Connected Bluetooth Headphones don't appear as Playback device in Windows 10

I've been struggling with this for a while. Updated all drivers I could, no luck. Headphones connect and pair successfully, appear in manager, show all services correctly, but don't appear as a playback device. Any help would be appreciated.

Here are the details:

Windows 10 build 17127

Headphones QC12 with AptX

Killer Wirelesss Bluetooth

Screenshots:

reflog

Posted 2018-04-03T09:34:40.733

Reputation: 121

Let me rephrase, I might've been unclear. I am connecting my headphones to the PC, so I could play sound FROM pc TO headphones. – reflog – 2018-04-04T13:32:56.497

Let me ask again, what happens when you play something on your PC? Does it play from the headphones? – Ultrasonic54321 – 2018-04-04T13:38:30.103

@PimpJuiceIT - tried the unplug - full uninstall - plug, same result. And yes, the last screenshot shows all sound devices (disabled and unplugged). The headphones don't appear there :( – reflog – 2018-04-05T20:17:32.027

Okay, great.... Can you tell the make and model of the computer? Perhaps the motherboard if it's a custom built PC but otherwise the make and model if you bought from a specific vendors e.g. Dell, HP, etc.? – Pimp Juice IT – 2018-04-05T21:29:42.610

Try this: Plug in the headphones, right-click the speaker icon, click Playback devices, right-click the default speakers and select Show disabled devices and Show disconnected devices. If your headphones now appear, right-click them and select Enable. – harrymc – 2018-04-06T09:53:03.180

@PimpJuiceIT - it's Sager 9758-S a laptop. – reflog – 2018-04-07T12:47:38.300

@harrymc - These are bluetooth headphones. Nothing to plug in. – reflog – 2018-04-07T12:47:44.153

What happens if you try it without plugging while they are paired ? – harrymc – 2018-04-07T18:55:12.823

Did the above procedure help enable the headphones as playback device? – harrymc – 2018-04-09T09:03:38.650

No, this is exactly the scenario I described in the question. Bluetooth headphones are paired and connected, but not "playback device" appears to be selected as output. – reflog – 2018-04-09T11:01:36.200

Did you set Show disabled devices and Show disconnected devices? If you did and it didn't help, then your device driver does not support it. – harrymc – 2018-04-09T12:46:53.413

Answers

I encountered the same problem with Win 10 and my dell computer/LG Bluetooth speaker. I accidentally found the way to resolve the problem by referring to the answer from the previous contributor Dlight202.

2 simple steps:

In Start , search for "devices and printers", found your device (speaker)
Right click to show properties, under Services, check "audio sink", click "apply" then the speaker works.

I'm not sure if it works for all speakers but it works for mine.

enter image description here

Pan Yixin

Posted 2018-04-03T09:34:40.733

Reputation: 41

I just wanted to say thank you!!! This solved my problem! I was having with my Bluetooth in-ear headphones for the last week or two and was thinking of just tossing them. You saved them! Thank you! – Justin M – 2019-04-02T14:04:31.890

The usual procedure is :

If wired, plug in the headphones. If Bluetooth, pair and ensure they are visible in Bluetooth Neighborhood.
Right-click the speaker icon and click Playback devices
Right-click the default speakers and select Show disabled devices and Show disconnected devices.
If your headphones now appear, right-click them and select Enable.

If your headphones are still unusable, then the problem is with your driver. It may be incapable of functioning as a playback device. Search for the right software, or contact the Support of the manufacturer. If nothing works, change headphones.

Feb 2020 Update: In Windows ver. 1909, the "Playback devices" option has been removed from the speaker icon. Now, you must:

Right-click the speaker icon and click "Open Sound Settings"
In the "Related Settings" section on the RHS, Open "Sound Control Panel". This is the original playback devices panel.

harrymc

Posted 2018-04-03T09:34:40.733

Reputation: 306 093

Headphones are unavailable in the list. atheros qca61x4 (my bluetooth chip) is fully supported by Windows, so i doubt that's the issue – reflog – 2018-04-12T08:05:44.730

Your problem is with these particular headphones and their implementation. This procedure is the only one I know for this problem. If it doesn't work, then there is a problem, either with the hardware or the driver. The Support of the manufacturer might be the only one capable of offering more help. – harrymc – 2018-04-12T08:38:06.533

The thing is - I have another headphones that have the same issue but I also have a Linux system dual boot in which they work, so I know it's not the chip... – reflog – 2018-04-12T10:28:19.753

It's the interface between the headphones and Windows, normally the the driver. – harrymc – 2018-04-12T10:34:43.657

I just had this situation. BT device was connected but under playback none of the services related to bluetooth were available.
Resolving steps
-- restart all bluetooth services
---Switch off bluetooth switch on laptop ( or else disable / enable bluetooth ) hardware
and then it showed up under playback devices . MS has a worst BT interface . Crappy. Is there a 3rd party BT manager out there?

user1874594

Posted 2018-04-03T09:34:40.733

Reputation: 285

Have you tried uninstalling and re-installing your Bluetooth adapter?

If so then try the following steps:

Remove QCY-QY12 from Bluetooth
Hold the power button while charging until you see the LED flash three times.
Unplug and power the headphones.
Try pairing again.

