How to install the RetroArch emulator on Xbox Series X|S

Here’s how to install RetroArch on the Xbox Series X and Series S, plus how to get a Microsoft Partner account.

If you want to enjoy games from times gone by, this is the guide for you. I’ll show you how to install RetroArch on the Xbox Series X and Series S. Why? Because it lets you play older consoles and their respective games on your new Microsoft console.

To setup and play RetroArch emulators on the Xbox Series X and Series S is surprisingly easy – you just need to follow my instructions carefully in my YouTube video (above or click here) and prepare to shell out a few quid to enable the dev mode on your console.

Do so and you can play games from the PS One, GameCube, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast, PSP, Sega Mega Drive, Super Nintendo and a whole lot more. Even PS2 games work, unlike on the PS5. I will say that it can be visually tough to go back a generation or few, but, honestly, you forget if the gameplay is great and nostalgia can go a long way. Graphics are not everything.

Using the Series X or S as an emulator does not overwrite your other games or files. In fact, the retail and developer modes are separate and I’ve not had any issues so far. You just have to swap between the two modes, which involves a lengthier restart.

RetroArch is a great bit of software, kudos to its makers and the emulation community in general. Just bear in mind that it is a work in progress so some games and emulators work better than others. The odd moment of troubleshooting is to be expected. If you’re interested, download the file listed in the video description.

As for the legal bit, most emulators are legal to download and use. It’s the obtaining of certain assets such as game files or a copy of a console bios that can get you in trouble with the law. You are, however, okay to make use of physical games and burn them to a digital file. Emulation is a grey area legally.

Yes, that means there’s an incentive to dig out your old collection or go game shopping! Anyway, be sure to like, subscribe and put your concentrating cap on.

How to install RetroArch: The Xbox Dev Mode

The first thing we need to do is download and install the Xbox Dev Mode. It’s an app found on the Microsoft Store of the Series X and S – about 100MB. Search Xbox Dev Mode by pressing Y on the homescreen. Then run it and follow the process of activating your development account.

Now open a web browser on a separate device and sign up for a Microsoft Partner Account using your Microsoft account details. The one you use for Xbox. Then scroll to ‘developer programs’ and click ‘get started’ with Windows apps.

Now sign up for a Windows apps developer account. Fill out all the details and pay US$19 or £12 to become a developer. You only pay once. Choose Individual for account type unless you plan on making games or apps for business. Confirm your details then select ‘go to dashboard’.

Now go to https://aka.ms/activatexbox. You will now see your Manage Xbox One consoles tab. Hit the ‘+’ icon on the right and then ‘enter activation code’. Now enter the on-screen six-digit code displayed on your Xbox Series X or Series S.

Now hit the pen button to edit the Xbox name. Call it whatever you fancy and save. Meanwhile the Xbox Dev Mode app should be activating your console. Hit ‘switch and restart’ when it tells you to. This bit can take a few minutes so consider making a hot beverage.

Eventually you will see the rather bland but functional Xbox dev mode homescreen. Make sure your Series X or Series S is connected wirelessly or via an ethernet cable to your router. Then scroll down to Xbox Live and add your Microsoft account – the one you use for Xbox, same as before.

Then on the right under ‘Test accounts’ hit ‘add existing’ and enter your Microsoft account credentials. Follow some on-screen options such as sign-in and security preferences. I like instant sign-in but if you don’t want it don’t enable it.

Now we need to enable remote access so you can transfer files from your PC to Xbox Series X or S. Go to the dev mode homescreen on your console and press ‘remote access settings’ in the bottom right. Set a username and password if you like, you don’t have to, and enable the ‘Xbox device portal option’.

At this point I would head to the developer homescreen, then go to ‘manage dev storage’ and choose how much internal storage can be used by RetroArch and any other installed software. Remember that allocated storage will eat into your total storage limit.

How much you allocate depends on how many games you will want to store – I have 21GB for now. I think the default is 5GB. To help you decide, PS2 games vary between a few hundred megabytes and 4 or more gigabytes. Retro games can be much, much smaller such as on Mega Drive and SNES.

Bear in mind that an allocation size adjustment appears to format the existing part of the drive you allocate, so if you decide to change the allocation size later you may find everything is gone – RetroArch included. This does NOT affect your files in the normal retail mode so games will not vanish or anything bad like that.

Installing RetroArch

Now go to your web browser and type in the URL you can see under ‘remote access’. Now you’re ready to add RetroArch. Grab the downloaded file, which will be the Xbox One version, then press ‘add’ in the top left. Locate the RetroArch appx file and let it install. Click done when it’s done.

Go back to your Xbox Series X. Under ‘games and apps’ you should now see RetroArch. Highlight it, press the select button (displayed on screen) then press ‘view details’. Swap the setting from app to game. Without this, you won’t be getting full GPU power. Then go back to the homescreen and select ‘restart console’ for the change to take effect.

The screen will go dark for a while. Once the Xbox dev screen is back, start the RetroArch software. Scroll down to ‘online updater’ then press A to update the following options: Content downloader, Update Core Info Files, Update Assets, Update Controller Profiles, Update Databases and Update Overlays. You can do cheats but it takes a long time and I’ve personally never bothered.

Once done, press right and right again to access more settings. Look for ‘video’ and swap that to ‘gl’ or ‘d3d12’. This should get the menu working properly and let you see all the tabs. Press left twice to go back to where it says ‘load core’ and scroll down to ‘configuration file’.

Press ‘save current configuration’ and now when you run RetroArch in future you can load your shiny new preset. Sometimes you’ll load it up and the menu is still missing the tabs, just load the standard configuration or another then reload your preferred configuration. Usually works.

It’s also worth sorting out some video settings. Go to the ‘settings’ tab and then ‘video’. Under scaling enable ‘integer scale’ option and leave it at that. You can also enable bilinear filtering but this blur, although authentic for some emulators, is best left off in my opinion.

Full screen or windowed, you can choose. You can also choose a display ratio such as 16:9, which is common these days, or let the core decide. I’ll be talking more about cores in another video.

You can also go into settings>input>hotkeys and then select a shortcut for ‘menu toggle gamepad combo’. Start + select works well as it never clashes with in-game commands – at least, none that I’ve come across. Hold start or hold select for two seconds also work well.

Lastly, there are some annoying pause options that can be a pain during some games such as when you need to change disc. Wow, that’s old-school. So go to settings>user interface and then disable ‘pause content when menu is active’ and ‘pause content when not active’. Save your configuration again and now you can start to look for emulators.

And that’s it for my how to install RetroArch on Xbox Series X guide. I’ll be doing guides to setting up actual emulators within RetroArch, including one for the PS2. If that sounds good to you, be sure to like, subscribe and let me know in the YouTube video comments.