Ubuntu 18.04 - cannot turn bluetooth on

Question

After installing Ubuntu as a dual-boot to Windows 10, everything looks fantastic, but one thing is a bit irritating... I cannot turn Bluetooth on. My laptop is a Samsung NP350E7C-S04PL.

Solution 1

Unblocking bluetooth using rfkill command solved this issue for me

First block bluetooth completely : rfkill block bluetooth

Then unblock it : rfkill unblock bluetooth

Note: If you don't have rfkill package installed in your system, then install it using sudo apt install rfkill.

Solution 2

Welcome to Ubuntu! I'm assuming you have the latest version 18.04, so first you need to find your Bluetooth settings which you can either go to via the main Settings menu, or direct from your panel search:

This will bring up your Bluetooth settings:

From here you can enable/disable Bluetooth. It will scan for any nearby devices, then you can click on them to pair.

If you have problems doing any of this, then it's likely that you've accidentally disabled the Bluetooth switch on your laptop, in which case it won't work in Windows either.

Update - try this:

sudo echo 'AutoEnable=true' >/etc/bluetooth/main.conf && /etc/init.d/bluetooth restart

Comments

[velix]

Please add the output of sudo rfkill list all. If you don't have rfkill installed, just install it: sudo apt install rfkill

[Helly]

it says: 0: hci0: Bluetooth soft blocked: no, hard blocked: no

[Nigini]

Updating the module as described here makes sense: medium.com/@overcode/… I have done it and after rebooting I have not had problems when playing with "bluetooth scenarions" (like hibernating computing with it on/off, headset connected and not, audio streaming and not.) I guess it is too early to say this solved the problem, but it is promising.

[Goahnary]

My issues resolved after adding my user to the bluetooth group. sudo adduser [username] bluetooth. This may have not been the answer but documenting my experience for others to try.

[Helly]

Hi! Problem is I can't turn this button "on". It's off and when I try to "switch" it to on, it thinks for a long time, then it's "on", but still not working/disabled. When I access the settings again - it's "off". It worked on Windows, and not working now...

[JimDeadlock]

Have a look at /etc/bluetooth/main.conf - it should have this (uncommented) at the end - AutoEnable=true

[Helly]

"no such file or catalog"... hmm, probably I do something wrong...

[Helly]

when I type the command You wrote, it says "no access".

[Hayko Koryun]

@Helly try doing sudo su and then the command (without the sudo in the beginning since you don't need it anymore)

[JimDeadlock]

@Helly you should copy the command I gave you and paste it into your terminal (CTRL+SHIFT+V), it will prompt you for your password (when you type it you won't see anything appear on screen). When you're done try your bluetooth again.

[Karavana]

This did not work on me either. typing the command wont change anything

[Przemysław Czechowski]

@HaykoKoryun or just do sudo vim /etc/bluetooth/main.confand check manually if AutoEnable=true is present and add it if not. And then run the second part of the command.

[Amreesh Tyagi]

Worked for me. Thanks

[chimbo]

This also worked for me - but not on the first try. I tried JimDeadlock's suggestions, restarted my laptop, and ran sudo service bluetooth restart several times. Bluetooth still refused to turn in and kept hanging when I tried to do so. So then I did Sparkzz's solution, and still nothing. Then I ran sudo rfkill block bluetooth, restarted my laptop, then ran sudo rfkill unblock bluetooth and then sudo service bluetooth restart one more time. Bluetooth had successfully turned on after that. (I'm on a Dell XPS 13 9350)

[Sunit Gautam]

Thanks, worked fine!