Cannot connect Xbox Controller to Windows 11 ARM Virtual Machine on Mac M1 Silicon

I have a Mac M1 Silicon running Monterey
On that Mac M1 Silicon is a parallels Windows 11 ARM (NOT x64 and Not x86 but ARM) Virtual Machine
I need to connect an Xbox controller to the Windows 11 ARM virtual machine within parallels via Bluetooth.
If I use Mac native wireless Bluetooth, I cannot get the Xbox controller to remain connected to the windows 11 virtual machine because the mac keeps pulling the controller back into the Mac from the windows 11 virtual machine.

Steps to reproduce:

1. I have an Xbox controller that is in an unpaired state with respect to Mac OS Monterey
2. I power the Xbox controller on and put it in pairing mode. So far it's not paired with Mac OS because I didn't pair it with Mac OS, which is good. I want it paired with parallels windows 11 and not Mac OS. So far so good.
3. I then proceed to pair the Xbox controller in Windows 11 via parallels.
4. It pairs with Windows 11 via Parallels but as soon as it does, BOOM it also pairs in Mac OS and then Windows 11 loses access to it.
5. I can unpair it from Mac OS Bluetooth but as soon as Windows 11 via parallels find it and connects to it, Mac OS re-connects to it. The problem appears to be that Parallels does not stop Mac OS from taking control of the device back from Parallels Windows 11.

I opened a support case with parallels and apple, apple blamed it on parallels because the Xbox controller works fine if it's used at the Mac M1 Silicon level. Just not within the Windows 11 ARM parallels virtual machine.

To try and get some kind of solution in place so that I can use a wireless Xbox controller inside the virtual machine, I tried the following:

1. Connect an ASUS USB-BT400 USB Bluetooth adapter to a USB to USB-C converter since the Mac has only USB-C ports.
2. This prompts me to choose to either pass the USB-BT400 through to the VM or keep it at the Mac level, which is new and was not an option using mac native Bluetooth.
3. I choose the option to pass it through to the Virtual Machine, and the windows 11 virtual machine sees the ASUS USB-BT400 USB Bluetooth adapter but the adapter has the yellow question mark over it stating that no drivers are installed.
4. Windows 11 wont find any drivers for it, windows update wont install drivers, and the Asus website only has x64 and x86 drivers for windows 10.
5. As a result of not being able to find any drivers for the USB-BT400, I cannot use it to facilitate connectivity between the Xbox controller and the windows 11 virtual machine, so I remain in the same terrible position of not being able to pass an Xbox controller through to the Windows 11 Virtual machine.

I need some kind of proven pathway forward so I can connect a Bluetooth Xbox controller to my windows 11 ARM virtual machine via Parallels.

Does anyone have any recommendations or a fix?

 

There have been several threads about this issue (both with Bluetooth and with USB xbox controllers) that I have taken part in. I can't find the USB controller so I have been limited to trying Bluetooth and while Windows 11 through Parallels will "see" the controller and "connect" it - it will never actually pair (whether it was previously connected to macOS Monterey or not). I have considered turn off the option in Parallels to have Bluetooth devices shared between the Windows VM and macOS , but that might also cause my Apple Keyboard, my Apple Magic Mouse and my Logitech Bluetooth mouse not to work also so haven't tried it yet.

 

Has either on of you found a solution?

 

Nope. No solution yet.