Some Windows 10 and Windows 11 users are complaining about a problem they are facing on their Windows 10 computer, as the Bluetooth device they are trying to connect is not connecting with their Windows 10 device, although both of them are already paired. If you are facing this same issue, then don’t worry. There are some simple solutions which can fix your problem. Mainly, this problem happens when you try to connect multiple Bluetooth devices or it may also happen is that there is an error with the existing Bluetooth driver on your computer. Let’s keep the reasons aside and let’s focus on the solutions. But before going ahead for the fixes, attempt these initial workarounds, which can solve your problem with minimal efforts.
Initial Workarounds-
1. If you are witnessing the problem for the first time, reboot your computer and after rebooting try to connect the Bluetooth device again.
2. If you are using a Bluetooth adapter,
a. Check if the USB port on your device is working or not.
b. Unplug the Bluetooth adapter and after 2 minutes, plug the adapter again. This should solve your problem.
If any of these workarounds didn’t work out for you, go through these easy fixes-
Fix-1 Restart the Bluetooth services
You can restart the Bluetooth services from Services. Rebooting your Bluetooth services can solve your problem.
1. You will need to press the Windows key+R on your keyboard.
2. Then, type “services.msc“. After doing so, click on “OK“.
3. In, Services window, scroll down to find out “Bluetooth Support Service” and right-click on it, then click on “Restart“.
4. Now, double click on the “Bluetooth Support Service“.
5. Now, in the Bluetooth Support Service Properties window, click on “Startup type:” and click on “Automatic“.
6. Then, click on “Apply” and “OK” to save the changes.
Close Services window.
Now Turn off Bluetooth and turn it back ON again
1. Pressing Windows key+I will open the Settings.
2. Now, click on “Devices” settings.
3. Now, click on “Bluetooth & other devices“, and on the right pane, you should see a switch “ON” under the “Bluetooth” option.
4. Click on it to switch it “OFF“.
Wait for a while.
5. Now, again click on that option to switch it “ON“.
6. Now, click on Add Bluetooth & other devices and add the device.
7. After that, click on Bluetooth and connect your device again.
Note: -For Windows 11 Users
1 -Press Windows key and I together to open the settings panel.
2 -Now, Click on Bluetooth & Devices from the left side menu.
3 – Now, Turn the Bluetooth Off and then Turn it ON again.
4 – After that, click on add a device and try to add your bluetooth device again.
Fix 2 – Check connected Bluetooth device settings
1. Search control panel in windows 10 search box and open Control panel.
2. Now, make sure view by category is selected.
3. Click on devices and printers.
4. Now, Locate your Bluetooth device and right click and choose on properties.
5. Click on services Tab and then make sure all the Bluetooth services are checked.
Check all of them and click on apply and OK and close the window.
Fix 3 – Try switching to a different USB port
If you are using an adapter , Try switching to a different USB port as sometime , its not compatible with USB 3.0 OR USB 2.0 and so , switching to a different usb port might fix this issue.
Fix 4 Update Bluetooth device drivers
1. Press Windows key and the ‘R‘ key together to open run window.
2. In the Run window, type “devmgmt.msc“. Click on “OK“.
3. Now, click on View and Click on Show hidden devices.
4. Now, Double click on Bluetooth to expand it.
5. Now, right click and click on update your first Bluetooth device from the list (Note that, we will repeat the steps given below for every Bluetooth items in the list).
6. Click on Browse my computer for drivers.
7. Click on Let me Pick from a list option
8. Now, select the first option from the list. Make sure show compatible hardware option is selected.
9. Click on Next and let it update it.
10. Now, repeat steps 6 to 9 to update each and every Bluetooth devices.
Fix-5 Connect from Action center
1. Click on the action center icon on the bottom right.
2. Click on “connect“.
3. Now, click on your paired device from the list.
Fix-6 Connect from Settings-
The simplest fix for this problem is to connect the Bluetooth device manually. To do so, follow these easy steps-
1. Press Windows Key+I to launch Settings. Now, click on “Devices“.
2. Now, click on “Bluetooth & other devices” and in the Audio section, scroll down to find the audio device you are trying to connect.
3. Click on the Bluetooth device and click on “Connect” to connect the Bluetooth audio device with your Windows 10 device.
Your device should be connected with the computer.
If still you can’t connect the device with the computer then follow the next fix.
