All vJoy Devices Are Named ‘vJoy Device’ in MSFS 2024: Workarounds

In Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, every vJoy device shows up with the same name: ‘vJoy Device’. If you run more than one virtual device — and multi-device setups are exactly why people use vJoy with a feeder like Joystick Gremlin — telling your devices apart in the simulator’s control settings becomes guesswork. This is a documented limitation, not a mistake in your setup. This guide explains what is known, and the workarounds the community actually uses.

What is documented

The identical naming has been raised on the official MSFS forum: all vJoy devices are named ‘vJoy Device’ in the simulator. That matters because it sets expectations correctly. You are not looking for a vJoy setting that renames devices, because the name comes from the driver, and every device the driver presents carries the same one. Nor is your install broken: joy.cpl and Windows see the devices, feeders can write to each of them, and the simulator receives their input. The pain is purely identification inside MSFS 2024’s controls UI, where several identically named entries must be configured separately.

Workaround 1: make each device structurally different

The most reliable workaround is to stop making identical devices. In Configure vJoy, give each virtual device a different shape: different axis selections and different button counts, within vJoy’s documented per-device limits of up to 8 axes, up to 128 buttons and up to 4 POV hats. For example, device 1 might carry the full axis set and 32 buttons, while device 2 carries fewer axes and a clearly different button count. Then, inside MSFS 2024, open each ‘vJoy Device’ entry and inspect its listed axes and buttons. The structural fingerprint tells you which physical entry you are configuring, even though the name does not. Write the mapping down — device number, axes, buttons, and what you bound it to — because you will need it every time you edit the profile.

Workaround 2: bind by moving, not by reading

Wherever MSFS lets you assign a control by moving an axis or pressing a button, use that instead of picking from lists. Drive the input through your feeder so only the intended virtual device moves, and let the simulator capture it. This sidesteps the naming problem entirely for assignment, because the simulator records the device that actually produced the input. Reserve list-based editing for settings that cannot be captured, and use your written structural map from workaround 1 for those.

Workaround 3: HidHide to reduce the crowd

HidHide, the community tool commonly used with vJoy in simulator setups, hides selected physical devices from selected applications. It does not rename vJoy devices, and this guide will not pretend otherwise. What it can do is reduce confusion around them: hide the physical source devices from MSFS so the simulator’s controller list contains the virtual devices and your genuinely separate hardware, rather than a mix of physical originals and virtual copies competing for attention. Fewer look-alike entries means fewer wrong bindings, even though the vJoy entries themselves still share a name.

Workaround 4: FSUIPC as a community tool

FSUIPC is a long-standing community tool in the flight simulator world, mentioned here as a community option rather than as part of vJoy. Simmers who route controls through an intermediate layer gain a place outside the simulator’s device list where assignments can be organised with their own naming. Whether that extra layer is worth it depends on how many devices and profiles you manage. For a single vJoy device, it is unnecessary. For a cockpit with several virtual devices, some readers find the trade-off worthwhile. This site carries no affiliate relationship for it; it is named because the community uses it, not to sell it.

What not to waste time on

  • Reinstalling vJoy to fix the names. A clean install presents the same ‘vJoy Device’ name, because the name is not corruption.
  • Installing multiple vJoy builds hoping one names devices differently. Mixed builds create version conflicts and driver problems, and only one vjoy.sys can run.
  • Renaming devices in Windows device settings and expecting MSFS to honour it. The simulator shows the driver-reported name.

How to confirm your workaround is working

  1. Each MSFS ‘vJoy Device’ entry can be matched to a known vJoy device number using its axis and button fingerprint.
  2. Bindings made by moving an input land on the intended device and survive a simulator restart.
  3. Your written device map matches what the simulator shows after a reboot and a fresh feeder start.
  4. No physical device you meant to hide appears in the MSFS list, if you use HidHide.

Identical names in MSFS 2024 are annoying but manageable: differentiate the devices structurally, bind by moving inputs, keep a written map, and optionally hide physical clutter. The underlying vJoy setup is sound — this is a display limitation with practical workarounds, not a fault to reinstall your way out of.

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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