Windows 10: How to fix Windows 11 Bluetooth Microphone Not Working When Hands Free Telephony is Disabled?

Hey, I recently got a pair of Skull Candy Hesh Evo Wireless/Bluetooth headphones. Upon using them on Windows 11 I noticed that my audio quality was really bad. I did some investigating and found that whenever I was using the microphone alongside the audio so both input and output of the headphones the audio quality would decrease. I eventually found a solution which was disabling hands free telephony. This however opened up another issue. Now when I try and use both the input and output of the headphones simulatineously my output microphone doesn't register or function. I've used these hea

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How to PERMANENTLY disable Handsfree Telephony for a bluetooth device in Windows 11?

I need to disable Handsfree Telephony to make my Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones work in MS Teams (as resolved in this thread).

But, the setting keeps being enabled again - possibly during reboot or bluetooth re-connection.

Is there a way to PERMANENTLY disable the setting for this device?

Aside: I'm open to a fix in powershell if anyone knows the API calls for toggling the setting based on BT connection trigger.

 

How to PERMANENTLY disable Handsfree Telephony for a bluetooth device in Windows 11?

Hi,

I haven't found a way to switch off hands free telephony permanently - no matter what I do, it always turns itself back on.

Disabling the microphone device in sound control panel does not prevent windows 11 switching to headset mode whenever an application uses a microphone.

The solution I found was to disable the hands free driver for the device:

Using the device property page found from "Control panel" -> "Hardware and sound" -> "Devices and printers" go to the hardware page and disable the hands free system device.





After this process, even though hands free telephony turns back on, it is unable to select the hands free device and the headphones stay in audio mode, rather than headset mode.

 

Fix For Low Bluetooth Audio Quality Due To Hands Free Telephony On Windows 11.

You guys have been facing this issue with your Bluetooth audio devices like tws and headsets. Here is the perfect guide to fix that.

It was easy to disable the Hands-Free Telephony on Windows 7-10. But on arriving at Windows 11, we cannot open devices and printers as most control panels subdivisions were redirected/transitioned to Settings, whereas Windows 10 and below had.

So here is a workaround to disable that to enjoy Stereo.

If you're on Windows 7, 8,8.1 & 10, you can follow this guide: shorturl.at/ijvBS

If you're on Windows 11, Follow Me:

Note :
Windows Version: Windows 11 Dev Preview 22581.
Since It is available here, it also should be available on Stable & Beta Release. I can't assure you that the current workaround is usable on the upcoming builds if Microsoft decides to remove it.

Step 1: Open Settings & Click On Bluetooth & Devices.





Step 2: Click On " View More Devices ".





A page, as shown in the below image, appears.





Scroll Down To Find Option " More Devices & Printers Settings.





Step 3: Click On "More devices and printer settings"






It will greet you with the windows shown below.





Step 4: Double Click on the audio device.

In my case, I am using Oneplus Buds Z. It will open a new Windows of the audio device's properties, as shown in the below image.





Step 5: Click on the Services Tab.





It will greet you with the options shown above.

Step 6: Uncheck the Hands-free Telephony.





Click on apply, then Turn Off and Turn On Bluetooth.

There you go. It's been fixed.
Enjoy Stereo on your audio device.

Note:
After disabling Hands-free Telephony, you can't use the mic on video conferencing calls.

To use the mic, enable "Hands-free Telephony".
I suggest you pin the Control Panel window on the task manager or create a shortcut to enable and disable it simultaneously. Make sure to turn on & off the Bluetooth. There is no need to restart windows.

I hope this guide helped you to fix this on your machine.

Regards