How to Connect Wiimote to Computer

How do you prefer to interact with your computer? Sometimes a mouse and keyboard just aren’t enough. Depending on what you’re doing, getting the most out of your computer requires a completely different interface method. Personally, I use a trackball and keyboard for both gaming and general use, and many Windows computer owners prefer to do most of their work with a graphics tablet and stylus.

Elsewhere on MakeUseOf, we’ve covered ways to connect PS3 controllers and Xbox 360 controllers to your PC — but did you know it’s also possible to interact with your computer via the Wiimote?

After you have successfully established the connection, the device can be used for various purposes. Its motion sensor allows you to use the Wiimote as a pointing device, for example, to give presentations…

What you need to get started

If you own a Nintendo Wii or have access to a Wiimote (you can get these relatively cheaply from eBay or pawnshops), you can take advantage of the device’s wireless connectivity and use it with Windows.

To get started, you will need the following:

Internal Bluetooth or external USB Bluetooth dongle
Nintendo Wiimote

Make sure your Bluetooth receiver is set up correctly. The USB device should install itself in Windows 7, although you may need to install drivers from the disc. Check the documentation for the key for the complete procedure.

Success in this depends on the Bluetooth receiver; some of them are not suitable for receiving connections from the Wiimote. So you will need to do some testing.

(Before proceeding, please be aware that some Bluetooth USB adapters will not be suitable for this task. Whether the following steps will work depends on the build and chipset of the device you are using. Similarly, some built-in Bluetooth receivers may be problematic..)

Connecting your WiiMote

To find out if your Bluetooth is capable of communicating with the Wiimote, you need to try to establish a basic connection.

connect wiimote to pc

When you’re ready to start, open » Start > Control Panel > Add a Device and hold the «1» and «2» buttons on the Wiimote. Windows should detect the device (as Nintendo RVL-CNT-01 ) and add it before asking you to select a pairing option — you don’t need to select a passcode to pair with this type of device, so skip this one.

To check if the Wiimote is connected, open » Start > Control Panel > View Devices and Printers and then find the Nintendo RVL-CNT-01 in the » Devices» . After successfully connecting the device, you can start setting up!

If you are using BlueSoleil

Some Bluetooth hardware requires BlueSoleil drivers and software to be used with other applications and services. If the previous steps don’t work, try the next one.

wiimote for pc

Go to the BlueSoleil support site, download the drivers and extract the ZIP file. Run setup.exe and follow the instructions displayed until the process is completed. Note that you will need to restart Windows to continue. BlueSoleil requires a fee of €19.99 to enable you to use the software to its full potential, but it’s enough for an evaluation. Also, if the driver software comes with your bluetooth adapter, you don’t have to pay for it or download anything else from their site.

wiimote for pc

After restarting Windows, launch the BlueSoleil software by double-clicking the Bluetooth icon in the Windows taskbar. Then hold down buttons 1 and 2 on the Wiimote and double-click on the orange orb in the BlueSoleil window — your Nintendo Wiimote should be on the list, so right-click on it and select » Search Services » .

One icon — the mouse — will be highlighted at the top of the window. Double click on it and your device will be listed as Nintendo RVL-CNT-01 — the connection is established, as shown by the dotted green line between your device icon and the orange sphere!

After this step, you can use the Wiimote with Windows applications.

Using WiiMote with Your Computer

To use the Wiimote on Windows, you need to add the appropriate software.

You probably don’t want to use the Wiimote to work with Microsoft Word, but what about games?

Two utilities can help here. The first one is GlovePie [Больше не доступен]a free tool that is able to act as an interface not only for Wiimotes, but also for Kinect and PS3 controllers, among many others. This software has many applications perhaps worthy of its own post.

wiimote for pc

The second is Wiinremote, designed specifically for the Wiimote. After downloading the latest version of Wiinremote, you will be able to set up your Wiimote as a wireless controller not only for gaming, but also for general use on Windows — this can be useful for PowerPoint presentations, for example.

Double click winremote.exe, to continue where you will see a basic summary of the controls and the motion sensor. Note that without the IR receiver, you won’t be able to accurately use the Wiimote as a pointing device, although the motion sensor does do the job.