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
    2010-12-11T11:13:45+00:00

    Hi Gordon, Most posts here, including the OP specifically say that they can pair the device and that it works as expected. The issue the OP was having was that when they connected their headset to another device such as a mobile phone it would no longer connect automatically to their PC as there was no connect option. It sounds like you have a different issue to the OP that may be specific to your device.

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-08-25T05:54:03+00:00

    Its been more than a year and no development on this. Come on windows 7 team. I have a samsung sbh600. Windows detects and pairs with it just fine. but i cant reconnect without remove the device first then Adding the device again. can you do something. There are so many bluetooth headsets out there im sure this is a problem for most people, they just haven't posted about it.

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-10-11T02:19:21+00:00

    Same issue is still there.  Win7 with latest updates, and headphones are Sony BT-50.  I'm surprised this was not fixed in SP1.  I did find a small shortcut to work, but it is not perfect:

    When your headphones switched on, and paired with Win7, but not connected (i.e. connected to some other device that you last connected to, such as an Android phone):

    1.  Right-click bluetooth icon in system tray, choose "show bluetooth devices".

    2.  Right-click your bluetooth device, go to properties, then services tab.

    3.  Unselect 'Audio Sink', then click 'Apply'.

    4.  Select 'Audio Sink', then click 'Ok'.

    After a few seconds, you see a notification that the driver for the Audio Sink was installed, and after you must:

    5.  Right-click your bluetooth device again, go to Sound Settings.

    6.  Select 'Bluetooth Audio Renderer', and then click 'Set Default' button.

    Now audio should be directed to your bluetooth device.

    Sucks, but slightly better/faster then any other method yet...

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-10-16T21:04:37+00:00

    There is no option labeled "Sound Settings" to goto...

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