"Allow a device to connect" is greyed out, bluetooth

Anonymous
2011-10-26T15:52:46+00:00

I am unable to connect any device to the laptop through bluetooth, even though I've used the feature before.

When I switch the bluetooth on and right click on the bluetooth icon - "Allow a device to connect" is greyed out.".

I'm using Windows 7, 64 bit. Any suggestions...?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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Anonymous
2014-11-21T22:55:10+00:00

HOW TO PAIR/CONNECT A BLUETOOTH SPEAKER TO LAPTOP/PC/WINDOWS 7 SOLVED....

Bought a Bletooth speaker ages ago, it is good for what it is and managed to get it paired up with all my other devices - tablet, phone but have never been able to connect it to my Sony Vaio laptop - would always pair then never be able to connect it. Here's how I got it to work..

I decided to start afresh and delete all Bluetooth devices and start again.

Make sure you have your computer Bluetooth turned on

Down in the bottom right tool bar right click on the Bluetooth icon

Click on Join a Personal Area Network

Opens a new Window in Devices and printers

Turn on your Bluetooth Speaker to discover mode

Click Add a Device

Your speaker should show up

DO NOT CLICK NEXT.....

INSTEAD A MESSAGE SHOULD POP UP FROM THE TOOLBAR SAYING A DEVICE IS ASKING TO CONNECT

CLICK THIS MESSAGE

it will then ask you to add a pairing number to connect ( add the default number if your speaker has one refer to manual)

In this case the XMI X-Mini WE does not come with one so I put in 0000

Worked!!

Paired

Now click on Start - Devices and Printers and you should see the speaker XMI X-Mini WE

Right click it and click control

Click connect......

BOOM paired and working

Dont know how or why its working but I an now listening to music via my Bluetooth Speaker.

Now I now this may not work for all but This was driving me nuts and hope it at least works for some..

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-04-22T09:08:19+00:00

    Assigning COM ports (as outlined in the answer above) seems to be a key part of the installation of Bluetooth devices.

    You can find out which COM ports are free by running Device Manager and:

    1.Right-click on any Serial Device  and chose Properties.

    2.In the Properties window, click the Port Settings tab, then Advanced.

    3.In the window that opens, you will see alist of the COM ports in use; note the port already assigned to that device will not be marked as assigned.

    This list of assigned ports seems to build up over time and not be properly freed up as devices are uninstalled. You can set which ports Windows sees as free by editing the Registry - noting as always that editing the Registry can corrupt it and make your system unbootable.

    The key is:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\COM Name Arbiter

    The value is the hex representation of binary bits set as flags:

    1 = assigned for the COM port represented by that bit position

    0 = free for that port

    So if the value is 03 00 00 00...

    Then COM ports 1 and 2 (lowest 2 bit positions in the LHS word set on, binary/hex value 3)

    are assigned, the remaining ports are free.

    To install my Bluetooth phone, I set the values as above as I have USB to serial convertors

    set up as COM1 and COM2.

    After the install, this value is 7F, indicating that COM1 thru COM7 are now assigned;

    both Device Manager (as above) and the Bluetooth device properties confirm this.

    I still have the problem that the bluetooth phone settings are often lost on reboot (ie the phone is greyed out)  but setting the COM ports this way ALWAYS works to re-install it.

    Any solutions to the problem of losing the settings on startup?

    Windows 7 tries to connect to the phone on startup if bluetooth is on;

    can this be turned off?

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-08-22T12:32:10+00:00

    Just install the right software from its maker, is not driver

    Find out from computer driver set

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-08-25T14:20:52+00:00

    I am using the original software from Nokia for this phone, most recent version,

    with "Devices and Printers" add a device under Windows 7 SP1.

    The installation works and I can connect to the phone.

    However sooner or later the settings are lost, I reset the assigned COM ports and re-install.

    I don't know why the settings are not maintained.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-11-27T04:30:17+00:00

    This did not work for me.  No message ever shows up in my toolbar asking to connect.  I waited but nada.  I have Win7.  I am attempting to connect to my Sony bluetooth speakers.  Its not going well.

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