Windows 10: My bluetooth headphones aren't connecting, but my device says they are. How do I connect...

My Bluetooth headphones aren't connecting to my device, but my device says they are connected. Every time I turn my headphones on, a message pops up for me to pair them, but it says my headphones are an unfamiliar device.

:)

 

Windows 10 says bluetooth headphones are connected but also not connected

This is one of those nightmare issues where it seems to only be a problem between one computer and one device. The headphones connect just fine on other windows 10 machines, and other bluetooth headphones connect just fine to this computer.

Details:

Upon adding the device in bluetooth, windows says the headphones are connected, but the headphones do not indicate they are connected. The headphones are listed with three separate entries in the bluetooth settings window, under input devices, audio, and unspecified, but this is also the case on the computer where the headphones work just fine. In playback devices, the headphones are listed, but show as disconnected. Selecting "connect" does nothing.

In Devices and printers, the headphones show as connected and troubleshooter finds no problems. If the devices were paired by selecting the available devices listing that the headphone instructions say to select, the right-click menu does not show the "control" option. If paired by selecting the other listing, the control option will be there, but the only option will be to use the device as a proximity lock. Also pairing this way will cause the default windows 10 bluetooth settings window to minimize instantly whenever opened until the device is removed.

Steps already taken:

Used both device manager and a driver utility to check for for driver updates, uninstalled bluetooth devices and drivers and reinstalled, ran sfc /scannow, restarted pc and re-paired headphones numerous times.

 

Cannot connect to bluetooth headphones after upgrade to Win10


I upgraded my Lenovo W530 running Win7 Pro 64 bit to Windows 10. After the upgrade I can no longer connect to my bluetooth headphones which worked before the upgrade. The bluetooth radio is on. When I click Connect in the Action Center it shows that the headphones are connected but they are not. The headphones (actually my hearing aids) play a notification sound when a bluetooth connection is made and I never hear that sound. If I play music the sound goes to the speaker, not my headphones. I have removed the headphones and repaired them. I have checked that all of the bluetooth device drivers are up to date in Device Manager. I would really appreciate any suggestions to solve this problem. Thanks.

 

Bluetooth Headphones Connect but no headphones output Device

Hello, MazR

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

It looks like you're experiencing an issue where your Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones connect to your Asus Notebook via Bluetooth but the headphones do not appear as an output device in the sound settings. Since you mentioned that the headphones work fine on other devices and have worked on this laptop before, it seems the issue is with the laptop settings or drivers.



Here are a few steps you could try to resolve the issue:

1. First open Windows Settings - go to the Bluetooth devices tab - delete the pairing information for Sony WH-1000XM4 - then turn off your Windows Bluetooth functionality.
   
2. Check for other connected Bluetooth devices around you, such as mobile phones or other mobile devices with Bluetooth functionality. Go into these settings to turn off Bluetooth, which should allow your Bluetooth headset's communication channel to come out to Windows.
   
3. Based on previous experience, if a Bluetooth headset is connected to more than two devices, the communication channel will be occupied, but this depends on the communication channel reserved for the headset by the hardware manufacturer.
   
4. Go back to the Windows side, restart the device, and turn on the Bluetooth function. Follow the steps for headphone pairing in Sony's manual to start pairing. After successful pairing, check whether it can be selected as the output device normally.
   

Feel free to let me know the status.



Chandy |Microsoft Community Support Specialist