xbledctl

Control the Xbox button LED brightness on Xbox One and Series X|S controllers from Windows.

This is the first tool to achieve user-mode LED control on Xbox controllers on Windows. Microsoft's driver stack provides no public API for this. xbledctl talks directly to the xboxgip.sys kernel driver through its \\.\XboxGIP device interface, sending GIP LED commands without detaching or replacing any drivers.

Features

• Set LED brightness (0-47%, per MS-GIPUSB spec)
• LED modes: steady, fast blink, slow blink, charging blink, fade (slow/fast), fade in, off
• Supports Xbox One, One S, One Elite, Elite Series 2, Series X|S, Adaptive Controller
• Dropdown selector for multiple connected USB controllers
• Per-controller saved brightness and mode profiles (by deviceId)
• Auto-applies saved settings when the controller is plugged in
• Starts with Windows and minimizes to system tray (configurable)

Install

1. Download the latest release and extract the zip
2. Run xbledctl.exe
3. Plug in your controller via USB

How It Works

Xbox controllers use GIP (Game Input Protocol) over USB. The LED is controlled by command 0x0A with a 3-byte payload.

xbledctl sends commands through the \\.\XboxGIP device interface exposed by Microsoft's own xboxgip.sys driver. The protocol uses a 20-byte header followed by the payload:

GipHeader (20 bytes, packed):
  Offset 0:  uint64  deviceId       (from device announce message)
  Offset 8:  uint8   commandId      (0x0A for LED)
  Offset 9:  uint8   clientFlags    (0x20 = internal)
  Offset 10: uint8   sequence       (1-255)
  Offset 11: uint8   unknown1       (0)
  Offset 12: uint32  length         (payload size = 3)
  Offset 16: uint32  unknown2       (0)

LED Payload (3 bytes):
  Byte 0: 0x00        Sub-command (guide button LED)
  Byte 1: <mode>      0x00=off, 0x01=on, 0x02=fast blink, etc.
  Byte 2: <intensity> 0-47

The sequence to send a command:

1. Open \\.\XboxGIP with CreateFileW (overlapped I/O)
2. Send IOCTL 0x40001CD0 to trigger device re-enumeration
3. ReadFile in a loop to receive device announce messages (command 0x01 or 0x02)
4. Extract deviceId from the announce message header
5. WriteFile the 23-byte packet (20-byte header + 3-byte payload)

This is fundamentally different from the raw USB GIP protocol (which uses a 4-byte header on the wire). The \\.\XboxGIP interface wraps commands in its own 20-byte header that includes a deviceId field for routing to the correct controller.

See docs/RESEARCH.md for the full technical writeup of every approach we tried, what failed, and why.

Why does it run in the background?

Xbox controllers don't store LED settings in firmware. Every time the controller is unplugged, powered off, or reconnected, the LED resets to its default brightness. There's no way around this at the hardware level.

To keep your preferred brightness without having to re-apply it manually every time, xbledctl can start with Windows and sit in the system tray. When it detects a controller being plugged in, it automatically re-applies your saved LED settings. Both options are enabled by default and can be toggled in the app.

Supported Controllers

Controller	USB PID	Tested
Xbox Series X|S	0x0B12	Yes
Xbox One S	0x02EA	Should work
Xbox One (Model 1537)	0x02D1	Should work
Xbox One (Model 1697)	0x02DD	Should work
Xbox One Elite	0x02E3	Should work
Xbox One Elite Series 2	0x0B00	Should work
Xbox Adaptive Controller	0x0B20	Should work

All Xbox controllers that use GIP over USB should work. Bluetooth is not supported (the LED is not controllable over Bluetooth at the firmware level).

Building from Source

Requirements

• Windows 10/11 (64-bit)
• Visual Studio 2022 with C++ Desktop workload
• CMake (bundled with VS2022)

Build

Open a x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2022 and run:

cd path\to\xbledctl
build.bat

The output is build\xbledctl.exe.

Dependencies

All dependencies are vendored in the repository:

• Dear ImGui v1.91.8 (MIT) - imgui/

DirectX 11 and Win32 APIs are part of the Windows SDK.

Troubleshooting

No controller found

• Make sure the controller is plugged in via USB (not Bluetooth)
• Try clicking Refresh in the app

LED commands sent but nothing changes

• Unplug and replug the USB cable
• Try a different brightness value to confirm the change is visible

License

MIT

Acknowledgments

• medusalix/xone - GIP protocol reference and LED packet format
• libsdl-org/SDL - Xbox One HIDAPI driver source (LED command constants)
• TheNathannator - GIP protocol notes and Windows driver interface documentation
• ocornut/imgui - Dear ImGui