Yeah that cable situation is a total mess. Not all USB-C cables are created equal – some are charge-only with no data wires inside, which is why your controller lights up but doesn't register. I went through the same headache when I first got my DualSense. Turned out the cables that came with my power bank and old Android phones were the culprits. What finally worked consistently was using the official Sony USB-C cable that came in the box, or any high-quality braided cable rated for data transfer (not just charging). Cheap no-name cables from Amazon are basically a gamble. For port checking, try plugging in a flash drive or another peripheral first – if Windows doesn't even recognize those, the port might be faulty or disabled in BIOS. Front panel ports can be hit or miss depending on your case's internal wiring. Once you've got a good cable and confirmed working port, the DS4 Windows  setup guide  walks you through the driver installation and exclusive mode settings to avoid double input. That page saved me a ton of trial and error when I was setting up my controller initially.

Thanks for pointing this out, it would've saved me a couple of evenings. I kept reinstalling drivers because my DualSense charged fine, so I assumed the cable couldn't be the problem. Swapped it for a proper data cable from an old SSD enclosure and Windows detected it instantly. After that I followed the DS4Windows setup guide to finish everything off, especially the exclusive mode part, and it finally worked without random double inputs. Sometimes it's the simplest thing causing all the frustration.