How to completely remove a Bluetooth device from Win 10?

xzion said:

wouldn't normally necro a thread but i spent two weeks trawling the internet trying to sort this out and this thread is pretty high up on the search rankings, hopefully can help someone.

My symptoms:
- Previously working bluetooth speaker (UE BOOM 2 in my case) stops connecting
- Windows 10 'Bluetooth and other devices' menu shows the device as Paired
- Pressing connect makes it attempt to connect but fails then it goes back to Paired
- Remove device hides the device from the menu, but as soon as you turn bluetooth on and off, or restart the computer, the device comes back
- You pull your hair out.

Solution that worked for me after much, much unsuccessful internet trawling and one system restore:
- Download this 7 year old command line bluetooth toolset: Bluetooth command line tools - work with bluetooth from the command line
- Install it, make sure you enable the option to "Add Bluetooth Command Line Tools directory to path"
- Open Powershell
- Put your device that isn't working properly into pairing mode
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING COMMAND WILL UNPAIR ALL BLUETOOTH DEVICES
- type in "btpair -u"
- Boom, all of a sudden Windows asks me if I want to allow pairing to my device that isn't working
- Hit yes, successfully connected again
- Cry tears of joy

God I hope that helps someone else.

I'm here, crying tears of joy. Registering just to say thank you!!

There's a similar long-running discussion in the Microsoft communities that I recently came across: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...5-93e96c47f7ff
Working from the signature provided by LFLFM, I came uip the following PowerShell code, which removes devices that have paired incorrectly so the can be re-paired. Just copy & paste into PowerShell -- no downloads required!

Code:

$Source = @"
   [DllImport("BluetoothAPIs.dll", SetLastError = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
   [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U4)]
   static extern UInt32 BluetoothRemoveDevice(IntPtr pAddress);

   public static UInt32 Unpair(UInt64 BTAddress) {
      GCHandle pinnedAddr = GCHandle.Alloc(BTAddress, GCHandleType.Pinned);
      IntPtr pAddress     = pinnedAddr.AddrOfPinnedObject();

      UInt32 result       = BluetoothRemoveDevice(pAddress);
      pinnedAddr.Free();
      return result;
   }
"@

Function Get-BTDevice {
    Get-PnpDevice -class Bluetooth |
      ?{$_.HardwareID -match 'DEV_'} |
         select Status, Class, FriendlyName, HardwareID,
            # Extract device address from HardwareID
            @{N='Address';E={[uInt64]('0x{0}' -f $_.HardwareID[0].Substring(12))}}
}

################## Execution Begins Here ################

$BTR       = Add-Type -MemberDefinition $Source -Name "BTRemover"  -Namespace "BStuff" -PassThru
$BTDevices = @(Get-BTDevice) # Force array if null or single item
Do {
   If ($BTDevices.Count) {
      "`n******** Bluetooth Devices ********`n" | Write-Host
      For ($i=0; $i -lt $BTDevices.Count; $i++) {
         ('{0,5} - {1}' -f ($i+1), $BTDevices[$i].FriendlyName) | Write-Host
      }
      $selected = Read-Host "`nSelect a device to remove (0 to Exit)"
      If ([int]$selected -in 1..$BTDevices.Count) {
         'Removing device: {0}' -f $BTDevices[$Selected-1].FriendlyName | Write-Host
         $Result = $BTR::Unpair($BTDevices[$Selected-1].Address)
         If (!$Result) {"Device removed successfully." | Write-Host}
         Else {"Sorry, an error occured." | Write-Host}
      }
   }
   Else {
      "`n********* No devices foundd ********" | Write-Host
   }
} While (($BTDevices = @(Get-BTDevice)) -and [int]$selected)

Keith

xzion said:

wouldn't normally necro a thread but i spent two weeks trawling the internet trying to sort this out and this thread is pretty high up on the search rankings, hopefully can help someone.

