Xbox 360 Dashboard

The current Xbox 360 System Software.

The Xbox 360 Dashboard is the updatable software and operating system for the Xbox 360. It resides on a 16 MB file system and has access to a maximum of 32 MB of its memory.

The Xbox 360 allows users to download applications that add to the dashboard's functionality. Most apps require the user to be signed into a valid Xbox Live account to use the features advertised for the given app. Microsoft has added partners to develop apps for the Xbox 360 system since the NXE Dashboard update in 2008.

As of July 29, 2024, almost all tabs have been removed following the closure of the Xbox 360 Marketplace.

Navigation

The Metro Xbox 360 Dashboard has a total of seven tabs that can be navigated through. Each tab has several tiles with various options included.

No matter what tab is on the screen the user's profile with various details will be shown in the top right corner. Details include gamertag, account balance, number of friends online, number of new messages, and gamerscore.

If a Kinect is connected to the console, in the bottom right corner there will always be a screen showing what the Kinect can see.

Not all Dashboards will look identical to the one described on this page. Some Dashboards may look different depending on what version the console is running and what region the console is set to.

Bing

The Bing tab is the most far to the left tab on the Dashboard. It includes a search bar that can be used to search anything in the store. This includes games, apps, demos, themes, movies music, and TV shows. Content can be filtered to only show media from a chosen category.

Home

This is the tab that first appears when a user signs into the console. Nine tiles are shown on this tab. This includes the open/close/play game in the disc drive tile, depending on the status of the disc tray one of these three options will be shown. Underneath the tray option is My Pins. If selected the tile shows all media that has been pinned. Any pin can be launched from this section. The recent tab is the third tile on the home tab. If selected this tile shows the ten most recently launched apps and games.

The largest tile on this part of the dashboard is the featured tile. It can either display a certain game and provide a link to the store with that game or show information to do with Xbox One Backwards Compatibility. Below this tile is a smaller tile that does the same thing but displays a different game. A Games with Gold tile can also be found here. It provides a link to information on Games with Gold and shows the monthly deals and free games with Gold.

A Keep Playing tile has also been present on this tab since Xbox 360 games began becoming backward compatible with the Xbox One. The icon displays an Xbox One S console, if selected the console will play a short video giving details on backward compatibility and how users can pick up where they left off.

A tile that displays "Need Help?" acts as a quick link to a support page that includes six different options, mostly to do with account details. These tiles if selected play a short video showing the user how to do various things.

The final tile displays a link to an app. Usually, the link is for a video streaming service like Hulu or Netflix.

Social

This tab displays the user's avatar and provides links to various parts regarding the user's account.

A friends tile, activity feed tile, avatar store tile, and sign in or out tile are all displayed on this tab.

Friends

The friends tile includes options to set up parties and view the user's friends' activity. Beacons and Activity can also be found here as well as an option to add more friends.

Activity Feed

The Activity Feed tile shows recent posts by both the user and their friends. Including game clips, screenshots and recent achievements. Here the user can also create a new post or view activity alerts.

Avatar Store

Selecting this tile will launch the Avatar Store.

Sign In or Out

Pressing this tile returns the user to the sign in screen.

Avatar

The users Avatar is also shown on this screen. It displays the signed in account's gamertag, gamerscore and the icons of the nine most recent achievements. If the avatar is selected similar options to the friends tile are brought up as well as the option to view achievements.

As well as achievements this tile also includes various links to options where account details can be changed.

Games

The games tab includes a total of ten tiles. Four larger tiles are shown that all display a game and a link to that game on the store.

Other tiles in this page also include links to the users; games, add-ons, demos and recommendations. Links to the store and a search bar for the store can also be found here.

Movies & TV

The Movies & TV tab includes nine tiles. Five of these tiles are used for advertising featured films, the latest films, new TV, Sales and Specials and a featured movie category (e.g alien movies, drama movies). The other four tiles provide links to installed video apps (e.g. YouTube, Netflix), a search bar for Movies & TV, a link to the video apps category of the store and a shortcut to the Microsoft Movies & TV app.

Apps

The Apps tab contains a total of twelve tiles, the most out of all of the tabs on the Xbox 360 Dashboard. Eight of the tiles display links to various media apps such as Netflix and Twitch. The remaining tiles link to the apps that are installed on the console, link to the most recently released apps, recommended apps and a search bar for apps on the store.

