'Devices and Printers' is blank, hangs, empty

Anonymous
2010-01-25T21:14:27+00:00

Hi All:

I sincerely apologize if my specific problem has been solved already.  As the title indicates, when I open Orb -> Devices and printers it always shows up empty. I have tried every bluetooth related post including upgrading drivers, verifying the BT services (both) are running, the suggestion to use the IE8 registry cmd script etc.  Virtually all the posts were point at BT, so I disabled, uninstalled all drivers, re-enabled it, re-installed, etc. At each step I tried the Devices and Printers with the same results.

Adding some details: 

  1. My printers installed works prefectly
  2. My scanner installed and works perfectly
  3. 2 Phones with BT installed work perfectly including :make a call, transfer files (both ways), listen to/control music player, internet browsing via BT modem
  4. As with Devices and Printers, the Devices and Printers -> Bluetooth Devices is also empty (even while using BT successfully)
  5. This is my 4th W7HP install but my first with BT. The others have no issues in this area at all
  6. This is a brand new Asus 1201N, BT built-in, all drivers were pre-installed, Broadcom BT model, 2GB, 25GB HD, Atom 330.
  7. Drivers and Printers was empty from the first point at which the OS was configured after first power up.
  8. All of my machines have a C: for the OS and a separate D: partition labeled USERDATA. Never had a problem with this under Vista or W7. Very convenient for restoring (see below).

I AM PULLING MY HAIR OUT looking for a solution to no avail.  I use Paragon Disk Backup so I don't mind hacking my registry or other configs and am brave enough (fool hardy?) to try just about any suggestions since I can always do a full restore of the OS Partition.

Truly appreciate any feedback. Please, no "check your BT services". Been there, done that.

Regards,

Jeff

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2011-03-28T01:17:06+00:00

I just tried this and this FIX works ..

Click Start button, type "services" into the search program and files box. This brings up a list in the menu, select Services. This should open a list of local services on your system.., Find 'Bluetooth Service" and make sure it has started, right click and set to 'automatic' (mine was already set), Select "Bluetooth Support Service" and start, set to automatic (mine was set on manual) --

Really wierd. Debleena, can you please explain.

Regards,

Rakesh

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-07-10T22:41:30+00:00

    Thank you. This helped a lot

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-01-18T17:21:27+00:00

    I just tried this and this FIX works ..

    Click Start button, type "services" into the search program and files box. This brings up a list in the menu, select Services. This should open a list of local services on your system.., Find 'Bluetooth Service" and make sure it has started, right click and set to 'automatic' (mine was already set), Select "Bluetooth Support Service" and start, set to automatic (mine was set on manual) --

     

    Really wierd. Debleena, can you please explain.

     

    Regards,

    Rakesh

    Well, waves of satisfaction!

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-12-05T21:53:47+00:00

    None of the posted solutions worked.  I was finally able fix this issue by running the following batch script to clear my print queue.  (Note:  run the Windows Command Prompt as administrator', copy-paste the code below into the editor and press [Enter])

    @echo off

    echo.

    echo Purging the print queue...

    net stop Spooler

    echo Deleting all print jobs... ping localhost -n 4 > nul

    del /q %SystemRoot%\system32\spool\printers\*.*

    net start Spooler

    echo Done!

    ping localhost -n 4 > nul

    Code provided by Spiceworks.

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