Fix-7 Uninstall and reinstall the Bluetooth driver-
Follow these steps to uninstall your Bluetooth adapter driver-
1. Press Windows key and the ‘R‘ key together to open run window.
2. In the Run window, type “devmgmt.msc“. Click on “OK“.
2. In the Device Manager utility window, look minutely for the “Bluetooth” section and expand it.
3. Right-click on the Bluetooth adapter you are using, click on “Uninstall device“.
This shall uninstall the driver.
Follow these steps to reinstall the driver-
Method 1-
Restarting your system should reinstall the driver on your computer.
Method 2–
In case if the previous method didn’t work out, follow these steps-
1. In the Device Manager window, click on “Action“.
2. Then, click on “Scan for hardware changes“.
The uninstalled driver will be reinstalled on your device.
Close Device Manager window.
Restart your computer to save the changes.
After rebooting, check if you can connect the Bluetooth device with the computer.
Fix-8 Update the Bluetooth driver-
You are unable to connect the Bluetooth driver with the because of an old/incompatible version of Bluetooth driver may be installed on your computer.
1. Pressing the Windows key will open the Search box. Now, start to type “devmgmt“.
2. Now, click on the “Device Manager” which will appear in the Search box.
3. In the Device Manager window, you will need to click on the “Bluetooth” to expand it.
4. Now, from the drop-down options, select the driver which you are using .
5. Right-click on it and click on “Update driver“.
6. As the next step, you need to click on the “Search automatically for updated driver software“.
Now all you need to do is to wait.
Reboot your computer.
Check if you are still facing the same problem or not.
Fix-9 Set your Bluetooth device as default-
You can set your Bluetooth device as the default device. Follow these easy steps to set the Bluetooth device as default.
1. After opening the Run window by pressing the ‘Windows key+R‘, type this command.
mmsys.cpl
2. Then, click on “OK“.
2. In the Sound window, click on the device you are using/going to use and then click on “Set as default“. Now, click on “Apply” and “OK” to save the changes on your device.
Now, close the Sound window, and then reboot your computer.
After rebooting try to connect your Bluetooth device again. You should be able to connect the device with Windows 10 device without any error.
Fix-10 make sure airplane mode is not ON
1 – Press Windows key + A to open action center.
2 – Make sure Airplane mode is not ON.
3 – Also make sure Bluetooth is turned ON.
Worked perfectly, thank you!
I tried all the Fixes mentioned but nothing seems to work. Both my Headphone (Blaupunkt BH-11) and Speaker (Bose Soundlink Mini) gets paired but refuses to connect.
When I tried Fix 9: Setting Bluetooth Devices as default, in the Sound window, under Playback, I cannot see neither the headphone nor the speaker. The only speakers that I see are Realtek High Definition Audio as the Default Device.
Can anyone help. I have tried everything over the last one year but to no avail.
okay I have one last fix. I tried everything and nothing worked for me. I realized that my bluetooth adapter was plugged into a usb 3.0 port when it was supposed to be a 2.0 port. If youre using an adapter and nothing works, try switching the usb port to a 2.0 port.
Thnx!!!
wow, thanks you so much for that
Thank you for providing all these solutions. I have tried them all but my Tevi still connects to the HP Laptop for an instant and then disconnects itself, not being able to play a single sound.
It is not connected to anything else at the moment and no other headphones are connected with the Laptop eather.
Is it possible that the Lypertek TEVI has not got the ability to connect to my particular Laptop? Sounds silly but who knows!
I’ve been through all of your fixes, and none of them work. My laptop and my smartphone show as being paired with each other, and both even (initially) show ‘connected’ but each time the notification on the smartphone changes to ‘couldn’t connect’. Working from my laptop, at various points (as in fix 8 above) the smartphone doesn’t even show up on the list of devices, despite apparently being paired with the laptop.
BESTIE THANK YOU FOR THIS AAAAAAAAA
I did all the instructions and nothing seems to work
my galaxy buds live is 100% working fine on two of my phones and on the laptop (this tells me my buds live is working)
my PC is working 100% fine with the google home via blue tooth (this tells me my bluetooth dongle is not the issue also)
but then my Buds connect to my PC.. 1. It Pairs (no problem) 2. It connects (no problem) 3. but it will disconnect at exactly 28-30 seconds after (I used a timer).
