Controller battery not showing with DS4Windows: exclusive mode and HidHide

You use DS4Windows so your DualSense or DualShock 4 works in games that only understand Xbox controllers, and it does that job well. Then you install a battery indicator, or open Steam, and the controller has vanished: no level, sometimes no PlayStation controller at all, just an Xbox controller that Windows believes is wired and that reports nothing.

Short answer: DS4Windows hides the real controller so games do not see it twice, and that hiding applies to every program, including the one trying to read the battery. It does it in one of two ways, each with its own fix. BatteryOnPC recognises both and points you to the right one. The explanations below apply whatever tool you use.

Why DS4Windows hides your controller

DS4Windows reads your PlayStation controller and creates a virtual Xbox controller that games understand. The catch: a game would now see two controllers, the real one and the virtual one, and every press could register twice. So DS4Windows hides the real one.

What other programs see is therefore the virtual controller: an Xbox pad that Windows considers wired, with no battery to report. The real controller, and its battery level, are out of sight.

Method 1: HidHide

HidHide is a small driver that DS4Windows, and other remapping tools such as reWASD, use to make a device invisible. It works with an allow list: the device stays hidden from every program except those on the list. DS4Windows adds itself; nothing else is on it unless you put it there.

The fix is to add the program that needs the controller to that list. By hand, it happens in HidHide's configuration tool (HidHide Configuration Client), Applications tab, by adding the program's executable. The change requires administrator rights, and it only applies to programs started afterwards: restart the program you added.

Method 2: exclusive mode

Some setups use exclusive mode instead: DS4Windows opens the controller without sharing it, and Windows then turns away every other program that tries to open it. There is no allow list here. As long as exclusive mode is on, nothing else can read the controller, whatever you do.

The fix is on the DS4Windows side: turn exclusive mode off in its settings, use HidHide to hide the controller from games instead, then reconnect the controller. From there, the allow list of method 1 takes over.

How to tell which one you have

• Exclusive mode is enabled in DS4Windows' settings: it is method 2, and no allow list will help.
• Exclusive mode is off and HidHide is installed: it is method 1.
• Neither: another remapping tool (reWASD, for instance) may be doing the hiding, with the same two methods.

Steam and other programs

The same rule applies to everything: Steam, emulators, overlays. A controller hidden by HidHide is hidden from all of them unless they are on the list, and a controller held in exclusive mode is unavailable to all of them. When several tools fight over one controller, the one that loses is usually the one showing you the battery.

Letting BatteryOnPC through

BatteryOnPC spots the situation on its own: a PlayStation controller present on the PC while only a batteryless Xbox pad can be read. It then tells you which case applies. For HidHide, one click in its icon menu adds it to the allow list: Windows asks for administrator permission, the app restarts itself, and the level comes back. For exclusive mode, it shows the steps to follow in DS4Windows, since no allow list can help there.

Once that is done, the two coexist: DS4Windows keeps presenting an Xbox controller to your games, and the real battery level stays in your taskbar. The DualSense mute button, which is read the same way, comes back at the same time.