Hidden Controllers (HidHide + Device Disable)

When you’re using PowerAim’s virtual ViGEm controller, many games see both your physical controller and the virtual one — and sum their inputs, causing drift, dead inputs, or “controller disconnected” messages.

PowerAim ships two solutions:

1. HidHide (recommended) — cloaks specific HID devices from every app except a configured whitelist
2. Device disable (fallback) — disables the device in Device Manager

When you need this

• You have a real Xbox / PlayStation / DualSense controller plugged in and you’re using PowerAim’s virtual ViGEm gamepad
• The game starts ignoring your aim input, or shows two controllers in its menu
• Stick deadzone behavior feels wrong (both pads contribute to the resting position)

Solution 1 — HidHide

HidHide is a third-party kernel driver (open-source on GitHub) that cloaks devices on a per-app basis: the game doesn’t see them, but PowerAim still does.

Install

1. Gamepad settings → Install HidHide (PowerAim ships the installer)
2. Follow the prompts — a reboot is required
3. Back in PowerAim, the Auto Hide Controller toggle becomes available

Auto-hide

Toggle Auto Hide Controller on the Gamepad settings page. PowerAim will:

1. Add itself to HidHide’s app whitelist
2. Enable the master cloak
3. Hide your physical Xbox controller’s HID interface from non-whitelisted processes

Toggling it off restores visibility.

Manual control

The Gamepad settings page also surfaces a HidHide Path file locator if PowerAim can’t auto-detect the install. The dialog shows the resolved path or a red error.

For more fine-grained control, launch HidHide’s own UI (Start menu → HidHide Configuration Client) — PowerAim’s integration uses the CLI, so the GUI’s settings are compatible.

Solution 2 — Device disable

Some setups can’t run HidHide (locked-down enterprise machines, missing kernel-driver permissions). PowerAim ships a fallback: disable the device in Device Manager while PowerAim is running, and re-enable on exit.

Use it

1. Gamepad settings → Hidden Controllers subpage (button on the page)
2. The page lists every HID gamepad device with a row per device
3. Click Disable to disable, Enable to re-enable
4. PowerAim remembers your choice and restores devices on app exit

This requires PowerAim to run as administrator — Device Manager API needs elevated rights. If not elevated, you’ll see a “Restart as admin” button in the title bar (also clickable from this subpage).

Restart as admin

The title bar has a hidden Restart as admin button that only appears when PowerAim is not elevated. Click it to relaunch with admin privileges — necessary for device disable and some HidHide operations.

How to choose

Situation	Recommended
Standard Windows install	HidHide
Locked-down work laptop	Device disable
You want zero kernel drivers	Device disable
You frequently swap between using PowerAim and not	HidHide (toggle the cloak, no reboot)

Reset HidHide

If you suspect a past PowerAim run left a device cloaked you can’t un-cloak, the HidHide Reset option clears everything: cloak off, all devices unhidden, app whitelist cleared. The next time you toggle Auto Hide Controller back on, the configuration rebuilds from scratch.

Troubleshooting

• HidHide install fails — usually a missing Windows Update or test-signing requirement. Make sure Windows is current.
• Game still sees my physical controller after enabling HidHide — verify Auto Hide Controller is on AND PowerAim was added to the whitelist (Gamepad settings shows status). Sometimes a game restart is needed.
• Device Manager disable doesn’t survive reboot — Windows re-enables devices on reboot by default. PowerAim re-disables them on launch if you’ve toggled the row before.
• “Restart as admin” button is missing — that means PowerAim is already elevated. No action needed.