Windows 11 | No Hands free mode for bluetooth earphones

Anonymous
2021-11-04T05:17:20+00:00

Hi,

So, yesterday I upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11 and everything seemed to be working fine until I connected my bluetooth earphones.

When you connect your bluetooth earphones you expect to see two output devices, Headset (music) and Hands-Free mode (voice) but I can only see the Headset mode.

I checked the earphone properties from the Device Manager and I can see "Hands-Free telephony" in the Services tab but in the Output Devices, the hands-free mode is not visible at all.

I've tried everything from re-connecting to reinstalling drivers but nothing seems to be working.

This is preventing from attending any Meetings on apps like Google Meet or Microsoft Teams.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Regards,

Kartikey

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Devices and drivers

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-11-04T07:32:04+00:00

    Hi RottweilerX,

    I agree with you that bluetooth is a completely different technology than Windows.

    The reason I posted this here is that the bluetooth modes were working fine on Windows 10.

    As soon as I upgraded to Windows 11 on the same laptop the Headset (for video-conferencing) mode is no longer visible.

    I'm using the same earphones and the same laptop, the only thing that changed was upgrading to Windows 11.

    This makes me believe that the issue is due to Windows 11 OR I need to do something else to get this working in Windows 11 which apparently I cannot find anywhere online.

    Thanks,

    Kartikey

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-11-04T07:33:51+00:00

    Good Day Kartikey,

    I appreciate your time getting back to this thread, it is the Bluetooth driver of the laptop.

    Have a wonderful day ahead and stay safe.

    Sincerely,

    Carlo T.

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-11-04T08:03:38+00:00

    ... the only thing that changed was upgrading to Windows 11. This makes me believe that the issue is due to Windows 11 ...

    Sorry again, but that's not correct, as you will discover in time. Windows is just the train, and your problem is the passenger.

    ... OR I need to do something else to get this working in Windows 11 which apparently I cannot find anywhere online.

    Only the manufacturer of your earphones can help you. (Which is useless advice for people who buy Bluetooth devices from unknown manufacturers that don't support their products, as I learned the hard way.)

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-11-04T11:47:33+00:00

    Hi RottweilerX and Carlo TJ,

    So, uninstalling and installing the drivers did not help at all.

    I noticed an interesting thing though.

    Just to check things, I launched a Google Meet meeting and to my surprise, it was working fine.

    In the meeting settings, I could see all the modes of my bluetooth earphones.

    Now, this makes things a bit confusing for me.

    The video conferencing tool is able to detect all my bluetooth earphones modes but Windows 11 is not ? 🤔

    Thanks,

    Kartikey

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  5. Anonymous
    2021-11-04T13:34:10+00:00

    Hi,

    Got some interesting information when I listed down all the PnP devices using Powershell.

    It seems my Hands-Free mode is detected but is in Unknown state.

    Thanks,

    Kartikey

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