Bluetooth pair and connect

How to Pair a Bluetooth Device on Windows

This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Nicole Levine, MFA. Nicole Levine is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. She has more than 20 years of experience creating technical documentation and leading support teams at major web hosting and software companies. Nicole also holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Portland State University and teaches composition, fiction-writing, and zine-making at various institutions.

The wikiHow Tech Team also followed the article’s instructions and verified that they work.

This article has been viewed 10,220 times.

Are you having trouble pairing your Bluetooth speaker, headset, printer, or other device with your PC? You’ve come to the right place. This wikiHow article will teach you how to connect any Bluetooth device to your Windows 10 or Windows 11 laptop or desktop computer. We’ll even help you troubleshoot any connection problems that arise along the way.

Pairing in Windows 10

Open the Action Center. This is the square chat bubble icon next to the date and time on the taskbar—you’ll usually find it at the bottom-right corner of the screen.

• If you don’t see a Bluetooth icon, click Expand on the Action Center. You should see it then. To add the Bluetooth icon to your Quick Actions—press the Windows key + i keys on the keyboard to open Settings, and then go to System >Notifications & actions >Quick actions >Add or remove quick actions and turn on Bluetooth. [1] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source
• If your laptop has a Bluetooth switch somewhere on its body, make sure the switch is in the On position.
• Still not seeing the icon? Find out what to do if Bluetooth still isn’t working.

• If you’re not sure how to put the device into pairing mode, check the manufacturer’s website.
• If the device is rechargeable, make sure it has a full charge before trying to pair.

• If you’re trying to pair a scanner or printer, select Add a printer or scanner instead. When Windows finds the printer or scanner, click Add device to pair.

• If you don’t see your device, its pairing mode may have timed out. Press and hold its pairing button again to make it discoverable.
• Make sure your device isn’t automatically connecting to another computer, phone, or tablet.

• If you see an error that says «Couldn’t connect,» make sure the Bluetooth device’s battery is fully charged (if applicable). You can also try turning Bluetooth off and on again to see if that helps.
• If you’ve paired to this device in the past but can’t pair now, click the device’s name under «Bluetooth & other devices» and select Remove device. Then, place the device back into pairing mode and try adding it again. This clears up a lot of problems.

Click Done when the device is connected. Now that you’ve paired this device, it will automatically pair with your PC when it’s in range.

Pairing in Windows 11

Click the Quick Settings area. To get to your Quick Settings, click the area of the taskbar where you see the network, volume, and battery icons—it’s directly to the left of the date and time. A panel of settings will appear.

• When Bluetooth is on, you’ll see «Not connected» beneath the tile unless it’s connected to a device. When a device is connected, that device’s name will appear on the tile.
• If you don’t see the Bluetooth icon, right-click anywhere in the Quick Settings area, select Edit quick settings, click Add, and then select Bluetooth.

• If you’re not sure how to put the device into pairing mode, check the manufacturer’s website.
• If the device is rechargeable, make sure it has a full charge before trying to pair.

Open your Windows Settings. You can do this by pressing Windows key + i on the keyboard, by clicking the Windows menu and selecting the gear icon, or by clicking the Quick Settings and clicking the gear icon at its bottom-right corner.

• Devices you’ve already paired with appear at the top of the «Bluetooth & devices» area. If you’re connected to a device right now, you’ll see a green dot next to its name and the word «Connected.»

• If you’re adding a printer or scanner, click Printers & scanners instead, click Add device, and wait for Windows to detect the Bluetooth printer. When found, click its name and select Add device.

• If you don’t see your device, its pairing mode may have timed out. Press and hold its pairing button again to make it discoverable.
• Make sure your Bluetooth device isn’t automatically connecting to another computer, phone, or tablet.

• If you’re pairing a Bluetooth keyboard and are asked for a pairing code, try typing the code on the Bluetooth keyboard.

• If you’ve connected to this device before but can’t connect now, try unpairing it. To do this, click the three vertical dots next to the device’s name in the «Bluetooth & devices» area and select Remove device.
• Still having trouble? Find out what to do if you can’t connect to a Bluetooth device on Windows 11.

If Bluetooth Still Isn’t Working

Check to make sure your PC supports Bluetooth. Believe it or not, some laptops and desktops don’t have Bluetooth built in. Check your computer’s specifications (you can search online for your model and «Bluetooth»). If your PC doesn’t have Bluetooth, you can get an external Bluetooth adapter that you can connect via USB. This will allow you to connect to Bluetooth.