I am thinking to remove cache history, is there such a thing?
A simple solution for bluetooth paired but wont connect is to check if any other program that uses bluetooth is enabled and disable it, in my case it was Remote Link on my ASUS laptop
I have the same problem as David with my Sony SRS-X11 speakers.
Didn’t work for me.
PC is happily paired with phone, and the notification tile briefly says it’s connected, but then drops back to not connected. At the phone end it says connecting… then drops back to Couldn’t connect.
Thank you so much for this! This was bugging me so much and I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong. It was just as simple as hitting the “connect” button and selecting my device. This goes to show that the solution is a lot simpler than what you think it is. Thanks again!
My issue is similar, but none of your fixes worked. I tried connecting to 3 different bluetooth headsets. All do the exact same thing. I can pair the device, but they do not connect. Hitting the connect button in the paired device fails with an error that the device is not in pairing mode. If I power off/on the device, it will then show paired/connected in the bluetooth settings page. Hitting disconnect or Remove device at this point causes the headphone to go into pairing mode again.
The device never shows up connected in the Sound Control Panel (Playback and/or Recording) however. It shows (Headphones or Headset Microphone, Bluetooth Hands-free Audio, Disconnected) for all 3 different devices. Connect in that screen does nothing.
All 3 devices work fine on all other laptops, so it is definitely this machine.
I had this problem too. Patience fixed the problem!
I noticed when I “add bluetooth or other device” my speakers initially are listed as “device-LE”. The tendency I had was to click that immediately. However, if you are patient and wait a few moments, another option for the same “device” will appear with the audio specification. Clicking this option fixes the “paired but not connected” problem!
Dear Ernst J. Poppen,
The problem you are facing is pretty common.
Even from my personal experience, I can highlight the same issue used to occur for my devices also.
There is an acute reason for this problem.
In my case, when I try to use the Bluetooth device with my laptop, it pairs and connects instantly.
This pair-connect happens instantly.
BUT, there is a catch.
If you connect your Bluetooth device with any other phone or laptop’s Bluetooth even for once and then try to connect with your first device again, it won’t connect!
Because BT4.1 supports connection with only one known device at a time.
When you are turning your BT device ON it is searching for your Mobile or Laptop, not your first computer.
Even if it pairs, you will need to connect your BT device manually.
1.By going to the Settings > BT,
2. Then, click on your BT device you want to connect and then click on “Connect”.
This also may incur a few driver errors.
In case that happens, u may consider doing these
1. Remove the device. Then “Add” it again.
or, if that doesn’ help
2. Uninstall BT driver and reboot as prescribed in the article.
This problem is limited to Bluetooth 4.1.
This situation is partially solved in BT 5.1 or up. This supports dual connection and sometimes it helps.
So, the workaround is the only fix for this problem. No permanent solution at all.
Blaming Microsoft for this won’t help but there are some bugs from their end as well.
I hope this clears your query.
Greetings!
Dear Sambit Koley,
Additional: After disabling not working audio devices (problem started after speakers of laptop not working when plug-in or out of earphones), when re-starting laptop Windows 10 indicates no audio devices available. Uninstall Bluetooth Usb Module, rescan and hopla all works.
Seems Windows 10 can’t figured where to put the audio.
Anyway, found a work-around but till not happy
(1945: Hiroshima – 1984: Chernobyl – 1995: Windows…..)
Greetings
Any response would be appreciated.
Ernie
Dear Sambit Koley,
Correction to my former post: Problem still the same….
Device is paired but still will not connect after start (plug off power, remove battery, wait, re-plugin battery and powe, restart)
give me 1 second….
After removing Bluetooth USB Module (Manufacturer Qualcomm Atheros Communications) and re-scan, device connected. At least quicker….
Dear Sambit Koley,
After weeks (!!!) of looking for a solution for my Bluetooth problem (devices paired but not connecting after start) your instructions did help.
I had 2 Bluetooth audio devices paired and could not connect after start. Had to remove the Bluetooth USB Module from Device Manager, re-scan, update Generic Bluetooth Device, to get things up and running again.
Remove 1 device and followed your instructions. Seems setting the Bluetooth device as DEFAULT audio device has done the trick.
I will check all some ties and try to connect the 2nd device as well. BTW 1st is a speaker-box, 2nd is a headset with ear-plugs.
Thanks for now.
Ernie