Class Not Registered error when creating sharpdx effect in unity project

I'm trying to utilize force feedback with a Fanatec steering wheel in my unity project. I'm using SharpDX.DirectInput to try and solve the problem. Here's my code that's trying to utilize force feedback, I've just been calling this method in the script's start function for testing purposes.

private void ForceFeedback()
    {
        // set up direct input
        DirectInput di = new DirectInput();
        Device wheel = null;

        // find wheel
        foreach (DeviceInstance instance in di.GetDevices(
            DeviceClass.GameControl,
            DeviceEnumerationFlags.AttachedOnly | DeviceEnumerationFlags.ForceFeedback))
        {
            wheel = new Joystick(di, instance.InstanceGuid);
        }

        // set cooperative level
        wheel.SetCooperativeLevel(GetWindowHandle(),
            CooperativeLevel.Exclusive | CooperativeLevel.Background);

        // set axis mode to absolute
        wheel.Properties.AxisMode = DeviceAxisMode.Absolute;

        // set buffer size
        wheel.Properties.BufferSize = 128;

        // acquire wheel for capturing
        wheel.Acquire();

        //Configure axes
        int[] axis = null;
        foreach (DeviceObjectInstance doi in wheel.GetObjects())
        {
            // set axes ranges
            if (((int)doi.ObjectId & (int)DeviceObjectTypeFlags.Axis) != 0)
            {
                wheel.Properties.Range =
                    new InputRange(-5000, 5000);
            }

            int[] temp;

            // get info about first two ff axes on device
            if (doi.ObjectType.CompareTo(ToGuid((int)DeviceObjectTypeFlags.ForceFeedbackActuator)) != 0)
            {
                if (axis != null)
                {
                    temp = new int[axis.Length + 1];
                    axis.CopyTo(temp, 0);
                    axis = temp;
                }
                else
                {
                    axis = new int[1];
                }

                // store the offset of each axis.
                axis[axis.Length - 1] = doi.Offset;
                if (axis.Length == 2)
                {
                    break;
                }
            }
        }

        // see if wheel supports ConstantForce and set it
        Effect e;

        foreach (EffectInfo ei in wheel.GetEffects(EffectType.All))
        {
            if ((ei.Type & EffectType.ConstantForce) != 0)
            {
                // fill in some generic values for the effect
                EffectParameters param = new EffectParameters();
                param.Directions = new int[axis.Length];
                param.Axes = new int[axis.Length];
                // -> param.conditionStruct ?
                // -> param.effectType ?
                param.Duration = int.MaxValue;
                param.Gain = 10000;
                param.SamplePeriod = 0;
                param.Flags = EffectFlags.ObjectOffsets | EffectFlags.Cartesian;
                param.Axes = axis;

                e = new Effect(wheel, wheel.Information.ForceFeedbackDriverGuid, param);
                e.Start();
            }
        }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Convert int to guid. To be used in forcefeedback function
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="value"></param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    private static Guid ToGuid(int value)
    {
        byte[] bytes = new byte[16];
        BitConverter.GetBytes(value).CopyTo(bytes, 0);
        return new Guid(bytes);
    }

The GetWindowHandle() funtion is defined at the top of the class:

// function using native dll to get active window handle (for sharpdx cooperation levels)
    [System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImport("user32.dll")]
    private static extern System.IntPtr GetActiveWindow();

    public static System.IntPtr GetWindowHandle()
    {
        return GetActiveWindow();
    }

Whenever I run the code I receive the following error: SharpDXException: HRESULT: [0x80040154], Module: [SharpDX.DirectInput], ApiCode: [DIERR_DEVICENOTREG/DeviceNotRegistered], Message: Class not registered

Anyone have any idea what could be causing this and what I could do to fix it? I've done quite a bit of research online to try and find a solution but haven't had any luck so far.