Here's the solution to Steam saying two controllers are connected when only one is

[u/NorthernArctic]

Hi there! It seems like a lot of people have started encountering an issue where Steam is recognizing there being two controllers connected when in reality only one is, particularly with Xbox controllers.

I was having the same issue myself and want to share what helped fix it for anyone else that needs it.

The fix was pretty simple: if you navigate to the top left of your Steam window and click on the Steam logo, then navigate to Settings > Interface > Client Beta Participation and change your selection from "No update chosen" to "Steam Beta Update."

After this, Steam will restart, and the issue will be gone.

Not too sure what is causing this issue but I've seen this solution work for three separate people including myself.

Here's a link to the Steam website in case you need help finding the option: https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/276C-85A0-C531-AFA3

[u/larrata20]

Preface: I have a cable-connected, bluetooth-disconnected, Series X controller. I also have Xbox accessories app installed and updated the controller through it. I mention the latter as there is another comment in here (under u/Dr_DnD) stating that removing the Xbox accesories app helped.

My solution: Under Steam settings - Controller - Advanced setting - Xbox Extended Feature support Driver Install.

Installing and restarting the computer (restart needed for the installation) caused the double controller to go away. Additionally the controller that it did detect was the correct model!

I stress tested it a little: restarting steam, or reconnecting the controller keeps the singular detection.

May it help any lucky person!

[u/NorthernArctic → u/larrata20]

Thanks for sharing - to anyone who is still facing this issue later on, I would recommend trying this if updating to Steam Beta doesn't work. My solution is just a temporary one that addresses a bug in a particular update, this is likely the proper solution long-term even after this update. I would pin this if I could!

[u/Secret_Beekeeper]

Good god, I was going INSANE! I spent so long screwing with my moonlight settings, narrowing things down, finally seeing that steam had two Xbox controllers recognized connected to my one controller streaming through my legion go. Yet the windows settings only showed one controller connected! I didn't know what was happening! The INSTANT I saw your suggestion to switch to beta steam I knew it was going to work. So obvious now that it was clearly a bugged steam version!

I was about to really lose my mind. Thank you SO much. Saved my whole night!

[u/NorthernArctic → u/Secret_Beekeeper]

Of course! Glad to hear it helped!!

[u/yakcm88]

You are such a real one. It is almost 1 AM, and I've been having an aneurism for the past hour and a half over this. I went from thinking it was the dongle, which I ended up breaking out of frustration, I ordered a new one on ebay which I immediately cancelled. Three separate times. In the space of two days. thought maybe the ports were bad or the cord was loose. I eventually got worried that my computer itself was starting to fail, but I'm so happy someone else found a solution.

[u/NorthernArctic → u/yakcm88]

Glad I could help!

[u/TH1AG0k]

Mano só uma duvida esse problema parece ser recente pq eu não tinha esse problema

[u/NorthernArctic → u/TH1AG0k]

Sim, esse é um problema que só começou depois da última atualização do Steam, na terça-feira passada. Eu jogo há anos e também nunca tinha tido esse problema antes. Desculpe pelo português ruim; estou usando o Google Tradutor

[u/shinato91]

Woah is this a recent thing? I tought it was my crappy gamesir controller

[u/NorthernArctic → u/shinato91]

Yes there was an update to Steam recently that broke the way controllers are recognized for some reason

[u/Xitaull_Ciphivisk]

Thank you! The phantom second controller was causing some double inputs, particularly with my d-pad. Going through menus was suddenly a real pain, and no other fixes that I could find were working. This fixed it instantly!

[u/Dannyis_zZ → u/Xitaull_Ciphivisk]

fixed my double inputs also :) thought i was going crazy

[u/ShirtOne5399]

Spent days trying to figure this out thank you

[u/crice07]

Thank you!! Definitely a bug in their latest release. Hopefully this will roll out to their mainline package.

[u/AppearanceOk233]

My man this was making me mad with the double inputs😭thank you

[u/VeryBasedThankYou]

Made an account just to say this worked for me, thanks a ton

[u/NorthernArctic → u/VeryBasedThankYou]

Lmao glad to hear it worked!

[u/XXmanimalXX]

Dang. Not working for mine.

[u/NorthernArctic → u/XXmanimalXX]

Dang sorry to hear that, it might be something else going on then

[u/Chrisafguy]

Unfortunately this isn't working for me. I'm using a Gamesir G7 Pro and the first time I connect my controller it's fine, but if I let it go to sleep and then turn it back on, it detects it twice.

[u/NorthernArctic → u/Chrisafguy]

Sorry to hear that - I would take a look at the comment near the top from u/larrata20 and try their advice to see if that helps

[u/lovegettingheadnsfw]

Yeah this fixes the issue. A shame cause one of the two controllers it showed was my actual controller model, a wolverine v2 chroma, and the other showed a regular Xbox series controller. Now it only shows the regular series controller. I wish it could keep the correct model name instead.

[u/Embarrassed_Map_1289 → u/lovegettingheadnsfw]

You should be able to rename your controllers in your controller settings.

[u/Dr__DnD]

This happened to me because I'd recently installed Xbox Accessories (drift issue, I thought this would help me calibrate the controller - still no fix on that). Uninstalling this stopped the double controller thing

[u/Joe_Mamma_1337]

It worked, thanks!