Settings

Settings is the furthest to the right tab on the Xbox 360 dashboard. Here, the user can access all sorts of settings for their system, profile, Kinect, account and privacy. The console can also be powered off by using one of the tiles on this screen.

Updates

While the System Software updates may sometimes provide updates to the system's firmware, it is unlikely that this occurs with many, if any, updates. The updates can be downloaded from the Xbox Live service directly to the Xbox 360 and subsequently installed. Microsoft has also provided the ability to download system software updates from their respective official Xbox website to their PCs and then storage media, from which the update can be installed to the system.

The current public version of the Xbox 360 system software is 2.0.17559.0  which was released on November 12, 2019.

History

Version	Release Date	Availability	Description
2.0.14699.0	December 6, 2011	Public	Dashboard Changes Updated Standard and Kinect Dashboard with Full Voice Dashboard Commandment Support. System Software Changes Bing Search on Xbox 360. Youtube on Xbox 360 with Bing Search support. Adds Beacons. BBC iPlayer video streaming Skype Bing on Xbox 3D Game Viewing For Games That Supports It. Xbox Live Changes Live television on Xbox 360 with Bing Search support. Cloud Storage for Game Saves and LIVE Profile. Kinect Changes Expanded Kinect Voice Support.
2.0.13599.0	July 19, 2011	Public	System Software Changes/Other Mandatory update that prepared for subsequent growth of the service. Anti-Piracy 2.5 scheme updated
2.0.13146.0	May 19, 2011 to May 31, 2011 (Released in 6 Waves)	Public	System Software Changes Reflashes the DVD drives to support XGD3 Media : PLDS DG-16D4S, PBDS VAD6038 and PLDS DG-16D2S, to a new stock firmware : 0272, 04421C, 02510C. Also patches Samsung MS25 & MS28 Anti-Piracy 2.5 scheme updated. Support for the new XGD3 disk format for games, adds 1GB of usable disk space and extra anti-piracy features to new games. Adds a new 1 hour Auto-Off setting in addition to the 6 hour Auto-Off setting previously available. Xbox Live Changes Adds PayPal support as a payment option for all Xbox Live users, except : Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Hungary, India, Japan, Poland, Russia, South Africa, South Korea and Taiwan. Other Minor bugfix.
2.0.12625.0	January 19, 2011	Public	System Software Changes Adds further anti-piracy 2.5 scheme to more popular games Halo: Reach, Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Fixes ‘Boot to Disc’ option.
2.0.12611.0	November 1, 2010	Public	Kinect Dashboard/System Software Changes Adds the ability to install game updates to the HDD. (select games only) Adds the new anti-piracy 2.5 scheme to newly released games Fable III, Hasbro Family Game Night 3, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and Assassins Creed Brotherhood Adds a visual refresh to incorporate elements of Microsoft's Metro design style. New boot screen animation with redesigned Xbox 360 orb and ribbons. Improved Avatars to 2.0 version with human-like proportions. Improved HDD load time. Xbox Live Changes Adds ESPN as an app download via Xbox Live. Certain ISPs do not support the service. ESPN can be limited or blocked entirely. Updates Zune adding Zune Music and ZunePass functionality. Updates Game Marketplace with a Metro-style redesign and easier navigation. New codec for Xbox Live voice chat that improves communication quality. Better connection when using a wireless network adapter. Improved Netflix integration by enabling to search the entire Netflix catalog from within the console. Added Netflix support for Canada. Improved "toast" notifications. One example being "Friends using this app" now shows when a friend uses Facebook instead of it referred to as a "game" when you start it. Kinect Changes Adds a motion menu specialized for Kinect under system settings. Adds Kinect Functionality for Zune, Last.fm, Sky Player. Adds Video Kinect as an app download via Xbox Live. This app lets players video chat with the Kinect sensor bar.
2.0.9199.0	April 6, 2010	Public	Initial release on Xbox 360 Slim System Changes Allows up to two USB flash drives or external hard drives to be used for storing profiles, game saves, demos and more up to 16 GB each, 32GB combined. Allows content transfer to another attached storage device. Content transfer does not copy installed games. Restores to banned consoles the ability to install games to hard drive, which decreases load times and eliminates noise due to disc spin.
2.0.8955.0	October 23, 2009	Public	;System Software Changes Disables support for 3rd-party memory cards (e.g. Datel Max Memory). Detects all consoles with any firmware version of Xtreme or iXtreme until 1.61. Disables hard drive installs for banned consoles, can no longer be used as a media center, and user information, such as profiles and game saves, appear corrupted when used on another console. Xbox Live Changes Enables (previously inactive) WPA2 support for the official Xbox 360 Wireless Networking Adapter. Enabled Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm and Zune Marketplace on November 17, 2009. Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm are only available to Xbox Live Gold Members.