My symptoms:
- Previously working bluetooth speaker (UE BOOM 2 in my case) stops connecting
- Windows 10 'Bluetooth and other devices' menu shows the device as Paired
- Pressing connect makes it attempt to connect but fails then it goes back to Paired
- Remove device hides the device from the menu, but as soon as you turn bluetooth on and off, or restart the computer, the device comes back
- You pull your hair out.

Solution that worked for me after much, much unsuccessful internet trawling and one system restore:
- Download this 7 year old command line bluetooth toolset: Bluetooth command line tools - work with bluetooth from the command line
- Install it, make sure you enable the option to "Add Bluetooth Command Line Tools directory to path"
- Open Powershell
- Put your device that isn't working properly into pairing mode
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING COMMAND WILL UNPAIR ALL BLUETOOTH DEVICES
- type in "btpair -u"
- Boom, all of a sudden Windows asks me if I want to allow pairing to my device that isn't working
- Hit yes, successfully connected again
- Cry tears of joy

God I hope that helps someone else.

Created an account here just to post a THANK YOU for this solution! It did help someone else!

I had a pair of Bose QC 35 Bluetooth headphones that stopped functioning with my Dell XPS 9570 out of the blue one day. I could pair the device, but it kept showing up as an "Other Device" rather than an "Audio" device, so I couldn't actually use the headphones anymore.

Tried numerous times to Remove the Bluetooth device entries from Windows (using Bluetooth Settings, Device Manager, showing Hidden Devices, as well as removing/reinstalling the Bluetooth drivers, upgrading headphone firmware, installing different Dell BIOS versions, etc.)

I've literally spent hours on Chat support with Dell remote customer service agents who were unable to resolve the issue. Because I have Premium Support, they even ended up sending out a technician to replace my entire motherboard in an attempt to resolve the issue. When that didn't work, I was convinced it was still software-related and began Googling threads on removing Bluetooth devices in a more thorough way, which led me to this thread and post.

I download and used the Bluetooth Command Line Tools as noted above with the "btpair -u" command, and immediately afterwards was able to Pair my Bose QC 35 headphones normally, with them showing up as an Audio device as expected.

I too am crying tears of joy, thank you for this tip! I hope others experiencing this issue will find it. I've asked Dell Tech Support to add this to their solution database in case other users ever have a similar problem.

Cheers!

xzion said:

wouldn't normally necro a thread but i spent two weeks trawling the internet trying to sort this out and this thread is pretty high up on the search rankings, hopefully can help someone.

My symptoms:
- Previously working bluetooth speaker (UE BOOM 2 in my case) stops connecting
- Windows 10 'Bluetooth and other devices' menu shows the device as Paired
- Pressing connect makes it attempt to connect but fails then it goes back to Paired
- Remove device hides the device from the menu, but as soon as you turn bluetooth on and off, or restart the computer, the device comes back
- You pull your hair out.

Solution that worked for me after much, much unsuccessful internet trawling and one system restore:
- Download this 7 year old command line bluetooth toolset: Bluetooth command line tools - work with bluetooth from the command line
- Install it, make sure you enable the option to "Add Bluetooth Command Line Tools directory to path"
- Open Powershell
- Put your device that isn't working properly into pairing mode
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING COMMAND WILL UNPAIR ALL BLUETOOTH DEVICES
- type in "btpair -u"
- Boom, all of a sudden Windows asks me if I want to allow pairing to my device that isn't working
- Hit yes, successfully connected again
- Cry tears of joy

God I hope that helps someone else.

Had to register to thank you! So, THANK YOU!!!!

And thank you also to @KeithM as well

xzion said:

wouldn't normally necro a thread but i spent two weeks trawling the internet trying to sort this out and this thread is pretty high up on the search rankings, hopefully can help someone.

My symptoms:
- Previously working bluetooth speaker (UE BOOM 2 in my case) stops connecting
- Windows 10 'Bluetooth and other devices' menu shows the device as Paired
- Pressing connect makes it attempt to connect but fails then it goes back to Paired
- Remove device hides the device from the menu, but as soon as you turn bluetooth on and off, or restart the computer, the device comes back
- You pull your hair out.

