How to Use an Xbox 360 Wireless Adapter on a PC

By Harvey Birdman

Updated September 22, 2017

Hooking up an Xbox 360 wireless adapter to your PC is an easy way to give your PC cheap Wi-FI. The Xbox 360 wireless adapter is just a regular external wireless card, but it is encased in a plastic Xbox-themed casing and a USB cable to allow for flexible positioning. You will need to install drivers to enable the wireless adapter to work with your PC but that will take less than 15 minutes in most cases.

Turn your computer. Allow the computer to start up and then hook it to your router or modem with an Ethernet cable. You will need to have access to the Internet in order to download updated drivers to run the wireless adapter.

Plug the USB wire on the wireless adapter into the USB port on your computer. Windows 7 will pick up the new hardware automatically and then attempt to search for drivers. Windows 7 will have generic wireless adapter drivers that it can use, but it is best to use driver specifically designed for the adapter.

Run Windows Update by clicking on "Start" and then "Windows Update" in your program directory. The updater program will come up as a pop-up menu, Click on the "Optional Update" tab and then click on the check box next to the updated drivers for the wireless adapter. Click on "Install updates" to install the updated drivers.

Restart the computer when done. Unplug the Ethernet cable once the computer has restarted.

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