Windows 10 is a complete operating system with a lot of new features. The user interface is designed to work on all devices such as desktop, laptops or mobiles, and Bluetooth is one amongst them.
However, if the Bluetooth doesn’t show in Windows 10 then you may be annoyed about it because of its necessity at some point. When you upgraded from Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10, you may have noticed that Bluetooth is no longer in system tray.
It happens because when you upgrade from earlier versions of windows like windows 7/8/8.1 etc. to install windows 10, most probably your Bluetooth drivers won’t be migrated automatically during the process and will still use earlier versions of Bluetooth driver which were compatible with previous versions of windows for compatibility purpose.
If you are using windows 7 or earlier version of windows then the Bluetooth drivers will work fine but when you are upgrading from Windows 8/8.1 to windows 10, there is no guarantee that your driver will be migrated automatically during installation which means an immediate problem for those users who have upgraded their system from windows 8/8.1 to windows 10. To fix this issue one can manually download and install Bluetooth driver for there system on Windows 10 with the help of Device Manager.
Procedure For Fixing The Problem By Manually Getting And Installing The Driver On Your System With The Help Of Device Manager
To manually download and install Bluetooth drivers on your system follow these steps:
Press Window+R button from your keyboard to open Run window.
From Run dialog box, type ‘devmgmt.msc’ and press OK button. It’ll open Device Manager on your system.
Under device manager, click on Action tab from right side of window and select Add Legacy Hardware option as shown in screenshot below:
After clicking on the Add legacy hardware it’ll open a new wizard as shown below:
In first step of wizard, click Next to continue as highlighted in above screenshot.
In next step of wizard check both "include this location in search" and "search removable media( *.inf , *.sys)" options as shown in screenshot below:
Then click Next to proceed.
Now it’ll ask you to browse for the Bluetooth driver, so go ahead and select Browse option highlighted in red color shown in above screenshot.
Now it’ll open another window where you need to Browse For Folder option as highlighted in blue color shown in screenshot below:
10) Browse to folder where your Bluetooth driver is present (in most cases its "driver" folder of Bluetooth software/driver download which you downloaded before). After selecting the destination folder, click on OK button followed by Next . It will start searching for drivers automatically after clicking on this button. If you get a prompt saying that Windows can’t verify the publisher of this driver software then click on Install this driver software anyway .
11) After it finishes downloading and installing the Bluetooth drivers automatically on your system, restart your PC for changes to take effect. Now open Device Manager again (you can press Window+R button from keyboard and then type devmgmt.msc in Run window to directly go to device manager). You will see that there is no more exclamation mark against Bluetooth device under other devices section of Device manager and one day later Windows 10 will automatically download and install all necessary built-in drivers including Bluetooth without making you search for compatible Bluetooth drivers manually on internet which is a tedious task if you don’t know where to find them.
To check whether the driver is installed or not go to Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Device Manager and right click on Bluetooth device and select Properties. If it says the drivers are installed and working properly then you’re good to go, else follow steps given above again for fixing this issue.
This update basically adds a new Group Policy setting "Turn off Bluetooth advertising" which can be found under Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Network > Bluetooth Network Encryption. By default this policy setting is Not configured but if you enable these settings by double clicking on it, your system won’t give broadcasts about its presence through Bluetooth even though Bluetooth will still remain active. So make sure you enable this policy setting if you’re suffering from low connectivity issues because of your system broadcasting Bluetooth presence on network.
Make sure that Bluetooth is turned on in your system. Open Settings app (Win+I) and go to Devices category. There you will see an option of Bluetooth which you need to enable if its disabled by clicking on power button given beside it as shown in screenshot below:
You also need to enable two options i.e ‘Allow Bluetooth devices to find this computer’ and ‘Let Windows discover Bluetooth devices’ so click on network icon given at right corner of taskbar with arrow pointer as highlighted in red color in above screenshot.
If there are still connection issues, you can try enabling the Pairing mode option under device settings. Open Settings app, go to Devices category and click on Bluetooth device which you’re facing problem in pairing with (make sure its discoverable so that other devices can detect it). Now click on "More" button shown in blue circle pointed by arrow in screenshot below:
After clicking More, a new popup will appear where you’ll see an option of "Pairing Mode". Click On Pairing Mode and select Yes from related options i.e "Make this device visible to all Bluetooth devices for pairing only" and then click Apply/OK . After applying changes you need to turn off and on both your systems (sources and destinations) for changes to take effect.
If you’re still facing problems after trying every possible thing, the ultimate solution is to reset your Bluetooth device that needs pairing. So click on "More" option shown in blue circle and then click on Reset . After resetting select Yes from related options i.e ‘Yes, this action will erase all pairings and reconnections’. When you’re done following these instructions, turn off and on both your systems (sources and destinations) for changes to take effect. That’s it! You can now enjoy better connectivity with your devices connected through Bluetooth.
If your Bluetooth device is not listed in Device Manager, but you have updated drivers for it, then the problem might be with Service or Controller of Bluetooth . So open Services from Start menu and scroll down to find a service named "Bluetooth Handsfree Service" or "Bluetooth Support Service". Double click on it and go to its Properties. In General tab you’ll see an option of "Startup type". Make sure that it’s set to Automatic . Also check if any dependencies are also configured properly because they can cause this issue too! If there are any issues with these services make sure you fix them before trying the methods given above again.
In case this issue still persists in your Windows 10 system, you need to wait for few days since there’s a temporary workaround for this issue given by Microsoft. The workaround requires your system to be running on version 1607 or 1511 and adding location capability via Settings app.