2.0.8507.0	September 23, 2009	Public	System Software/Xbox Live Changes Mandatory update that prepared for subsequent growth of the Xbox 360 console and/or Xbox Live. Specifically, preparations for the additions of Facebook, Twitter, and Last.fm to the dashboard.
2.0.8498.0	August 11, 2009	Public	System Software Changes Fixes The JTAG Hack. Update that fixes issues with limited games and with dashboard. Adds Display Discovery to allow console to override factory settings for HDTV resolutions and refresh rates. Also discovers the best possible resolution and refresh rates that your HDTV is capable of displaying (Selected HDTVs). Adds HDMI Reference Levels Fixes a vulnerability used to run arbitrary code. Ability to eject tray using a gamepad even when a disc is already inserted. (X Button) Improves Xbox Guide performance. Reduces hard drive game installation sizes. Adds a Clear Cache option to the storage units. Xbox Live Changes Adds the Avatar Marketplace. Adds Games on Demand to the Game Marketplace. Community Games rebranded to Indie Games. Adds the ability to rate content (Uses a 5-star rating system). Introduces Xbox Live Gold Member Veteran Status. Improves Netflix. Users can now change the instant queue from the console. Adds Netflix movie parties. Adds a "Prizes" area to Xbox LIVE Primetime. Xbox Live Primetime (Summer 2009). Play game shows with friends over Xbox Live to win Microsoft Points and Themes (For example: 1 vs 100).
2.0.7371.0	April 2, 2009	Public	Other Update that fixes issues with limited games.
2.0.7363.0	February 3, 2009	Public	System Software/Other Mandatory update that fixed HDMI audio issues caused by the New Xbox Experience update.
2.0.7357.0	November 19, 2008	Public	NXE: New Xbox Experience System Software Changes Completely redesigned GUI with a navigation system similar to that of Windows Media Center. New pop-up/in-game Live Guide, using a redesigned version of the blades interface. New sound effects (menus only, notification sounds remain the same). Ability to preview your own themes before setting them. Ability to disable notifications (new messages, chat requests, etc.) or mute the notification sound. Support for 1440×900 and 1680×1050 16:10 resolutions (letterboxed) over VGA, HDMI and when using DVI. Ability to change to QWERTY keyboard in place of alphabetical keyboard. Xbox Live Changes Xbox Live Party allowing for eight-person chat and image sharing. Fully customizable Avatars for use in upcoming games and on Xbox Live. (Some current games also received an update on November 19 to support the new Avatars). Access Xbox Live Marketplace on a PC via Xbox.com with the ability to queue downloads to the Xbox 360. Ability to watch Netflix movies on an Xbox 360. (User must be in the US, a Gold Xbox Live member, and a Netflix Unlimited subscriber) Increases the Active Downloads queue limit from 6 to 40. Other Option to install games to hard drive in order to decrease load times and to make the hardware quieter. The disc must still be present for the game to load. Information from Xbox Live regarding the game in the disc tray. Quick Launch for launching games on your console. Ability to remove games with 0 gamerscore from your profiles played games list. Upon starting any Xbox 360 game, you will be notified if any of your friends and/or party are playing the same game. Auto Start - Option to set whether you want the disc to run/or stay idle when the disc tray closes with a game or media disc inside, by default it's set to run. NOTE: Update requires 128 MB of free memory Microsoft has stated that the NXE will be released to non Xbox Live members (e.g.: on DVD in OXM) at a later date. It is now also available with certain games on the disc itself.[Citation needed]
2.0.6717.0	August 6, 2008	Public	System Software Changes/Other Mandatory update that prepared for subsequent growth of the service.
2.0.6690.0	April 18, 2008	Public	System Software Changes/Other Mandatory update that prepared for subsequent growth of the Xbox 360 console and/or Xbox Live.
2.0.6683.0	December 4, 2007	Public	;System Software Changes Support for MPEG-4 Part 2 video playback and AC3 audio. (With Optional Media Update) Original Xbox games played now appear in the user's played games list. Parental Timer. Xbox Guide opens significantly faster. Game gameplay fades out when console is turned off. Redesigned user interface. Improved performance. Xbox Live Changes Inside Xbox news feed. The marketplace has been redesigned and is now more organized. The user's downloaded videos are now organized by TV show and season. Social Networking features. Other You can now put your name, city of residence and a biography under your gamertag. Adds the ability to view your friends' friends list (Friends of Friends). Xbox Live Arcade trial games are no longer written to Gamercard.
