How To Enable Xbox Game Bar

Windows 11 Xbox Game Bar Not Working/starting/opening

Microsoft has added a new feature called Xbox Game Bar. When playing a game, you can open Xbox Game Bar by pressing Win + G on your keyboard to capture videos and snapshots of the game.

However, Xbox Game Bar isnt starting/opening/working after upgrading to Windows 11 from Windows 10. Many new Windows 11 users report that they find Xbox Game Bar doesnt appear when summoned via shortcut or quick startup icon after booting the system the first time. The update progress may disable this feature.

How can you fix Xbox Game Bar not starting on Windows 11? Move to the next part to look for solutions.

How To Enable Xbox Game Bar Using Xbox Controller

To enable Xbox Game Bar using the Controller on your Windows 10 PC, you need to enable a quick setting in the Windows Settings, just follow these simple steps.

• Go to the Windows Settings by pressing the Windows Key + I or using the Start menu and click on the Settings gear icon.
• Click on Gaming from the list.
• Click on the Xbox Game bar on the left side and on the right side, mark the check box that says Open the Game bar using this button on a controller. You will also need to turn on the toggle switch to enable Xbox Game Bar in the games and use the Controller.

Now, all you need to do is simply press the glowing X button on your Xbox controller and the Xbox Game Bar will open. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Windows logo key + G which also opens the Xbox Game Bar if you are not willing to use the controller button. If the Game Bar setting is turned off, nothing will happen, the Xbox Game Bar has been disabled.

By using the Xbox Game bar, its easy to take screenshots of PC games or capturing the on-screen gameplay on your Windows 10 PC. Windows 10 includes customizable keyboard shortcuts for capturing screenshots and recording videos of the games you play on your computer.

More gaming and Windows 10 stuff can be found here Windows 10 tutorials, guides, tips, tricks, and hidden features. To get updates on the latest tech news, smartphones, and gadgets, follow us on our social media profiles.

Uninstalling Windows Update Kb5004300

As it turns out, this weird behavior can also be caused by a bad Windows Update that has the potential of conflicting with the broadcasting component of Xbox Game Bar and messing up its functionality.

This is only reported to occur with certain Dedicated Graphics Card drivers. Fortunately, Microsoft has already released a hot-fixed version of this update.

If you feel like this scenario could be applicable to your particular scenario, you should be able to fix the issue by rolling back this Windows Update in order to force your operating system to install the revised version.

Follow the instructions below for a step-by-step guide on how to do this:

If the problem is still not fixed, try the next method below.

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How To Uninstall Xbox Game Bar On Windows 10

Way 1. Take a shot from Windows Settings or Start menu.

Some old Windows 10 versions may have an Uninstall option when you right-click Xbox Game Bar from Start.

You can click Start menu, type Xbox game bar, right-click Xbox Game Bar app the select Uninstall.

Alternatively, for some old Windows 10 builds, you can go to Settings to uninstall Game Bar.

You can click Start -> Settings -> Apps -> Apps & features. Find and click Xbox Game Bar in the right window. Click Uninstall button to remove it.

However, for newer Windows 10 versions, this Uninstall button is grayed out and doesnt let you uninstall Xbox Game Bar. Therefore, you can try the other ways below.

Way 2. Disable Xbox Game Bar.

• Press Windows + I to open Windows Settings. Click Gaming.
• Turn off the switch of Record game clips, screenshots, and broadcast using Game bar. Uncheck the Open Game bar using this button on a controller option.

This way can only disable Xbox Game Bar on your computer but not do the complete Xbox Game Bar uninstall.

Way 3. Uninstall Xbox Game Bar on Windows 10 with PowerShell.

To completely uninstall Xbox Game Bar on Windows 10, you can try PowerShell commands.

Since the PowerShell command cannot be undone. So its advised you back up your important files or even the whole Windows system before you conduct some commands in case something goes wrong.

Get A List Of Dism Packages That Match On Xbox

Search provisioned packages, you might see more packages than what you found via the Remove-AppxPackage cmdlet.

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32>  dism /online /get-provisionedappxpackages | select-string packagename | select-string xbox | ForEach-Object  Microsoft.XboxGameOverlay_1.47.14001.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay_3.34.15002.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider_12.58.1001.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe Microsoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay_1.21.13002.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe

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Recording The Screen’s Xbox Game Bar

Opening the tool:

Open an app screen, then press the Win and the G keys at the same time to open the screen recording tool of the Xbox Game Bar.

