Error Fix: Gaming Features Aren’t Available for Windows Desktop or File Explorer

Xbox Game Bar, a built-in game overlay in Windows that gives you immediate access to widgets like screen captures. Thanks to it, you can find new teammates and chat with Xbox friends on Xbox consoles or mobile without leaving games. However, some users have reported that they find the record option unavailable when trying to record screen using the Xbox Game Bar, and clicking on it will brings up an error message "Gaming features aren't available for the Windows desktop or File Explorer." This can downgrades the user's gaming experience and introduce a lot of hassle for further use. If you are looking for the solutions for this issue, here's how to fix not available Gaming features in Windows 10/11.

1. Enable Xbox Game Bar

Step 1: Press Windows+I to open Settings and select Gaming > Xbox Game Bar.

Step 2: Turn on the toggle under Enable Xbox Game bar and restart your PC to check if you still get the error message as before.

2. Enable Game DVR

To record screen with Xbox Game Bar, the Game DVR function is required, if your Game DVR is disabled or mistakenly turned off, then you will encounter error code.

Step 1: Press Windows+I to open Settings and select Gaming > Captures.

Step 2: Turn on the toggle under Background recording for Windows 10 users and switch the toggle on under Record what happened for Windows 11 users.

3. Turn on Game Mode

Step 1: Open Settings and select Gaming > Game Mode.

Step 2: Turn on the toggle under Game Mode. Game mode allows you to enjoy games with all background processes closed and thus nothing will conflict with gaming features.

4. Reset or Repair Xbox Game Bar

Step 1: Open Settings and select Apps > Apps & features.

Step 2: In the right pane, scroll down to locate Xbox Game Bar from the app lists and click to expand. Then click on Advanced options.

Step 3: Under the Reset section, select Repair to fix the corrupted Xbox Game Bar component.

Step 4: If your Game Bar is unable to open, you can select Reset to check if this could make it operable.

5. Reinstall Xbox Game Bar

Step 1: Press Windows+X and select Windows PowerShell(Admin) from the context menu.

Step 2: In the PowerShell window, enter the following command to uninstall the Xbox Game Bar.

get-appxpackage *Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay* | remove-appxpackage

Step 3: Then execute the second command to reinstall the program.

Get-AppXPackage *Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay* -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode 
-Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

After the command has been processed successfully, restart your system.

6. Enable Windows Game Recording policy

Step 1: Press Windows+R to open Run dialog, type gpedit.msc in the open box and press OK to open Group Policy Editor.

Step 2: Navigate to the given below directory:

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Game Recording and Broadcasting

Step 3: Double-click Windows Game Recording and Broadcasting.

Step 4: In the next window, double-click on Enables or disables Windows Game Recording and Broadcasting.

Step 5: Choose Enabled option, click Apply and then OK to save the change.

7. Install Windows Media pack

This method only applies to users who are running the N or KN version of Windows 10/11 because it is the missing Windows Media pack on these versions that causes the error.

Step 1: Open Settings and select Apps > Apps & features.

Step 2: After Apps & features section, select Optional features.

Step 3: Click Add a feature and search for Media Feature Pack from the list. Then click "install" to download the feature.