8 ways to Fix Bluetooth Not Working in Windows 10

Imagine this. You’re lying down on your bed, with the comfort of being wrapped up in your blanket. You’re done with whatever you should (or procrastinated your work to tomorrow) and you are ready to wind down, call it a day. But not before some relaxation time. Of course, you deserve it, you’ve been working so hard, dealing with your hectic daily life. Maybe you’ll connect your Xbox controller to your laptop and bang a game of FIFA or kill some people in CoD, or you’ll just connect your speakers or Bluetooth headset to get ready for some Netflix and chill. But, you get confused, because nothing is connecting to your laptop! You open the settings and an error message pops up, blatantly staring at you through your screen: “Bluetooth Not Working”.

Nobody wants to be caught up in this situation, right? But you can’t help it if it does happen to you. It can happen to anyone, whether it’s because of a Windows 10 update, or something else. Bluetooth is prevalent in almost all wireless electronic devices, but just like any other technology, Bluetooth does have certain issues regarding its use. As the technology advances, more issues pertaining to Bluetooth are bound to pop up. Luckily, most issues are easy to deal with.

So, we bring to you a simple and easy guide to make your laptop error free so you can get back to what you were doing in a moment. Read along for some quick fixes to make things right!

< >Run the bluetooth troubleshooterThis is a no-brainer, and if this works for you then lady luck has been kind to you because this is an automatic fix. It lets the system take care of itself.

< >Select the Start button, then select Settings  > Update & security  > Troubleshoot.Open Troubleshoot settings.Under Find and fix other problems, select Bluetooth > Run the troubleshooter.Remove and Add the deviceAre you trying to connect some device that was already paired once to your laptop? Is it not being detected by your laptop?

< >Go to the Control Panel. Click Hardware and Sound and Bluetooth Devices.Select the device that's not working and click Remove.Click Add and press the reset button on the device.Select My device is set up and ready to be found check box and click Next.When the Bluetooth device is found, select it, click Next and follow the rest of the wizard.Allow Bluetooth devices to connect to this computerIs there a possibility that your laptop does not allow Bluetooth devices to be connected to itself? Make sure you have allowed this. Try the steps below:

< >Go to Control Panel. Click Hardware and Sound and Bluetooth Devices.Click the Options tab.Make sure the “Allow Bluetooth devices to connect to this computer” check box is selected. 

< >Your Bluetooth speaker might be paired with your PC but not connected.Are you trying to connect your Bluetooth speaker to your laptop to play music? Many times, our computers are paired with the device, but it’s not connected. Instead of pulling your hair and crying about your problem, try this fix:

< >Make sure your Bluetooth speaker is on.On the far right of the Windows taskbar, press and hold (right-click) Volume, and then select Sound.On the Playback tab, select the Bluetooth speaker, press and hold (or right-click) it, and then select Connect.Select your Bluetooth speaker, and then select Set default. Music should play on your Bluetooth speaker. Now you can Netflix and chill. Wasn’t that big of a problem, was it? *wink wink*

If your problem still hasn’t been resolved, hang on tight because the easy stuff is over. Now you have to work a little.

< >Configure Service to Resolve Bluetooth not workingFor Bluetooth to work, the Bluetooth, Bluetooth Device Monitor, Bluetooth OBEX Service and the Bluetooth Support Services should run normally. You can try checking if they are running by following these steps:

< >Step 1. Press Windows + R to launch the Run dialog boxStep 2. Type services.msc and then hit Enter to open Service ManagerStep 3. Click Start Service on services related to Bluetooth.Update your device driversDo you have the latest version of all your drivers related to Bluetooth? Make sure that your system is up to date by following these steps:

< >Press Win + X and then select Device Manager.Click on the drop-down menu for Bluetooth and update all the drivers.Clean up Malware or Programs that might be stopping your Bluetooth from workingMaybe your device has been infected by malware which is causing Bluetooth to not function properly. You try entering Windows in the Safe Mode or use some anti-malware software to fix this. For Windows 10, Windows Defender is a good tool and usually works. If it doesn’t work, try some 3rd party software that you trust.

There may be some bugs that cause the Windows 10 Bluetooth malfunction. Check the programs or software you’ve installed recently and uninstall such problematic programs or software.

If you are still stuck up in this situation, you should try this next fix which should work for most of the cases.

< >Restore your systemShould all of the above methods fail, you should consider this option. If Bluetooth on your device has stopped working after a certain update, try rolling back to your previous OS. Here’s how you can proceed:

< >Click Win + I to open Settings.Follow the path Update & Security > Recovery > Advanced startup > Restart now > Troubleshoot.Select the Go back to the previous build option.Here you can make your choice which Windows version you want to go back and just follow the on-screen tutorials to complete the rollback which could help to fix Windows 10 Bluetooth not available, Bluetooth losing connection or other Bluetooth issues.

I hope this article has been informative and quick enough for you to work something out and resume whatever you were trying to do. Please do share and comment if our fix works, and comment in the section below if none of these worked for you, we can try and work things out.