Dillon Skaggs

Posted 2018-04-03T09:34:40.733

Reputation: 1

yes, tried that procedure. no dice – reflog – 2018-04-12T08:04:15.133

Try this https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-hardware-winpc/bluetooth-headsets-paired-but-not-connected-not-in/fd0ffd19-7528-4d7e-b1c3-a739cb24257c

– Dillon Skaggs – 2018-04-18T16:21:12.400

There are two solutions that I found

Solution one : try to install Bluetooth Suite Win 7 & from Atheros. It can be searched and downloaded online for win 7 and lower.

Solution two : buy a bluetooth 4.0 dongle and connect to your headset.

There is a reason for it but I am not a real tech. Anyways hope people like me not to get frustrated anymore.

HaRiver

Posted 2018-04-03T09:34:40.733

Reputation: 1

Welcome to Super User. Welcome to Super User. Please read How to Recommend Software then [edit] your answer to include at least the minimum required information (the items in bold). Posts without this information may be subject to deletion. Thanks for contributing.

– I say Reinstate Monica – 2018-12-23T12:31:45.943

I recently had a similar issue with my windows 10 laptop. My bluetooth headset would connect, but then would not appear as a playback device in my sound manager.

The bluetooth device used a Qualcomm Atheros driver. I tried uninstalling, using old drivers, the latest dell supported driver, third party atheros drivers, but nothing was working.

The headset would connect okay, but then afterwards during enumeration, it didn't seem to enumerate correctly. What I found is that when I looked in devices and printers and then at the properties for my headset, and hardware tab, there was no sound type device functions associated. There were however, 3 virtual bluetooth types, that when I right clicked to properties, were associated with the atheros driver.

When I uninstalled the bluetooth driver, the generic microsoft bluetooth driver would associate, but the same virtual bluetooth types were still showing up as device functions after enumerating, and they were still associated with the atheros driver. I had to remove the atheros drivers inf files from windows 10 driverstore by running the pnputil from command line.

First to search the listed drivers to find the ones related to bluetooth

pnputil -e > C:\Users\<username>\Desktop\driver_list.txt

Then after searching the list, delete the ones with the appropriate oem number

pnputil.exe -d oem<NUMBER>.inf

After this, when using the generic windows bluetooth driver the device re-enumerated and then the correct hardware device functions became available.

good luck

Dlight202

Posted 2018-04-03T09:34:40.733

Reputation: 1

I had a very similar issue with my bluetooth headphones and dell XPS 13 laptop. I tried just about everything that is frequently mentioned, and finally fixed it just now!!

What worked for me was to install an older Windows 8.1 bluetooth driver from the dell support site. Apologies if this is only applicable to dell laptops, but it may not be. Regardless other people may find this solution helpful.

This solution was originaly posted by 'cacahahacaca' on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/a4e6ry/bluetooth_headphones_dont_work_with_xps_13/

Jarryd

Posted 2018-04-03T09:34:40.733

Reputation: 1

My Dell Latitude (originally Win 8 upgraded to Win 10) would pair and connect with Bluetooth headphones and, after much tweaking with drivers and settings, would show the headphones in the playback devices list but never actually work. The built-in Bluetooth module was 3.0 and rather than buying a $25 replacement and disassembling most of the laptop to swap it out, I bought a $10 USB 4.0 adapter. I uninstalled the internal module, plugged in the new one, and both sets of my Bluetooth headphones connected and worked immediately.

David

Posted 2018-04-03T09:34:40.733

Reputation: 1

I had the same issue as described above happen to me after a windows update. The solution was to disable the Absolute Volume feature in the registry. None of the other tricks described above did the job.

Please find the instructions here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-hk/help/14169/windows-10-fix-bluetooth-problems

Scroll down to "Troubleshoot problems with Bluetooth accessories" click on "Audio"

Just in case Mircosoft takes the side down, here is the command for the command line:

reg add HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Bluetooth\Audio\AVRCP\CT /v DisableAbsoluteVolume /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f" (disclaimer: modify your registry at your own risk)

tobias

Posted 2018-04-03T09:34:40.733

Reputation: 1

I've solved this with a mix of the above suggestions.
My PC is a Dell XPS15, Win 10, trying to setup a Peaq PPA20BT.

Downloaded Win 8.1 64bit bluetooth drivers from Dell, file name is "9530_Network_Driver_74FK3_WN64_6.30.223.259_A01.EXE" and the link to DELL is.
Restared bluetooth service
Paired BT device again (it asked me for the PIN, never did before, good sign) and finally it appears in the playback devices list.

Hope it helps.

Andrew

Posted 2018-04-03T09:34:40.733

Reputation: 1

I've solved with a mix of the above suggestions My pc is a Dell XPS15, win 10, triyng to setup a Peaq PPA20BT - downloaded Win 8.1 64bit bluetooth drivers from Dell, file name is 9530_Network_Driver_74FK3_WN64_6.30.223.259_A01.EXE link is https://www.dell.com/support/home/uk/en/ukbsdt1/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=74fk3&oscode=wb64a&productcode=xps-15-9530

restared bluetooth service
paired BT device again (it asked ne for the PIN, never did before, good sign) and finally it appears in the playback devices list

Hope it helps

Andrew

Posted 2018-04-03T09:34:40.733

Reputation: 1

restared bluetooth service
paired BT device again (it asked me for the PIN, never did before, good sign) and finally it appears in the playback devices list

Hope it helps

Andrew

Posted 2018-04-03T09:34:40.733

Reputation: 1