You can re-enable your Bluetooth driver software in Device Manager and see if this causes issues with pairing. It’s not recommended by Microsoft so you should avoid unless other methods fail to help you. Following steps will enable it:
Open Device Manager from Control Panel/Start Menu-type device in search box and select it from list, or press + X key after selecting Device Manager and choose it from the resulting menu.
Expand category of Bluetooth Radios and right click on double dotted symbol (indicating that there’s another object beneath it). Select Disable .
Checkout what happens when you try to pair any device! If everything is fine then re-enable Bluetooth Driver Software to see if its causing issue with pairing devices.
To enable to see what happens when you try to pair any device! If everything is fine then re-enable Bluetooth Driver Software to see if its causing issue with pairing devices.
Open Device Manager and right click on double dotted symbol (indicating that there’s another object beneath it) and select Enable .
Restart your system and check for changes in connectivity issues with Bluetooth devices.
These methods will help you in fixing this critical issue with Bluetooth connectivity in Windows 10 until Microsoft releases a permanent fix for this problem.
In case you’re using any Bluetooth adapters from 3rd party manufacturers, try reinstalling their driver software. This will make sure that your system is using latest available drivers for your Bluetooth device. Also, Microsoft has suggested to uninstall all third-party software related to the problem and check if this fix works because there could be conflict between both of them. Following steps will help you in uninstalling the driver:
Search Device Manager on start menu or type device manager on search box after pressing Windows + S key. Select it form list of results found by search. To run Device Manager as an administrator first open its context menu (right click) and then select ‘Run as Administrator’.
Expand category of Bluetooth Radios and right click on double dotted symbol (indicating that there’s another object beneath it) and select Uninstall .
Restart your system.
Again search for Device Manager in start menu or type device manager in search box to open it again. Now you’ll see the list of devices installed in your system. Double click on Bluetooth Radio to launch its properties, switch to Driver tab and click on Update Driver option. You can also do this manually by searching for Browse my computer for driver software option after pressing Windows + Pause key.
Select ‘Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer’ option in next window, followed by Next . 6) Select Bluetooth radio device if listed or highlight it from list of devices found using ‘ Have Disk …’ option and click on Next button. You may need to browse your computer for Bluetooth drivers if you can’t see the device in this window.
Click on Close button when installation is completed successfully and restart your system again. Now check for changes in issues with pairing Bluetooth devices previously being experienced by you.
In case, you have recently upgraded your computer from Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10, there’s a high chance that your wireless adapter is not recognized properly by Microsoft’s latest OS. In such cases, it either shows up as Atheros AR9285 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter or some other name. Both of them are Wi-Fi adapters and not Bluetooth adapter.
The easiest way to fix this problem is by reinstalling wireless network adapter driver from your computer’s manufacturer website. For finding your computer’s model number, open Device Manager, click on View menu and select ‘Show hidden devices’ if you want to make it easier for you to recognize the wireless cards listed there.
Open Network Adapters tab from left hand window pane after expanding category of Network adapters . Right click on card listing under Wireless Adapter tab and select Uninstall device option. Now wait for uninstall process to complete successfully before restarting your system again.
After restarting your PC, search for HPQ6001 (Atheros AR9285) from list of drivers available in Device Manager and proceed to reinstall the same driver. If you don’t find this name, just look for your computer’s model number and search for drivers associated with it.
Restart your system once more and open network adapters category in device manager again. Now Windows 10 will automatically install updated drivers that will fix issues with wireless network connectivity on your PC. You can also try updating these drivers manually by visiting manufacturer website and searching for updated version of the same drivers if they aren’t updated so far.
There’s a high chance that this feature may get disabled after installation of some updates on Windows 10 so if you’re experiencing any kind of Bluetooth connectivity problem related to pairing devices, you can try enabling the same via Settings UI.
Type ‘Bluetooth’ in Start menu and select it from list of results found by search. Now click on icon with three simple horizontal lines present at top right corner and choose Show Bluetooth icon in notification area option. This will add a Bluetooth icon near clock and date indicator that’ll let you quickly enable or disable the service without opening settings app again and again.
If users find this feature useful, they may also like to control their PC’s wireless network adapter by adding an icon for Network icon shown in Notification Area . You can follow similar steps used above for Bluetooth icon to do so but make sure that WiFi is enabled before following the steps.
If you face issues with Windows 10 Bluetooth audio devices, you can try uninstalling and reinstalling drivers for same once more to fix the problem completely. You may also want to know that Windows 10 automatically manages wireless network adapter power consumption by disabling WiFi radios when they’re idle or not connected to any access points etc.
So if you keep your PC connected wirelessly all time even at home, disable this feature so that wireless radio remains on even when not in use. You can either turn off your router or shutdown your computer every night before sleeping because these are the times when connectivity is least required anyway.
Finally, make sure ‘ Allow Bluetooth devices to find this PC ‘ option is enabled from Bluetooth settings page. This is actually a security feature that helps your devices find your PC or laptop by broadcasting its presence over Bluetooth network.
To enable this option, open Settings app and go to Devices group of settings and click on ‘Bluetooth & other devices’ category followed by selecting ‘ Add Bluetooth or other device ‘ option present in left hand side panel. Now select all three check boxes available under the Automatically allow pairing with these devices section and you can finally use Windows 10’s Bluetooth features as expected whenever needed.
To sum up, here are five most common reasons why your computer doesn’t detect any WiFi networks: Disable Power Saving mode on your PC’s adapter. Update outdated wireless network card driver software. Remove/Reinstall WiFi adapter from Device Manager. Use Windows 10 Settings app to enable or disable Bluetooth auto connect feature. Enable ‘Allow Bluetooth devices to find this PC’ option from Bluetooth settings page of your laptop/PC.
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