warmUP Companion

Use an Xbox or PlayStation controller as a mouse and keyboard on Windows, including the sign-in screen, lock screen, and UAC.

warmUP Companion is an open-source Windows app. Left stick moves the pointer, right stick scrolls, A / Cross clicks, and L3 opens a native on-screen keyboard. It types into desktop apps, UAC prompts, the lock screen, and the sign-in screen, and it works without Steam.

Download for Windows · Join the Discord · Report a problem or idea · warmUP Game Launcher

Features

• Works on Windows without Steam or the warmUP Game Launcher.
• Opens a native on-screen keyboard and shows Xbox or PlayStation button hints.
• Types into desktop apps, UAC prompts, lock screens, and sign-in screens.
• Offers local English word suggestions without reading text from the focused app.
• Supports optional offline voice typing with Whisper.cpp, NVIDIA Parakeet or Parakeet Redux (a lighter Parakeet).
• Sleeps controller input while a game is active, then wakes for desktop use.
• Control Center to change every setting with the controller, mouse or keyboard.
• Uses the DualSense / DualShock 4 touchpad as a trackpad: tap to click, two-finger scroll, desktop swipes.

Press L3 (left-stick click) to open the keyboard.

Normal	Mono

Control Center

Hold Create + Options (View + Menu on Xbox) or press Ctrl+Alt+C to open it. While it is open the controller only drives this window.

The Voice tab lists every voice typing model (Parakeet Redux, Parakeet, Whisper Tiny to Medium) with its size. Pick an installed model to make it active right away, or pick one that is not installed to download it in the background; it becomes active when the download finishes.

General	Keyboard	Controller

Tray

Tray menu

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Installation

1. Download warmup-companion-setup.exe from the latest release.
2. Run it and approve the UAC prompt. The installer adds the Windows service required for secure Windows surfaces.
3. Connect a controller and press L3 to open the keyboard.

No Steam setup is required. To try the sign-in path after confirming normal desktop typing, press Win+L and use the controller from the lock screen.

Linux on KDE Plasma gaming distributions (SteamOS desktop mode, Bazzite, CachyOS, ChimeraOS, Nobara) and on Hyprland installs for the current user only. See docs/linux-install.md. GNOME is not supported.

Supported controllers

• Xbox 360 and Xbox One-family controllers
• PlayStation DualShock 4
• PlayStation DualSense and DualSense Edge
• Other compatible HID gamepads recognized through the controller mapping database

Xbox controllers on the sign-in screen. Newer Windows 11 builds (24H2 and later) no longer pass Xbox controller input to other programs on the sign-in screen; only Windows' own sign-in screen receives it. This affects every third-party controller tool, not just warmUP Companion. So when only Xbox controllers are connected, the companion hands sign-in to Windows' built-in controller keyboard and navigation (D-pad and A, no mouse cursor). With a PlayStation controller connected, the warmUP keyboard is used as usual. UAC prompts and the normal desktop are not affected.

Controller controls

Keyboard closed

Xbox	PlayStation	Action
Left stick	Left stick	Move the mouse pointer
Right stick	Right stick	Scroll
		Click
		Open the keyboard
+	+	Open or close the Control Center
–	Touchpad tap / two-finger tap	Left click / right click
–	Touchpad two-finger drag	Scroll
–	Hold touchpad click + swipe	Switch desktop (left/right), Task View (up), show desktop (down)

Keyboard open

Xbox	PlayStation	Action
D-pad or left stick	D-pad or left stick	Move keyboard focus
	or touchpad	Type the selected key
		Backspace
		Switch keyboard language/layout
		Space
		Enter
		Focus and advance word suggestions
/	/	Cycle word suggestions
+ / /	+ / /	Copy / paste / clear the focused input
		Symbols
		Shift
		Close the keyboard
		Start or stop optional voice typing

