If you don’t mind paying a premium (and potentially buying an extra controller you don’t need) then the most frustration-free and guaranteed-to-work method is to buy the official Xbox 360 wireless controller for Windows bundle.

The Official Bundle: Expensive, But Headache-Free Picking from these potential options is the most important step in the project. If you want to buy the adapter separately, you can, but you’ll either be buying a Chinese knockoff product, or an official adapter that’s been separated from its kit by a third party. They sell it in a bundle with a wireless controller–but if you already have a wireless controller, you probably don’t want to buy another one just to get the adapter. Microsoft doesn’t sell the adapter by itself. This is where the decision making process gets slightly complicated.

RELATED: How to Use an Xbox 360 Controller On Your Windows PC Xbox 360 controllers use a propriety 2.4Ghz communication method that need a specific a USB adapter made for the Xbox 360 controller–no substitutes allowed. That’s right, you can’t just connect a wireless Xbox 360 controller to your PC using Bluetooth, or anything like that. A wired controller is pure plug and play with no hassle–but if you absolutely must have wireless play at your PC, you’ll need to buy a USB-to-wireless adapter. If you’re sitting at your computer desk and not across the living room, for example–then you might just want to skip the whole hassle, just buy an official wired Xbox 360 controller for $27, and be done with it. When it comes to wireless Xbox 360 on Windows you have three options: the expensive and easy way, the cheap and somewhat frustrating way, and the grey market middle ground.

Let’s take a look at how you can enjoy wireless gameplay on your PC while minimizing the headaches. The wired Xbox 360 controller is USB, so using it for PC gaming is easy–but things get a bit more complex if you have a wireless controller.

Xbox 360 driver