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Windows' bluetooth implementation is infuriating. I am falling down a rabbit-hole of ineffective solutions. Short of reinstalling windows, maybe someone here can help me out. Problem description: I was using a cheapo no-name bluetooth USB dongle on my home PC, which worked fine for my mouse, two different bluetooth headsets, and occasionally connecting to my phone or something, for a couple of years. It also sort of mostly worked fine with my Steelseries Stratus XL game controller. While trying to debug a problem with the game controller in Assassin's Creed: Origins, I was installing a manual firmware update on my Steelseries when the installer crashed. On reboot, the bluetooth dongle no longer worked for anything: mouse, audio, etc., was all gone, and Windows wouldn't even recognize the dongle was still there. Even if I switched USB port. So, I bought a new Asus USB-BT400 adapter, plugged it in, installed drivers, and things seemed fine. My mouse works, anyway. But now, using either of my bluetooth headsets is fraught. The problem seems to be that Windows still "remembers" the paired identity of each of these devices. Sometimes, I can "add a device" while a headset is in pairing mode and it'll show up; sometimes it won't. Sometimes, if one won't show up, the other will. But always, in the list of devices, both are listed (as well as the Steelseries). Additionally, audio is choppy over either device when I can get it to work. Also, the Steelseries XL still doesn't work right in AC:O, although I've traced that to probably a hardware defect in the controller so let's ignore that bit for now. Attempted fixes:Lots. Bluetooth & Other Devices (opened by double-clicking BT in the system tray)  The PLT Focus and U8I entries refuse to be removed. If I select one and click Remove device, it spins for a while with Removing device as the message, and then says Remove failed. Devices & Printers  The entries can't be removed here, either. If I select one and use (admin powered) Remove Device, I get the dialogue (are you sure?) and then... nothing happens. Not even an error message. Regedit I searched the registry for keys with "PLT Focus" in them. For example: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\BTHENUM\Dev_BCF292A35141\7&2d3b67cf&0&BluetoothDevice_BCF292A35141  I only found stuff that referenced the named bluetooth devices in the ControlSet branches. These entries have Properties I can fiddle with (that's where I changed the FriendlyName key to "PLT Focus bad", to try and see if when I attempted to pair PLT Focus it'd show up as the existing or as a new device in the UI) but I can't delete them. I get "Access Denied: an error is preventing this key from being opened" errors for the Properties subfolder, even if I change permissions on that folder to permit access to everyone. After doing some googling, it seems that devices in CurrentControlSet and the two backup controlsets, under Enum, aren't user-removable, although it's unclear to me as to why. I found it undeletable originally by trying to delete the entire key tree (e.g., Dev_BCF292A35141 and all its subfolders) which does delete the Device Parameters subfolder, The btpair utility http://bluetoothinstaller.com/bluetooth-command-line-tools/btpair.html Based on seemingly dozens of satisfied people in threads like this one on tenforums, I downloaded and used the btpair command-line utility. I've tried both btpair -u (supposedly unpairs all devices, but this didn't even unpair my bluetooth mouse) and also btpair -u -b{device MAC address} (I can get the MAC addresses of both audio devices from Devices & Printers - right-click - properties menus). In both cases the commands ran without reporting errors, but no dice. I also tried putting the old dongle back in while using a wired mouse, just in case having it in the USB slot would somehow "unlock" this poo poo but no. Maybe this screenshot will help. This is in Device Manager, with hidden devices turned on:  What a giant load of poo poo here, no doubt. Recent changes: As detailed above, poo poo started to go bad when I was loving with my bluetooth game controller. The old USB bluetooth dongle is an "SMKLink V4 LE" and part of the reason I decided not to try and fix it is that SMKLink doesn't seem to still provide updates/drivers for it. I figured a popular, well-reviewed ASUS dongle would be a better way to go. -- Operating system: Windows 10 Home, V2004, OS build 19041.746, Experience Pack 120.2212.551.0 System specs: Homebuilt. Intel Core i5-6600K @3.50GHz, MSI Z170A SLI (MS-7998) Motherboard, 16GB ram, etc. I doubt any of this poo poo matters but lemme know if you need more hardware specs Location: USA I have Googled and read the FAQ: god yes I just want to use my goddamn headphones, sometimes, not all the time, just when my wife is on a work zoom, and use my mouse, and maybe even my goddamn controller although: gently caress steelseries too.
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Jan 16, 2021 04:44
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Leperflesh posted:Maybe this screenshot will help. This is in Device Manager, with hidden devices turned on: I suppose you could backup your device manager: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/68426-backup-restore-device-drivers-windows-10-a.html and then remove all the Bluetooth stuff and let them reload and see if it fixes any of the issues.
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Jan 17, 2021 06:30
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Zogo posted:I suppose you could backup your device manager: Backing that up is a very good idea: however, the thing I'm currently struggling with is the removal part, which Windows seems doggedly determined to prevent. Is there a way to delete all this stuff that I haven't figured out?
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Jan 17, 2021 06:38
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Leperflesh posted:Backing that up is a very good idea: however, the thing I'm currently struggling with is the removal part, which Windows seems doggedly determined to prevent. Is there a way to delete all this stuff that I haven't figured out? If you have old system restore points you could try restoring back to before this issue happened. If that's not an option then disconnecting the problem Bluetooth peripherals and then right-clicking on individual Bluetooth devices (in device manager) and selecting uninstall device should remove stuff. Depending on how much needs to be deleted it could get a little tedious.
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Jan 17, 2021 07:47
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Ok well! I was able to Uninstall Device from device manager, both U8I and PLT Focus. U8I still shows as Paired in Bluetooth & other devices, but at least PLT Focus is gone now, and they're both gone from Devices & Printers. That feels like progress! I don't have time to test and see if I can consistently pair at least the PLT Focus now, but I'm hopeful. e. and their registry entries are also gone!!!
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Jan 17, 2021 07:59
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