How to reconnect to a already paired bluetooth A2DP headset?

Anonymous
2009-12-03T13:50:48+00:00

I use a bluetooth stereo headset with my Laptop running Windows7/Fedora 12 and also with my mobile phone and with my ipod. I want to connect my headset to one of above devices at a time.

I have paired my headset with all of above devices (Windows 7, Fedora 12, my mobile and my ipod). Suppose I've currently connected my headset to the ipod and now I want to use it with my mobile. All I have to do is disconnect headset from ipod and connect it to my mobile. (The 'connect' and 'disconnect' facilities are there in both my ipod and mobile).

Suppose now I want to use the headset with Windows 7. (it's already paired and shown under Bluetooth Devices). Surprisingly in windows 7 there's no way of connecting to a already paired headset. (when you right-click on the headset icon under bluetooth devices there's no 'connect' options.). Now one might ask why don't you restart the headset? But it'll never work since headset will try to connect to the last device it connected. (in this case my mobile phone). Only way I can connect my headset to Windows 7 now is putting the headset back into pairing mode, deleting the headset from windows, and re pair it. This will take a lotof time and this will also install drivers for four bluetooth profiles headset supports. (A2DP, AVRCP, handsfree, headset). (This will also create a system restore point to make things slower).

Similar to my mobile phone and ipod in Fedora linux it's just a matter of right clicking bluetooth icon and selecting 'connect'. I have not used windows for a long time and may be I miss something very obvious or the way Windows 7 bluetooth works is very frustrating.

I use Windows 7 professional in a Dell Inspiron laptop. The bluetooth stack used is the one supplied with Wndows 7.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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Anonymous
2010-07-20T14:39:16+00:00

Hi Jeff,

Reconnecting using Playback Devices works for reconnecting an already paired A2DP Bluetooth Headset to your PC, per the OP. Headsets are usually "dumb" in the respect that you cannot ask them to connect to a specific device, they just try to reconnect to the last device they connected to. Using "Playback Devices" gets around this by getting your computer to ping the device and ask it for a connection.

It sounds like you're having a totally different issue to the OP, namely that you can't get your android phone to connect to your PC after you've paired it. It's probably worth starting a new thread on that issue as it is completely separate to reconnecting "dumb" devices.

Apologies if I've misunderstood you.

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-03-29T23:29:14+00:00

    Excellent find Darkclad, this is obviously the best way to reconnect an already paired device... I opened the Bluetooth settings but never thought of clicking the audio tab.... indeed why bury it so deep ? An afterthought maybe, somebody suddenly woke up too late, but in the end, why should MS make it simpler, after all people are used to loose incredibly long time periods getting around Window's whims (all Windows), that's what one discovers when switching to OSX or even Linux, much much less time lost to get things done.... once you know the system.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-03-30T00:10:56+00:00

    MDS, you should try this:

    Darkclad's post on January 26, 2010...

    :( Well there is a way to re-connect :( BUT it is a hassle too.

    1. Right click on bluetooth icon on status bar
    2. Click Open Settings
    3. Select Audio tab
    4. Turn on your device
    5. Select what you need i.e. headset or earphone and click connect

    WHY THE #$#@ THIS CAN NOT BE SIMPLIER !!!!!!

    STUPIDITY

    Whoever coded this in Microsoft deserves Shnobel Prize of the Year.

    MDS: this worked for me !!!

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-05-02T18:00:14+00:00

    I have {less than 2 weeks), Window 8.

    I have paired the bluetooth device. But when I follow the steps above, I'm not seeing the device in there. Only the installed speakers.

    Help!

    Thanks, Sporttrac986

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-08-11T12:25:13+00:00

    The easiest work-around for this MS mess that I have found, is to open Devices and Printers and just right-click drag the bluetooth headset/speaker icon to the start button and pin it. That way all I have to do is to turn on my bluetooth headset, open the start menu and click the shortcut. All this assuming you've installed the driver and paired the device with windows of course.

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