End of Life Statement

In May 2023 a conflict with a registered trademark by ViGEM GmbH was discovered, leading to a mutual agreement between Nefarius Software Solutions e.U. and ViGEM GmbH to enter a transition phase starting July 2023 and ending approximately December 2023. As a result of the agreement, all usage of the phrase "ViGEm" (ViGEmBus etc.) and the Domain vigem.org will be retired and archived permanently over the agreed upon time span.

As a direct result the ViGEmBus (and client libraries) project will no longer receive any updates and has been archived/retired.

This has no impact on existing installations except for the updater components: their auto-updaters need to be adjusted to prevent a potential security risk! (More info on the next section)

So long, everyone, it was fun while it lasted 😄

About the update warnings

Software like ViGEmBus, HidHide and older versions of BthPS3 got shipped with an auto-updater service that currently communicates with a server domains that won't belong to us anymore after the end of 2023. Because of this, the configuration of the updaters need to be adjust so they contact our new server domain from now on.

If the updaters are not adjusted, they will continue to contact the old domain, which could lead to your public IP address getting leaked to whoever has the ownership of the domain starting from 2024.

Once the updaters are adjusted the security issue will be prevented and the "critical" warnings will stop.

Adjusting the Automatic Updater Configuration

There are two ways of adjusting the updaters:

Using the Legacinator tool to automatically update them. Quick and easy!
Manually adjusting the configuration file for each updater

Semi-automatic method (Legacinator)

Download and execute the latest version of the Legacinator tool
Look for the "Outdated XXXXXXX Updater Configuration found" option
- There can be up to 3 of them: one for the ViGEmBus, another for HidHide and the last one for BthPS3
Select the options regarding the outdated configuration
- Newer versions of the tool will run this automatically so you don't need to do anything!
Done! Updaters configuration adjusted!
Close the Legacinator window and the updater popup will close as well

Manual methods

Adjusting the ViGEmBus updater (for Windows 10 and 11)

This is the recommended action if you're running Windows 10/11

If you're running ViGEm Bus Driver v1.21.442 or older the following section applies to you and is highly recommended to follow until software updates become available (if ever).

Navigate to the path C:\Program Files\Nefarius Software Solutions\ViGEm Bus Driver and edit the file ViGEmBus_Updater.ini with a text editor of your choice (you will need Administrator permissions to edit). Find the following line:

URL=https://updates.vigem.org/api/github/ViGEm/ViGEmBus/updates

Change it to:

URL=https://aiu.api.nefarius.systems/api/github/ViGEm/ViGEmBus/updates

Save it an you're done! From now on the updater agent will contact the new server to check for software updates.

Adjusting the ViGEmBus updater (for Windows 7 and 8/8.1)

This is the recommended action if you're running Windows 7/8/8.1

If you're running ViGEm Bus Driver v1.16.116 or older the following section applies to you and is highly recommended to follow as there won't be any new updates made available.

Find and open "Task Scheduler", select Task Scheduler Library on the left-hand side, select the ViGEmBusUpdater entry in the center panel, right-click it and select Delete:

Confirm and you're done!

From now on your PC will no longer check for updates and no update pop-ups will nag you ever again!

Adjusting the HidHide updater

This is the recommended action if you're running Windows 10/11

If you're running HidHide v1.2.128 or older the following section applies to you and is highly recommended to follow until software updates become available (if ever).

Navigate to the path C:\Program Files\Nefarius Software Solutions\HidHide and edit the file HidHide_Updater.ini with a text editor of your choice (you will need Administrator permissions to edit). Find the following line:

URL=https://updates.vigem.org/api/github/ViGEm/HidHide/updates

Change it to:

URL=https://aiu.api.nefarius.systems/api/github/ViGEm/HidHide/updates

Save it an you're done! From now on the updater agent will contact the new server to check for software updates.

Removing the BthPS3 updater

This is the recommended action if you're on an older version

If you're running BthPS3 drivers v1.2.4 or older the following section applies to you and is highly recommended to follow as there won't be any new updates made available via this mechanism.

Find and open "Task Scheduler", select Task Scheduler Library on the left-hand side, select the BthPS3Updater entry in the center panel, right-click it and select Delete:

Confirm and you're done!

From now on your PC will no longer check for updates and no update pop-ups will nag you ever again!

Uninstall Applications

If you're not using any software relying on either ViGEmBus or HidHide you can simply uninstall them via "Apps & Features". Same can be achieved by the old "Programs and Features" section in the Control Panel.

Uninstall ViGEm Bus Driver

Search for ViGEm and uninstall:

Uninstall HidHide

Search for HidHide and uninstall:

Uninstall BthPS3

Search for BthPS3 and uninstall:

Alternatively via Programs and Features panel:

Right-click the entry and select Uninstall. Follow the steps and you're done.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is any of this? Why were these things installed on my PC? Why are these warning appearing? How do I make them stop?

At some point, you (or someone who uses your computer) directly installed one of our products, or maybe used another software that automatically installed them for you.

These products are legit and harmless, used along gamepads/game controllers related apps. The ones related to the warnings are:

ViGEmBus is used for creating virtual gamepads
HidHide is used for hiding physical/real gamepads, usually to prevent them from conflicting with virtual gamepads
BthPS3 allows connecting PlayStation™ 3 controllers via Bluetooth to Windows

If you make use of these products and want to keep them on the system, check the "About the update warnings" section for more info on the current situation and what to do.

If you really don't know what any of these are, or think that you or any apps in your PC don't make use of them, you can follow the instructions on the "Uninstall applications" section above to get rid of them.

Can I trust this?

This site, the software, drivers and other products mentioned here and their updaters are all under the Nefarius brand, from the developer named Benjamin Höglinger-Stelzer, A.K.A. Nefarius. You can check his github profile link here. The warning in the updaters are legit if they match what is being described in this page.

Do I need to care about adjusting the updaters if I don't care about updates?

It's highly recommended to do so in order to prevent the security risk described in the "About the update warnings" section.

Why does this update look and feel a bit sketchy?

The updater agent is a 3rd party product, there were only very limited options available in attempting to turn it into an "important news delivery tool". The end result was as good as we could make it 😅

This update is taking forever, the progress doesn't finish

The update will finish once the Legacinator window is closed. Make sure to follow the steps, skipping step 1 if Legacinator is already open, in the Semi-automatic method section (Legacinator)

All archived/discontinued projects will remain available and the actively maintained ones will continue being supported, but now under the Nefarius brand name.

Where can I find (even) more information about this?

On my Mastodon, here you go 😀

Why didn't you simply rebrand and keep it going? Why pull the plug?

I simply don't have that kind of time, plus I've moved on working on other things. This deprecation incident alone took weeks to prepare and think through, I don't need any more of it 😉 Also I've been soloing the project for roughly 7 years, people had enough time to chime in and participate. They didn't, so this is the only logical outcome 🖖

How to fix 'Error: The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect' update error?

If you receive this error and it doesn't go away either...

...install the latest setup provided on GitHub manually (which rips out the updater) or...
...use the manual steps outlined above to manually delete the updater job from Task Scheduler.

The source of the error is unknown and can not be rectified as it is part of a 3rd party product.

When will the domain `vigem.org` be handed over?

The domain transfer has been initiated on the 21st of December 2023 and finished on the 26th of December 2023. This effectively means that from this date onwards Nefarius Software Solutions e.U. no longer has any influence in the content served by the domain.