmgmt.msc and press Enter)
• In Xbox 360 Peripherals, double-click a controller you want to tweak.
• Go to the Drivers tab