Auto-connect Bluetooth headphones in Windows 7 64 bit

Question

I have a pair of Bluetooth headphones that I've successfully paired with my Windows 7 64 bit machine and audio plays through them without a hitch. On the Device Stage under the properties of the headphones in troubleshooting it shows "last connected" as "currently connected" even if I power cycle the headphones or after a reboot of my computer. So the Windows Bluetooth stack has no trouble finding them.

The problem I have is that whenever the headphones reconnect to my pc they show up as disconnected in the Sound Settings and no sound is routed to them until I manually connect them. I have to go into Sound Settings, then from the Playback tab right click on the headphones and choose the Connect option.

Is there a way to make the Sound Settings connect automatically whenever the headphones are available to Windows?

Solution 1

If you right click your volume/speaker icon by the clock and go to Playback Devices you could try setting them as the default playback device. That way, they should take over when they reconnect.

I'll admit, even with Windows 7 I find the connect/reconnect situation doesn't exactly go smoothly at all times. I liken it to docking/undocking your laptop. Most of the time it's pretty smooth. Occasionally not so much.

Solution 2

I've got a Logitech Bluetooth device, and I use a small quick-and-dirty AutoHotkey script to connect or disconnect. And I love it.

Save it as connect.ahk and adapt it to your needs. Look at the AutoHotkey documentation on how to do it. Since I've got a Lenovo Thinkpad I do not know if it works with your PC, but perhaps it may give you another idea how to solve it. Good luck!

;FHEM: Turn on Receiver Power Socket (You probably want to delete the following line!!)
;runWait, "curl.exe" "http://fhem.box:8083/fhem?cmd=set`%20music`%20on"

;Open control panel's BT device connect Window (Adapt the Address to your device specific one)
run, "C:\Program Files\ThinkPad\Bluetooth Software\BTWUIExt.exe"  /deviceAddr=c8844711xxxx

;*******************
;replace "(49)Logitech Adapter" in all following lines by the Window title depending on your device
;*******************
; Wait for the Window
WinWait, (49)Logitech Adapter,
IfWinNotActive, (49)Logitech Adapter, , WinActivate, (49)Logitech Adapter,
WinWaitActive, (49)Logitech Adapter,

;then click on "connect"/"disconnect" button (the window must be big enough to show the button), maybe you need to adapt the coordinates (?)
MouseClick, left,  778,  213
Sleep, 100

;close window
WinWait, (49)Logitech Adapter,
IfWinNotActive, (49)Logitech Adapter, , WinActivate, (49)Logitech Adapter,
WinWaitActive, (49)Logitech Adapter,
Sleep, 100
Send, {ALTDOWN}{F4}{ALTUP}

Solution 3

This was an easy fix for me. I have two bluetooth headsets (Jabra Evolve 65 and Beats Studio 2) that I use for both work and leisure i.e. music, phone calls, games etc. After first solving an issue where the devices would pair but not show up as a playback device, I was then able to solve the issue of having either of these headsets auto-connect once turned on.

The following steps are what I took in order to have my headsets auto-connect:

1. Ensure that your bluetooth headset can successfully pair and connect to your system as a playback/recording device
2. Double click the Bluetooth icon in your task bar to bring up the window with your bluetooth devices. You should see your paired headset here.
3. Right-click over your headset and select "Properties"
4. Select "Services" tab and in the list of Bluetooth Services, uncheck everything except "Handsfree Telephony". This should now auto-connect your bluetooth headset
5. If desired, open up your sound settings and set your headset as default playback and recording device.

I found that "Handsfree Telephony" was the only service that would allow my devices to auto-connect. All other options tested both in isolation and combined with Handsfree Telephony did not work for me.

Hopefully the steps above manages to save a lot of you some headaches!

Comments

[MyItchyChin]

This is the best solution I've found thus far but it's by no means ideal. There's still a delay as to when the headphones decide they want to connect however.

[manyxcxi]

I feel like that delay is pretty standard with bluetooth. My bluetooth mouse and keyboard both have a delay in activation after my computer has been off/untouched for a while.

[El8dN8]

On SU we expect high quality answers (not that your method doesn't work) but we expect everything to be spelled correctly and thoroughly detailed. Your steps lack much explanation; some may get what you are trying to say but not normal browsers. Please edit your post.

[vikrant]

can you please explain what each line is doing?

[vikrant]

this is the only solution that worked for me, thanks.