Windows gamers have found a way to enable the Xbox Full Screen Experience on Windows 11 handhelds, and it's simple to do.
That means you can turn the likes of the original Asus ROG Ally and MSI Claw into an Xbox handheld.
If you can't wait for the release of the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X next month, it turns out that you can get the full Xbox Ally experience without having to shell out for a new handheld. All you need is the latest Windows 11 Release Preview.
The Xbox Ally hardware is designed to get your game on instantly, and to do that it bypasses Windows' Explorer and launches into the Xbox app instead.
That means faster gaming gratification, and it also delivers a memory boost because Explorer, the Windows Desktop and other unneeded bits and bobs aren't being loaded at startup.
But as The Verge reports, you can enable this mode in multiple handheld gaming PCs too, including the MSI Claw range and Asus' original ROG Ally handhelds. And it's fairly easy to do.
How to enable Xbox Full Screen Experience on a Windows handheld
There's a full guide on enabling the full screen experience on Reddit, and of course the usual caveats apply: this isn't an officially supported tweak so anything you do is at your own risk. But it's not hugely complicated.
First of all, you need Windows 11 25H2. That's currently a Release Preview in Windows Insider.
Once you've installed that, the option you need may be there in Settings > Gaming > Full screen experience. If you're unlucky you'll need to use a third party tool, Vive, and make some changes in the Windows Registry.
Enabling the Full Screen Experience doesn't stop you from using your handheld as a normal Windows device – you can go into the Desktop mode and/or launch Windows apps other than the Xbox one and your games.
As for the new handhelds, they're coming in just a few weeks now. The ROG Xbox Ally X and ROG Xbox Ally will launch on 16 October.