• The screen recording tool in the Xbox Game Bar is mainly used to record games and cannot be used to record a blank desktop screen. When you are on the desktop, your computer will only respond when you open an app and press Win + G while still on that screen.
• If the screen does not respond after you press the Win and G keys at the same time on the app screen, click the Windows icon and the Settings icon, then go to Games > Xbox Game Bar and enable Enable Xbox Game Bar for things like recording game clips, chatting with friends, and receiving game invites. . If the issue persists, download and install the Xbox Game Bar app from Microsoft Store and try again.

Using the screen recording tool:

How To Open The Xbox Game Bar

wikiHow is a wiki, similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, volunteer authors worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 12,119 times.Learn more…

This wikiHow will show you how to open the Game Bar on PC. The Game Bar is your one stop hub for everything Xbox. Socialize with some of your friends or play online multiplayer . Setting up the Game Bar is easy, and once you have done so, you can capture clips, broadcast live, and socialize with the press of one keyboard shortcut.

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What The Windows 10 Game Bar Buttons Actually Do

Turning on the Game Bar should release your mouse cursor from the game. You can mouse over the individual controls to see what they do and see their hotkeys, but here’s an overview from left to right.

• The main Game Bar overlay in the top center lets you enable or disable different Game Bar modules.
• The cogwheel at the top on the right grants access to additional settings.
• The Broadcast & Capture module gives quick access to capture controls.
• The camera icon depicts the screenshot button.
• The recording symbol with an arrow depicts clip capture. Hit this to record the previous thirty seconds of footage from your DVR buffer .
• Hit the recording symbol to start a recording.
• The mic symbol allows you to mute or enable your microphone while capturing.
• The broadcast symbol lets you stream to a connected Mixer account.
• The Show all captures button opens up the folder where your captures are stored.
• Below these, the Audio section allows you to control the sound mix of various sound devices and apps active on your setup.
• You also have Windows 10 performance modules, Xbox social and chat tabs, as well as Spotify controls.

How Do I Fix My Game Bar Wont Open

If you cant launch the GameBar with all ways above, that is to say, no change happens or the Gamebar not open, you may try to fix the issue with the following guide:

Step 1. Make use of Windows + I shortcut to open Windows Settings. Or, you can just access Windows Settings in Windows Start.

Step 2. Click Gaming to enter the Windows Game Settings.

Step 3. In the default Game bar, make sure you have the Record game clips, screenshots, and broadcast using Game bar feature enabled. If the option is disabled, you cant open the game bar either by hotkey nor by the Xbox button on controller. To fix Xbox Game bar not working problem, just click on the switch icon to turn on the function.

Step 4. Next, make sure the Open Game bar using this button on a controller: is checked. If the square box before this option is unchecked, you cant launch Game bar using the Xbox button on Xbox console. To fix the Xbox open Game bar wont open issue, just tick this item.

Step 5. Under the Keyboard shortcuts theme, look at the shortcut for Open Game bar to see whether you have customized the shortcut or not. If you have, no wonder you cannot open the game bar with Windows + G. To fix Windows Game bar not opening error, just reopen it with your personalized hotkeys.

Here in above picture, you can learn the default shortcuts for other utilities related to Xbox game bar including:

Also, you can specify your special shortcuts respectively for all features above.

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Back Up Your Important Data And Windows System

MiniTool ShadowMaker is a free PC backup software that lets you select and back up files, folders, partitions, or the whole disk content to external hard drives, USB drivers, etc.

You can also use MiniTool ShadowMaker to create a backup image of your computer system and restore your OS from the backup when needed.

Enable Xbox Game Bar Via Settings

To fix your issue, the first thing you can do is to check if Xbox Game Bar is enabled in Windows Settings. If the entire component is disabled, you cannot use Xbox Game Bar as usual.

Step 1: Press Win + I to launch Windows Settings in Windows 11.

Step 2: Under the Gaming tab, click on Xbox Game Bar.

Step 3: Change the toggle of the option – Open Xbox Game Bar using this button to On.

After that, you can restart your PC and open Xbox Game Bar. It should work. If you are sure that this feature is enabled in Settings but you still cannot start it, try other methods below.

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Remove Appxpackages From Current User

Open PowerShell as your current user .

