vJoy FAQ: Safety, Windows 11, Builds and Fixes

Short, honest answers to the questions vJoy users actually ask — drawn from the searches that bring people to this site and the errors they paste into forums. Where an answer needs a full procedure, the linked guide has it.

Is vJoy safe to use?

Yes, when you install a signed build from its upstream source. vJoy is free, source-available software, and the current builds are digitally signed: BrunnerInnovation 2.2.2.0 is signed with an EV certificate and went through Microsoft Partner attestation signing, and the original 2.1.9.1 is attestation-signed. SourceForge also shows its own virus-scan label of OK for the 2.1.9.1 installer. The safe habit is to download only from the upstream GitHub or SourceForge release pages and to check the file against the SHA-256 hash published on our download page before you run it.

Does vJoy work on Windows 11?

Yes — use the BrunnerInnovation 2.2.2.0 build, which is the newest release and the only one that explicitly claims Windows 10 and Windows 11 support. The original 2.1.9.1 build is attestation-signed for Windows 10; it often works on Windows 11 too, but that is not guaranteed, which is why we treat it as the compatibility fallback rather than the Windows 11 recommendation.

Which vJoy build should I download?

Most people should start with BrunnerInnovation 2.2.2.0 for Windows 10 and 11. If you need the force-feedback work from the njz3 branch, use the signed njz3 2.2.1.1 build. If a feeder application misbehaves on the 2.2.x line — at least one feeder documents 2.2.x as only partially supported — fall back to the original 2.1.9.1. Our build decision guide compares all three with verified file sizes and hashes.

Is vJoy free?

Yes. vJoy is free and its source code is public. The licence wording differs between sources — SourceForge lists the project as public domain, while the GitHub forks carry the MIT licence — so we describe it as free and source-available rather than pinning one licence name on it.

How do I uninstall vJoy completely?

Uninstall vJoy from Windows Settings > Apps first, then reboot. If a vJoy Device entry remains, remove it in Device Manager and tick the option to remove the driver. For a stubborn leftover, list the driver store with pnputil -e, find the entries published by Shaul, and remove them one by one with pnputil -f -d oemXX.inf, replacing XX with the number on your system. Our complete uninstall guide walks through every step.

What does “vJoy Driver not enabled” mean?

It means a feeder application asked vJoy for its status and got “not available” — the driver is not installed, not loaded, or its device is disabled. Common causes are a failed or partial install, Windows blocking the driver from loading, the device being disabled in Device Manager, or remnants of an older install confusing a newer one. The fix is a clean uninstall, a reboot, and a fresh install of the build that matches your Windows version.

Is there a vJoy version for Mac, Linux or Android?

No. Shaul’s vJoy is a Windows driver only, and there is no official Mac, Linux or Android version. Apps and downloads using the vJoy name on phones are unrelated products, and “Vijoy downloader” style results are not this driver.

Is this the same VJoy that comes with FaceTrackNoIR?

No. FaceTrackNoIR ships a different product also called VJoy, written by Headsoft’s Ben Baker — a separate driver with 2 devices and 32 buttons that installs to a different folder. This site documents Shaul Eizikovich’s vJoy only; the two products’ versions and instructions do not mix.

vJoy is installed, so why doesn’t my game see any input?

Because vJoy on its own generates no input at all. It creates the virtual joystick; a feeder application — Joystick Gremlin, UCR, FreePIE and similar tools — has to write axis and button data to it. First check that a device named vJoy Device shows as OK in joy.cpl, then check your feeder is running and mapped to the same device number the game is reading.

Does vJoy work with games that only accept Xbox (XInput) controllers?

Not directly. vJoy creates DirectInput devices and does not emulate XInput. For an XInput-only game, the usual chain is a feeder writing to vJoy, then an XInput layer such as x360ce reading the vJoy device — or a gamepad-emulation tool such as ViGEmBus, which solves the gamepad side of the problem instead.

Still stuck?

Bring the exact error text, your Windows version and your vJoy build number — those three facts decide almost every fix. Start with the download page for the verified builds, the build decision guide if you are unsure which one you have, and the setup hub for installation walkthroughs.