Settings

Setting	Default	What it does
Sign-in only	Off	Runs the companion only on the sign-in and lock screen (run_mode = signin). After you sign in or unlock, its worker process exits and the service idles with no input, tray or voice engine until you lock the PC again. To reach the tray and Control Center while it sleeps, open Warmup Companion from the Start menu (or run warmup-companion.exe wake); it stays awake until the next sign-in or unlock.
Guide opens warmUP	On	Pressing Guide (Xbox) or PS (PlayStation) while warmUP is closed starts it. If warmUP is already open nothing changes, repeat presses during startup are ignored, and it never fires on the sign-in screen. Turn off with guide_launch = false or in the Control Center.
Game sleep	On	Stops companion mouse and keyboard input while a fullscreen game is active. Press Guide or PS to wake it.
Voice typing	On, once installed	Uses an optional local speech engine on the normal desktop. It is unavailable on lock and sign-in screens. Turn it off completely in the tray (Voice typing), in Control Center under General, or with voice_enabled = false in settings.ini. R3, Ctrl+Alt+V and the mic key then do nothing, the mic key on the keyboard shows disabled, and the speech engine unloads.
Dictation vocabulary	Coding	Primes voice typing with terminal and coding-agent terms (git, npm, Claude Code, herdr, …) and fixes common mishearings. Add your own comma-separated words in the Control Center, or set vocabulary = off in settings.ini.
Suggestions	On	Keeps a local, English-only prefix buffer from characters typed by the companion.
Touchpad gestures	On	Tap to click, two-finger scroll and desktop swipes on the DualSense / DualShock 4 touchpad (touchpad_gestures, touchpad_tap_click).

Change settings in the Control Center (tray icon, Create + Options, or Ctrl+Alt+C). It can also export, import and reset all settings; import and reset back up settings.ini first. Use the tray icon to check status and privacy settings. To manage game sleep from a terminal:

warmup-companion.exe settings sleep-on-game get
warmup-companion.exe settings sleep-on-game off
warmup-companion.exe settings sleep-on-game on

Privacy and security

• Key input is injected through Win32 SendInput.
• Suggestions do not read the text in the focused application. They only use characters typed by this keyboard.
• Suggestions and learning are disabled on UAC, lock, and sign-in surfaces.
• Personal-dictionary writes are skipped for password fields. If password detection fails, learning is skipped.
• Crash telemetry is off unless WARMUP_SENTRY_DSN is explicitly set. Local crash dumps are never uploaded.

The service runs as WarmupVkSvc under LocalSystem because secure-desktop input is not available to a normal desktop application. Read the privacy policy and security policy before installing.

Advanced installation and diagnostics

From source

From an Administrator PowerShell:

.\install\Install-WarmupVk.ps1

This builds the release binary, installs WarmupVkSvc, and writes logs to C:\ProgramData\WarmupVk\service.log.

Uninstall

If you used the installer, remove warmUP Companion in Settings > Apps, or run:

"C:\Program Files\WarmupCompanion\uninstall.exe" /S

For a source install, run this from an Administrator PowerShell:

.\target\release\warmup-companion.exe uninstall

Diagnostics

.\install\Collect-WarmupVkDiagnostics.ps1

The report includes service status, installed binary metadata, recent service logs, and HID/Winlogon signal lines. Review local crash dumps before sharing them.

Build

cargo build --release
cargo check

• Contributing
• Domain glossary
• IPC protocol
• Release process

FAQ

Is this an alternative to Gopher360, JoyToKey, or Controller Companion?

Yes, for using a controller as a mouse and keyboard on the Windows desktop. Left stick moves the pointer, right stick scrolls, A / Cross left-clicks, and B / Circle right-clicks. L3 opens the on-screen keyboard. It is open source, installs from GitHub Releases, and does not need Steam.

It is not a per-game remapper. Companion does not assign controller buttons to arbitrary keys inside games.

How does it compare to the Windows 11 Gamepad keyboard?

Windows 11 has a built-in Gamepad keyboard. Companion draws its own on-screen keyboard and injects keys with Win32 SendInput, including on UAC prompts, the lock screen, and the sign-in screen.

When does another tool fit better?

Use JoyToKey, reWASD, or Steam Input when you need to remap controller buttons to keys or macros inside a game. Game sleep is on by default here: companion mouse and keyboard input stop while a fullscreen game is active.

Why does setup install a Windows service?

Secure-desktop input is not available to a normal desktop application. The installer adds WarmupVkSvc under LocalSystem so the companion can type at UAC, lock, and sign-in. Read the privacy policy and security policy before installing.