XboxFullScreenExperienceTool

Xbox Full Screen Experience Tool (Xbox Mode)

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A lightweight and secure one-click utility designed to enable Windows 11’s hidden Xbox full screen gaming experience (also known as “Xbox Mode” in recent Windows builds). This tool automates all underlying configurations, providing a seamless, console-like interface optimized for gamepads.

⚠️ Warning: Please Read Before Proceeding

By using this tool, you acknowledge and agree to the following:

• System Modification – This tool performs deep modifications to Windows and may cause instability, crashes, data loss, or require OS reinstallation.
• Use at Your Own Risk – You are fully responsible for any consequences. The developer provides no warranty, support, or liability for any damages.
• No Guarantees – The tool is provided as is with no guarantee of stability, compatibility, or functionality. It may not work correctly on your specific configuration.
• Backup Required – Always back up your important data and create a system restore point before use.
• Unofficial Tool – This project is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or supported by Microsoft or Xbox.

🎮 Full Handheld vs. Limited PC Xbox Mode

Microsoft has recently rolled out a limited PC edition of Xbox Mode (Full Screen Experience) to regular PCs. This edition is missing key features required for a true console-like experience:

This tool’s purpose is to enable the Full Handheld edition on any PC, unlocking the home-app selection and auto-launch behavior that the Limited PC edition lacks.

💡 If you use a custom home app such as OmniConsole, the Full Handheld edition is required.

🚀 OmniConsole boots straight into any gaming platform — Steam Big Picture, Xbox, Epic, Armoury Crate SE, Playnite, or anything you add.

⚙️ System Requirements

This tool is compatible with Windows 11 24H2 builds 26100.7019 or later. If your system does not meet this requirement, the tool will display an error and exit.

How to Read Build Numbers (Important!)

When checking the version, please look at the main build number (before the dot). The number after the dot is just a minor update revision.

Native Experience (Recommended)

Native support. For Desktops & Laptops, does not rely on screen dimensions override via PhysPanelCS / PhysPanelDrv.

• 26100.8328 or later
• 26200.8328 or later
• 26220.7271 or later
• 26300.7674 or later
• 28020.1362 or later

Legacy Experience

• 26100.7019 ~ 26100.8327
• 26200.7015 ~ 26200.8327
• 28000.1450 or later

Example: A build like 26100.1 is NOT compatible because its revision .1 is lower than the required .7019. If you are on build 26100 / 26200, please run Windows Update to get the latest version.

📜 On Legacy builds, Desktop PCs and Laptops use a screen dimensions override — see Backward Compatibility (Legacy Builds).

Please verify your Windows build version before downloading.

➡️ Download the Latest Release

✨ Features

• One-Click Toggle – Simple interface to enable or disable the Xbox Mode (Full Screen Experience).
• Automatic System Check – Verifies your Windows build for compatibility at startup.
• Automatic Gamepad Keyboard Fix & Touch Simulation – Simulates touch input at system startup to ensure the on-screen keyboard (including the PIN pad on the sign-in screen) is always ready and accessible via gamepad on non-touch PCs.
• Device Type Emulation – Automatically simulates a handheld device type for activation on desktop or laptop systems.
• Convenience Shortcuts – Dedicated buttons to quickly access MS Store Updates, Xbox Mode (FSE) Settings, Startup Apps, and UAC Settings.
• Automatic Mode Selection – Detects your device type (Desktop, Laptop, Handheld) and provides the appropriate screen dimension override options.
• Safe and Reversible – All changes are fully reversible. Backups of original settings are created to ensure safe restoration.
• Standard Installation – Distributed as a .msi installer for clean installation, management, and removal.

🚀 Quick Start

This process consists of preparing your system with the tool, updating apps, and finally enabling the feature in Windows Settings.

1. Prepare Your System

1. Download the latest .msi package from the Releases Page.
2. Run the installer (administrator privileges required).
3. Launch the tool from the desktop shortcut.
4. Click the “Enable Xbox Mode (FSE)” button.
5. Accept the system restart confirmation prompt.
6. The tool will verify your environment. If no physical touchscreen is detected, you will be prompted to select “Yes” to enable touch simulation. This ensures you can use your controller to operate the on-screen virtual keyboard (Gamepad Keyboard) properly. Your PC will restart automatically to apply all changes.