• It could be that its battery isn’t charged or that it’s Bluetooth radio is broken.
• It’s also possible that it’s quickly pairing with another computer, phone, or tablet before your computer can find it.

• Windows 10: Open your Windows Settings and go to Update & Security >Troubleshoot >Find and fix other problems >Bluetooth and select Run the troubleshooter.
• Windows 11: Open your Windows Settings and go to System >Troubleshoot >Other troubleshooters. Click Run next to «Bluetooth.»

• On both Windows 10 and 11, click the magnifying glass on the taskbar (or click the search bar).
• Type device .
• Click Device Manager in the results.
• Click Bluetooth.
• Right-click the Bluetooth adapter (it usually has «adapter» or «radio» in its name) and select Update driver.
• Click Search automatically for updated driver software.
• If a new driver is found, it will be installed. When it’s finished, restart your computer and try to pair again.
• If Windows doesn’t find a new driver, check your PC manufacturer’s website for updated Bluetooth drivers for your PC model. Download the files from their website and double-click the driver to install it.

• Instead of selecting the Update option, right-click the name of the Bluetooth adapter, select Uninstall device, and then click Uninstall.
• Once uninstalled, shut down and restart your PC. When your PC boots back up, Windows will try to automatically install a new Bluetooth driver.
• Return to Device Manager and make sure you see your Bluetooth adapter. If you don’t, click the Action menu at the top and select Scan for hardware changes to install it now.

Expert Q&A

Tips

You Might Also Like

Why Are Your Beats Not Showing Up on Bluetooth? Here’s How to Fix It

Connect Two Bluetooth Speakers to a PC or Mac at the Same Time

Does Your PC or Mac Have Bluetooth? 4 Ways to Check

How to Use a Bluetooth Dongle on Windows or Mac

Connecting Bluetooth Headphones to a PC: Windows 10 + 11

Pair Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds on iPhone & iPad: 6 Easy Steps

How to Set Up and Use Bluetooth Devices with an iPhone

Источник

Pairing Bluetooth mobile devices in 3 steps

Nowadays this wireless technology is a common standard that allows us to connect different types of units without any cables or cords. What is Bluetooth used for? It may be used to join a mobile to a car, to join headset to our phone, to use wireless keyboard and mouse with tablet or phone, to act our phone as a modem, to connect mobile to mobile, etc. The average working distance for this technology is not more than about 10 meters so we shouldn’t move connected ones too far from each other.

Today the mobiles are very popular. The total count of them is more that people in the world. So we should know how to connect Bluetooth to the phone to stay modern.

The second device type is varied. One of the most popular wireless gadgets for mobile is a headset. Here is a manual on how to connect the Bluetooth headset unit in 4 steps. Another popular option is pairing a phone with car.

The generic main steps are

We don’t need to connect the units again in further. They automatically connect when they are in the range of each other with wireless mode turned on. Note that using modern technology can increase the level of battery utilization, so we should check the charge level on both units regularly.

Turn off the wireless mode just in case of stop usage. Remove each one from a paired list of other one to completely unpair Bluetooth devices if needed.

The most mobiles released after 2007 have this technology onboard. We may always check it through finding an appropriate setting on the one. Below are detailed pairing instructions for different types such as

How to connect Bluetooth on iPhone and iPad#

Ensure that wireless mode is on, do the same on the second unit and tap on its name in the list of available equipment. The user interface is quite the same for iPad by thanks to Apple.

Check Bluetooth passkey (or enter it if necessary) and choose “Pair” to accept the connection.

Now the mobile and the other unit are paired.

Open it details via information icon and choose “Forget this Device” to unpair the device if necessary.

Attach Bluetooth on Android phone and tablet#

Ensure that wireless technology is on in “Settings\Bluetooth” and tap on the particular available device that must be wirelessly activated too. Repeat search by “Search for devices” or similar if we can’t find a particular unit in the list.

Check passkey for Bluetooth (or enter it if necessary) and confirm the connection.

Open it details via configuration icon and choose “Unpair” to disconnect the unit. Also, we can set own local name of paired one via “Rename”.

How to connect Bluetooth on Windows Phone#

Make sure that the mode is on (look at the below picture) and get the list of available ones. The second one should be enabled too. Then find and tap on the second unit name.

Now the mobile and the other unit are paired.

Tap on device in the list and confirm deletion to unpair it in case of no need.

Источник