Identify user by running $env:Username:

PS C:\Users\josh>  $env:Usernamejosh

Get list of xbox AppxPackages using Get-AppxPackage:

PS C:\Users\josh>   Get-AppxPackage | select-string xboxMicrosoft.Xbox.TCUI_1.24.10001.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbweMicrosoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay_1.21.13002.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbweMicrosoft.XboxGameCallableUI_1000.18362.449.0_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewyMicrosoft.XboxGameOverlay_1.47.14001.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbweMicrosoft.XboxGamingOverlay_3.34.15002.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbweMicrosoft.XboxIdentityProvider_12.58.1001.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe

How To Download And Install Xbox Game Bar On Windows 10

If you want to download Xbox Game Bar app on your Windows 10 computer again, you can follow the steps below.

If you want to remove Game Bar from Windows 10, you can try the ways above. To install Xbox Game Bar app again, you can go to Microsoft Store to get it for free.

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What’s The Xbox Game Bar Keyboard Shortcut In Windows 10

By default, the keyboard shortcut that opens the Xbox Game bar in Windows 10 is Win + G. If you are using an Xbox controller, you can also push the Xbox button on it.

However, if you want to change the Xbox Game bar keyboard shortcut, you can. Go back to the Settings app, open Gaming, and select Game bar on the left sidebar. Then, on the right side, click or tap on the Open Game bar field from the Keyboard shortcuts area, and push the keys that you want to use for opening the Xbox Game bar.

For alternative ways to change the Xbox Game bar keyboard shortcut, read: 2 ways to change the keyboard shortcuts for the Game Bar in Windows 10.

S To Record Screen On Windows 11 Using Xbox Game Bar

So, in this article, we will share a step-by-step guide on using the Xbox Game bar to record screens on Windows 11. The steps are pretty straightforward just follow some of the simple steps given below.

1. First of all, open the Windows 11 Start button and select Settings.

2. On the Settings, click on the Gaming Option.

3. On the right pane, click on the Xbox Game Bar option, as shown in the screenshot below.

4. On the next screen, enable the option Open Xbox Game Bar using this button on a controller.

5. Now launch the game which you want to record. Press the Windows Key + G button to launch the Xbox Game Bar.

6. To record the screen, click on the Recording button, as shown below.

7. To stop the Recording, click on the Stop button as shown in the screenshot below.

8. The Recordings will be saved to the This PC > Videos > Captures folder.

Thats it! You are done. This is how you can use Xbox Game Bar to record screen on Windows 11.

So, this guide is all about using the Xbox game bar to record screens on Windows 11. I hope this article helped you! Please share it with your friends also. If you have any doubts related to this, let us know in the comment box below.

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What Is Game Dvr

As part of the new Game bar tool, the Game DVR is able to help you record videos in the background while youre playing a game. In this way, you can grab a clip of any important moment easily. Of course, the Game DVR will take up your system resources.

You can choose to disable Xbox DVR only or turn off the Xbox Game bar completely.

How to disable Game DVR ?

Technical Support For Customers With Disabilities

Microsoft wants to provide the best possible experience for all our customers. If you have a disability or questions related to accessibility, please contact the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk for technical assistance. The Disability Answer Desk support team is trained in using many popular assistive technologies and can offer assistance in English, Spanish, French, and American Sign Language. Please go to the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk site to find out the contact details for your region.

If you are a government, commercial, or enterprise user, please contact the enterprise Disability Answer Desk.

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Enable The Xbox Game Bar Via Registry Editor

If the two methods above didnt work in your particular case, its likely that the Xbox Game Bar component remains disabled because this behavior is hard-coded inside your Registry.

Keep in mind that if you previously disabled the Xbox Game Bar via Registry Editor on your previous Windows version, this change will be carried over when you upgrade to Windows 11.

Fortunately, you can resolve this issue by using Registry Editor to modify the GameDVR value in order to ensure that the Xbox Game Bar component remains enabled.

For step-by-step instructions on how to do this, follow the guide below:

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\GameDVR

Repairing Or Resetting The Xbox Game Bar Component

If the method above didnt fix the issue in your case, you should start considering that you might be dealing with some kind of corruption that is affecting the Xbox Game Bar component.

According to user reports, this is a common side effect when upgrading to Windows 11 from older Windows versions.

Fortunately, Microsoft offers 2 mitigation options for this kind of issue. You can use the Settings app to repair the entire component or reset the Xbox Game Bar entirely if the first option fails.

Our recommendation is to start with a simple repair procedure and work your way to a reset in case the Xbox Game Bar functionality is still unusable.

To make matters easier for you, weve put together a series of steps that will walk you through both procedures repairing and resetting the Xbox Game Bar component.

Follow the instructions below:

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