2. Update Core Apps

1. After restarting, launch the tool again.
2. Click the “Check MS Store for Xbox Updates” button (or manually open Microsoft Store > Downloads or Library).
3. Click “Check for updates” within the Store to refresh all apps. Make sure Xbox and Xbox Game Bar are fully updated.

   🔄 You may need to run “Check for updates” twice to ensure everything is fully installed.

3. Activate Xbox Mode / Full Screen Experience

1. Click the “Open Xbox Mode (FSE) Settings” button in the tool (or navigate to Start → Settings → Gaming → Xbox mode / Full screen experience).
2. Set “Choose home app” to Xbox.
   • If this option is missing, return to “Update Core Apps” and ensure the apps are fully updated.
3. Enable “Enter Xbox mode on startup” / “Enter full screen experience on startup”.

4. Enter Xbox Mode (FSE)

Once activated, you can enter Xbox Mode (FSE) in two ways:

1. Manually – via one of these entries:
   • Open Task View and click Xbox mode (FSE).
   • Open the Xbox app and click the Xbox mode (FSE) entry.
2. On startup – Boots directly into Xbox Mode (FSE) (requires the startup setting in step 3 above to be enabled).

How to Revert

1. Run the tool again and click “Disable & Restore”.
2. Restart your PC to complete the process.

💡 To completely remove this tool, go to Windows Settings → Apps → Installed apps and uninstall it. The uninstaller reverts all system changes made when enabling Xbox Mode and resets the Feature IDs to their default Microsoft-managed state.

📜 Backward Compatibility (Legacy Builds)

On Legacy builds (26100.7019 ~ 26100.8327 / 26200.7015 ~ 26200.8327), this tool provides two screen dimensions override modes for Desktop PCs and Laptops — PhysPanelCS (default) and PhysPanelDrv (alternative).

📖 Learn about the two override modes

💻 Tech Stack

• Primary Stack: C# & .NET 8
• UI Framework: Windows Forms (WinForms)
• Supporting Languages: C++, C, PowerShell
• Components & Libraries:
  • ViVeLib (ViVeTool) – A native API wrapper for managing Windows Feature Flags. Integrated as a Git submodule from thebookisclosed/ViVe.
  • PhysPanelLib – A custom library for reading and writing physical panel dimensions via undocumented ntdll.dll APIs. Concept adapted from riverar/physpanel.
  • PhysPanelDrv – A lightweight kernel driver for the advanced PhysPanelDrv mode that reliably overrides physical display dimensions. Integrated as a Git submodule from 8bit2qubit/PhysPanelDrv.
• Installer: Visual Studio Installer Projects (MSI)

🙏 Acknowledgements

This project was made possible by these incredible open-source tools:

• ViVeTool by @thebookisclosed
• physpanel by @riverar

A huge thank you for their contributions to the community.

🛠️ Local Development

Follow these steps to run this project on your own machine.

1. Clone the Repository

   git clone https://github.com/8bit2qubit/XboxFullScreenExperienceTool.git
   cd XboxFullScreenExperienceTool
   

2. Initialize Submodules This project uses Git Submodules to manage dependencies.

   git submodule update --init --recursive
   

3. Open in Visual Studio Open the XboxFullScreenExperienceTool.sln solution file with Visual Studio.

4. Run for Development In Visual Studio, set the build configuration to Debug and press F5 to build and run the application.

5. Build for Production When you are ready to deploy, switch the build configuration to Release and build the solution. The output will be generated in the XboxFullScreenExperienceTool/bin/Release folder.

🌟 Star History

📄 License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPL-3.0).

This means you are free to use, modify, and distribute this software, but any derivative works based on this project must also be distributed under the same GPL-3.0 license and provide the complete source code. For more details, please see the official GPL-3.0 terms.