Once you run the program, you will see the option to format drives and set the permissions we need. Luckily someone has created a useful app called XboxMediaUSB that makes this extremely easy. Your USB drive will need to be formatted to NTFS and some permissions set so our Xbox can access the files on our USB drive. I'm always looking out for new releases so usually the version I have is up to date. You will also find links to the source of the emulator which you can check out if you want to see if a new version has been released. I will link to our guide page that has all the current emulators we use. Now we need to download the emulator app itself. On the next page hit Switch and restart to boot into dev mode. Once that's done your Xbox should detect that it's been registered and activated. Enter the code shown on your Xbox at the Activation URL. Before continuing make sure you have at least 5 GB free on your Xbox as that's how much Dev Mode will use by default.Īfter you've made it to the code screen, we will have to switch to a PC to pair our Xbox with our developer account. Open the store or use the search bar on your Xbox's Home Screen to find it. Next, let's download and install the Xbox Dev Mode app onto your Xbox. It will cost $19 to signup and it's required so you can put your Xbox into Dev mode. To get started, you need to register as a developer on Microsoft's website. With that out of the way, let's get started. I recommend at least getting a 128 GB USB drive as Xbox 360 games are usually 5-8 GB.
Other than the $19 fee I mentioned, the only other requirements before we get started are a PC and a USB drive. But let me be upfront about Xenia, it's still a work in progress so many games will not work correctly or they will run with terrible performance.
In this guide I'm going to go step by step through the initial setup process so you can start playing you're Xbox 360 collection on the latest and greatest Xbox consoles. Not only can anyone sign up for $19, but you can also start installing any custom UWP apps on your Xbox.
It was intended to be used by indie developers to create games for the Xbox Live Creators Program. What this allows is for Xbox Series X and S owners to install Xenia using the developer mode Microsoft announced back in 2017 during the Xbox One era. During the past year, a developer called Sir Mangler ported the work-in-progress Xbox 360 emulator, Xenia, to the Universal Windows Platform, or UWP for short. Microsoft might have stopped adding more Xbox 360 games to their backward compatibility program but that hasn't stopped the homebrew community from stepping up to the plate.