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
    2022-11-16T00:21:20+00:00

    FIXED for me.

    I simply had to toggle "Handsfree Telephony" as mentioned above, but I had to UNCHECK it.

    And, under windows11, I had to dig for the "Services" menu where this property resides.

    It's buried under Settings -> Bluetooth & Devices -> Devices -> More devices and settings -> WH-1000XM4 -> Services

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-10-10T06:01:30+00:00

    I got a fancy Surface Headphone with the same issue. Can Microsoft start solving this issue instead of blaming device makers in this case?🤷‍♂️

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-01-17T20:54:13+00:00

    Hey,

    from my experience, this does not only affect bluetooth:

    I am using a Logitech Zone Wireless headset which is connected via the Logitech USB dongle. On Windows 10, the headset had great audio quality when listening to normal system audio and had reduced audio quality when in calls.

    This is done automatically and I don't even have an option to choose a profile.

    On Windows 11, the headset always has reduced audio quality which is alright for video calls, but renders it unusable for any other task. Unfortunately, this led me to downgrade to Windows 10 again. Would appreciate a quick solution from Microsoft.

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-01-12T12:38:36+00:00

    Thanks for the suggestions guys but nothing seems to be working.

    Microsoft really needs to address this and bring back the separate options.

    Thanks,

    Kartikey

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  5. Anonymous
    2021-12-01T09:41:35+00:00

    Hi Joseph,

    Thanks for this Enlightening! It's not a bug, it's a feature :-) ! Unfortunately this "feature" does not work for me.

    The Bluetooth headeset is set as the default communication device: Does not help....

    Current workaround: use bluetooth headset with cable!

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