2.0.5787.0	September 20, 2007	Public	Other Prepared the system for communication with the Xbox 360 Big Button Controller (bundled with Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action).
2.0.5766.0	August 7, 2007	Public	Other Prepared the system for communication with the Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Les Paul wireless guitar controller.
2.0.5759.0	May 9, 2007	Public	System Software Changes Switchable aspect ratio during video playback (Auto to Letterbox, Zoom, Stretch, Native). The information bar that turns on via the On-Screen Display (OSD) now shows exactly how much time has lapsed in the playback of the video file. Windows Media protected content (WM-DRM), which can now be streamed from the PC to the console. If the WM-DRM license is missing or corrupted, then a specific error message is displayed to the user. Bookmarking is also stored for protected content. Option to boot straight into Media Center Extender mode (as well as changing the MC logo to the Vista version). Low-power background download function. The storage device, one core of the CPU, the fans, and any other components required for downloading remain powered, but rest of the system, such as the GPU and the disc drive, is shut off. System completely powers off once downloads are complete. Download blocks to prevent a download from starting if it will not fit onto a storage device, without deducting any points associated with the content item. Xbox Live Changes A separate, fifth blade for the Marketplace. A more consistent interface for the Marketplace. Option to automatically download all free Xbox Live Arcade games. Other Two new languages, Russian and Polish. Title of a game (when inserted into system) appears in the tray icon on the Dashboard menu. When highlighted, achievements and Gamerscore are displayed for that game based on the signed-in user. Support for MPEG-4 videos. Windows Live Messenger integration with the Dashboard. Support for "Reference Levels" to video. The ability to see the percentage of downloaded Video Marketplace content and where the ‘chapters’ exist for the said file. More specific “Achievement Unlocked” message, detailing the achievement unlocked and how many points it is worth.
2.0.4552.0	January 9, 2007	Public	Initial release on Xbox 360 Elite System Software Changes Fixed a Privilege escalation vulnerability in the Hypervisor that allowed non-signed code (such as Linux) to run on the Xbox 360, with direct hardware access.
2.0.4548.0	November 30, 2006	Public	;Xbox Live Changes Improved performance on wired headsets when used with a wireless controller. Other Video output issues on VGA connections fixed.
2.0.4532.0	October 31, 2006	Public	System Software Changes Support for 1080p video output. Support for the external HD DVD drive attachment. Cosmetic changes to the Dashboard. Xbox Live Changes Support for Zune. Option for automatic downloading of trial versions of newly released titles in Xbox Live Arcade. Other Streaming of WMV files from a computer through the use of Windows Media Connect, connected USB device, CD or a DVD. Windows Media Player 11 as a supported streaming program. Audio and video streaming for Mac systems using Connect360.
2.0.2858.0	June 13, 2006	Public	System Software Changes/Other Improved character recognition for users with the localized Chinese language version of the dashboard on their Xbox 360(s).
2.0.2857.0	June 6, 2006	Public	System Software Changes Option to resume DVD playback from where it was last stopped. Option to boot to either a disc or the dashboard when system is turned on. New slideshow options for Photo Viewing, which can save folder layouts between sessions. Concurrent downloads, allowing multiple downloads as background tasks. Xbox Live Changes Xbox Live Marketplace was reorganized.
2.0.2258.0	March 2, 2006	Public	System Software Changes/Other Prepared console for subsequent system and title updates.
2.0.2255.0	January 30, 2006	Public	System Software Changes Improvements to the Xbox Guide. Option to retain saved games when a profile is deleted. More detailed messaging for unreadable disk or region errors. Xbox Live Changes Network configuration improvements for Xbox Live members in the Netherlands. Other Increased accuracy of "last time played".
2.0.2241.0	November 22, 2005	Public	;System Software Changes Update available at product launch.
2.0.1888.0	November 22, 2005	Public	First version of the Xbox 360 System Software released. Original shipped version (The backup of 2.0.1888.0 remains in the backup kernel storage).

Evolution

Earliest version of the Xbox 360 System Software released.

The first major revamp of the Xbox 360 System Software.

One of the first versions of the major Xbox 360 System Software revamp.

The latest and most well known version of the Xbox 360 Dashboard.