vJoy Driver Not Enabled: ‘Failed Getting vJoy Attributes’ Fixed

The messages ‘vJoy Driver not enabled’ and ‘Failed getting vJoy attributes’ are feeder applications telling you the same thing: they looked for a working vJoy driver and did not find one they could talk to. The feeder is usually not broken. Something underneath it — the install, the driver load, the device state, or leftovers from an earlier attempt — needs fixing first. This guide checks each documented cause in order.

What the error actually means

A feeder application talks to vJoy through vJoyInterface.dll and asks the driver for its attributes: how many devices exist, and what axes, buttons and POV hats each device has. If that query fails, the feeder reports that it failed getting vJoy attributes, or words to that effect, and stops. Nothing in your feeder profile, curves or button mapping can fix a failed attributes query, because the feeder never got as far as using your profile. Start below the feeder, at the driver.

The documented causes

  • Not installed. vJoy was never installed on this Windows installation, was removed, or the install you ran was for a different tool. In particular, Headsoft VJoy is a different product from the vJoy this site documents, and installing one does not provide the other.
  • Not loaded. The driver files are present but the driver did not load. A load can be blocked, for example if Windows refuses the driver, which is why the install build and its signing matter.
  • Device disabled. The vJoy Device exists but is disabled in Device Manager, so feeders cannot use it.
  • Partial install. An interrupted or mixed install left remnants that disagree with each other, so the driver state is neither fully installed nor fully removed.

Fix steps, in order

  1. Confirm vJoy is installed at all. Look for the vJoy folder at C:\Program Files\vJoy and for vJoy entries under Settings, Apps. If neither exists, install one build from our download page and reboot before testing again.
  2. Open Device Manager and find the vJoy Device. If it is shown as disabled, enable it, then restart your feeder. A disabled device produces exactly this error while looking, from the feeder’s side, like a missing driver.
  3. Open joy.cpl. If a vJoy Device is listed there and its properties respond, the driver is loaded and the problem sits with that specific feeder or its bundled DLL — see also our DLL version mismatch guide. If joy.cpl lists nothing, the driver itself is not running.
  4. Check Configure vJoy (vJoyConf). If it also reports the driver as not enabled, you have confirmation that two independent tools agree: this is a driver-level problem, not an app setting.
  5. Do a clean reinstall. Uninstall vJoy, reboot, and if the problem persists, follow the documented cleanup: use pnputil -e to find Shaul or vJoy OEM INF entries in the driver store, remove only those entries with pnputil -f -d oemXX.inf, reboot, then install one matching build. Our complete uninstall guide walks through this in full.
  6. After reinstalling, test with the bundled tools before your real feeder: open vJoy Monitor or the demo feeder and confirm the axes respond. Only then return to your application.

A note on blocked driver loads

If Windows lists vjoy.sys in a security or incompatible-drivers screen, treat that as conditional information about your machine, not as a proven general rule about vJoy. There is no authoritative vJoy-specific source establishing every such interaction, so this guide does not tell you to change Secure Boot or Memory Integrity settings as a routine step. The supported order is: correct build, clean install, device enabled, reboot. If a clean install of the signed build for your Windows version still will not load, note exactly what Windows itself displays and consult our conditional Core Isolation guide.

How to confirm it is fixed

  1. Configure vJoy opens without a not-enabled message.
  2. joy.cpl lists the vJoy Device and its test page responds to feeder input.
  3. Your feeder starts without ‘Failed getting vJoy attributes’ and shows the device as connected.
  4. The fix survives a reboot. If the error returns after every restart, the install is still partial and the clean reinstall step, including the driver store, needs to be done in full.

Most cases close at one of three steps: the device was disabled, the install was partial, or two builds had been mixed. If you reach the end with a clean single build, an enabled device, and the same error in every tool including the bundled ones, save the exact error text and your install log from C:\Program Files\vJoy\vJoyInstall.log before seeking help — that combination is what a maintainer needs to go further.

A final working habit: change one thing at a time, and retest with the same feeder after each change. These errors invite shotgun troubleshooting — reinstalling, toggling settings, and swapping builds in a single session — after which nobody can say which step helped or hurt. The order on this page is deliberate: install state, device state, driver load, then a clean reinstall. Follow it in sequence, and even if your case turns out to be unusual, you will finish with a short, factual list of what was ruled out, which is exactly what a maintainer needs next.

Related guides

vJoy is an unofficially documented tool on this site. vJoy itself was created by Shaul Eizikovich, with later signed forks by other maintainers. This site is not the official vJoy project site.

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