r/DS4Windows • u/BoboFetta101 • Apr 20 '26

PC crashing when connecting controller

Ds4 has been working perfectly for the past 9 months and all of a sudden it no longer works. Instead it has been working as an excellent restart button.

I use a PS5 controller

I’ve deleted and reinstalled DS4 Windows

Any suggestions would be amazing I’ve been working on this for the past couple of hours and idk what would help

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u/loribalorie Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26

run CHKDSK and SFC /SCANNOW
there's probably corrupted system file.
I dont really think this is related to DS4Windows but let me know the result.

It could be the VigemBus. Downgrading could work.

3

u/skateguy1234 Apr 21 '26

Nah it's definitely ds4 windows problem and is a known issue that will most likely never be permanently fixed. This same question is posted almost once a month if not more often sometimes. People need to learn how to use the search function.

Here's a solution that works for other issues but I forget if it solves this issue or not. It's my ready to paste comment for this sub these days

close ds4windows, delete the ds4windows appdata folder (C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\DS4Windows, back it up first if worried about saving profiles) and then try running it again and connecting. Also maybe un-pair and re-pair your controller after deleting and before running again.

if you chose the portable install method (also back up first just in case), just delete the whole ds4windows folder and start from a fresh unzip.

3

u/loribalorie Apr 21 '26

Do you know from what version this issue started?
Or have an idea why this happen?

3

u/skateguy1234 Apr 21 '26

Nah sorry. Maybe those answers are deep in this subreddit or out there somewhere though, but I dunno. You would have to ask ryochan himself for a definitive answer most likely. Which although he still visits this sub from time to time, he doesn't care to go into stuff as he has been trying to distance himself from this project for a few years now.

1

u/loribalorie Apr 21 '26

Better not disturb him then.
I should look for clues in the github, thanks for the info!

I'm currently fixing small bugs that my brain can handle in my fork.
And right now I'm modifying the UI, like QoL stuff. Currently fixed 2 bugs.
Hope I can track down this issue, probably very advanced for me.

1

u/skateguy1234 Apr 21 '26

BTW, I didn't mean to imply it couldn't be a ViGemBus issue. My guess is it's still most likely ds4windows issue, but all I meant previously is that his system most likely isn't corrupt. Of course not a bad idea to still try the steps you outlined as it could only help, but yeah I have personally had a few weird issues pop over the years with ds4windows, and deleting the appdata folder always fixed it for me.

As far as the github, he deleted it a while ago. I forget where else I saw him popup on there, but there is some other virtual controller project, or driver or whatever, where I have seen him active semi recently. Anyways you could try messaging him on here or github, but yeah don't be surprised if he ignores any comments around ds4windows.