Connecting Windows 8.1 and Your Xbox

If you have an Xbox games console in your home, you can connect your Windows 8.1 computer to it. This gives you the advantage of being able to enjoy your music, photos, and videos on your TV.

Connecting to Your Xbox Using the Xbox SmartGlass App 

You can connect your Windows 8.1 computer to your Xbox console through the Xbox SmartGlass app, which you can download for free from the Windows Store.

The Xbox Companion app allows you to control your Xbox console remotely from your Windows 8.1 computer. This includes being able to manage your Xbox Live account settings and games easily and using a Windows 8.1 tablet as a remote gaming control for the Xbox console.

When you first start the Xbox SmartGlass, you will be asked to make your Xbox console available. You do this on the Xbox console itself from the Dashboard by opening the Xbox’s Settings. 

Changing this status setting will make sure that Windows 8.1 can detect the Xbox console. 

To connect your Windows 8.1 PC to your Xbox console, you will need to be logged in to both the computer and the Xbox using the same Microsoft account (your Xbox Live account).

Connecting to Your Xbox Using Windows Media Center 

When you connect your Xbox console to your computer using the Windows Media Center software on your desktop or laptop computer, you can share your pictures, music, and videos with the console and enjoy it on your TV.

To do this, you will need Windows Media Center installed on your computer. You can check by going to the All Apps view where, if Media Center is installed, it will appear in the Windows Accessories section. If you don’t have Media Center installed, it is a chargeable extra that you can buy by searching for Add Features at the Start screen and selecting Add Features to Windows 8 from the Settings search results. 

You will need to buy an upgrade to Windows 8.1, which you can do by clicking the I want to buy a product key online button, which will upgrade you to the full version of Windows 8 Pro with Media Center 

To connect your Xbox 360 console to your Windows 8.1 PC using Windows Media Center, start Windows Media Center from the Video panel on your Xbox Dashboard and follow the simple instructions.

Note: If you do not have the full version of Windows 8 Pro with Media Center, you can share your pictures, music, and videos with an Xbox console by turning on the Allow all devices on the network such as TVs and game consoles to play my shared content setting in HomeGroup from PC Settings. 

Connecting to Other Devices in Your Home

While you can use HomeGroup to share files and printers between other Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 computers in your home, and you can use the Xbox SmartGlass app or Windows Media Center to connect to an Xbox console, you can also connect your Windows 8.1 PC to other networked devices in your home. These could include a USB hard disk plugged into your Internet router or a wireless printer. There are a couple of ways that you can do this. 

Connecting to Devices from the Charms

Open the Charms and select Devices to see other hardware devices you can use and access from your Windows 8.1 computer. Not all devices will appear in this view, so you may find that the specific device you want to use isn’t displayed, but this is a good way to connect quickly to hardware that’s fully compatible with Windows 8.1 features. 

Connecting to Devices from File Explorer

To connect to other networked devices in your home, open Desktop from the Start screen and on the Taskbar that runs along the bottom of the desktop, click/touch the yellow folder icon to open File Explorer. Once File Explorer is open on your desktop, look in its left-hand panel, where you will see a link for Network.

Click/Touch this link to see all compatible network devices in your home. This will include other computers running Windows and any compatible computers such as Macs, networked media devices such as Internet radios, and any additional hardware such as a USB hard disk plugged into your Internet router if your router supports this feature 

You can access external hardware and computers directly from this panel to share files between them and your Windows 8.1 computer. Not all hardware devices will appear, however, and some that appear might not allow you to share files this way. For example, if you have a non-Windows 8.1 tablet such as an iPad or Android device, you will probably not be able to share files wirelessly. You might need to physically plug that tablet in to a desktop or laptop computer to copy files to it.