Solution that worked for me after much, much unsuccessful internet trawling and one system restore:
- Download this 7 year old command line bluetooth toolset: Bluetooth command line tools - work with bluetooth from the command line
- Install it, make sure you enable the option to "Add Bluetooth Command Line Tools directory to path"
- Open Powershell
- Put your device that isn't working properly into pairing mode
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING COMMAND WILL UNPAIR ALL BLUETOOTH DEVICES
- type in "btpair -u"
- Boom, all of a sudden Windows asks me if I want to allow pairing to my device that isn't working
- Hit yes, successfully connected again
- Cry tears of joy

God I hope that helps someone else.

yes it helped me too. thanks a lot.. seing a lot cry with tears of joy lol, me too..
i've given up on this, but it works .. just registered to say thank you

Xzion - huge thank you!

Like others I registered to say thanks. More and more of my devices were becoming invisible in the bluetooth pairing window and this fixed it.

I literally registered just to say thank you. I tried both solutions of Keith (the Power-Shell script) as well as the bluetooth command line stuff. Both solutions work perfectly. Could someone at Microsoft fix that sh*t PLEASE? Why do we have to copy paste code to make stuff work that should have been working for years now.

KeithM said:

There's a similar long-running discussion in the Microsoft communities that I recently came across: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...5-93e96c47f7ff
Working from the signature provided by LFLFM, I came uip the following PowerShell code, which removes devices that have paired incorrectly so the can be re-paired. Just copy & paste into PowerShell -- no downloads required!

Code:

$Source = @"
   [DllImport("BluetoothAPIs.dll", SetLastError = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
   [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U4)]
   static extern UInt32 BluetoothRemoveDevice(IntPtr pAddress);

   public static UInt32 Unpair(UInt64 BTAddress) {
      GCHandle pinnedAddr = GCHandle.Alloc(BTAddress, GCHandleType.Pinned);
      IntPtr pAddress     = pinnedAddr.AddrOfPinnedObject();

      UInt32 result       = BluetoothRemoveDevice(pAddress);
      pinnedAddr.Free();
      return result;
   }
"@

Function Get-BTDevice {
    Get-PnpDevice -class Bluetooth |
      ?{$_.HardwareID -match 'DEV_'} |
         select Status, Class, FriendlyName, HardwareID,
            # Extract device address from HardwareID
            @{N='Address';E={[uInt64]('0x{0}' -f $_.HardwareID[0].Substring(12))}}
}

################## Execution Begins Here ################

$BTR       = Add-Type -MemberDefinition $Source -Name "BTRemover"  -Namespace "BStuff" -PassThru
$BTDevices = @(Get-BTDevice) # Force array if null or single item
Do {
   If ($BTDevices.Count) {
      "`n******** Bluetooth Devices ********`n" | Write-Host
      For ($i=0; $i -lt $BTDevices.Count; $i++) {
         ('{0,5} - {1}' -f ($i+1), $BTDevices[$i].FriendlyName) | Write-Host
      }
      $selected = Read-Host "`nSelect a device to remove (0 to Exit)"
      If ([int]$selected -in 1..$BTDevices.Count) {
         'Removing device: {0}' -f $BTDevices[$Selected-1].FriendlyName | Write-Host
         $Result = $BTR::Unpair($BTDevices[$Selected-1].Address)
         If (!$Result) {"Device removed successfully." | Write-Host}
         Else {"Sorry, an error occured." | Write-Host}
      }
   }
   Else {
      "`n********* No devices foundd ********" | Write-Host
   }
} While (($BTDevices = @(Get-BTDevice)) -and [int]$selected)

Keith

xzion said:

wouldn't normally necro a thread but i spent two weeks trawling the internet trying to sort this out and this thread is pretty high up on the search rankings, hopefully can help someone.

My symptoms:
- Previously working bluetooth speaker (UE BOOM 2 in my case) stops connecting
- Windows 10 'Bluetooth and other devices' menu shows the device as Paired
- Pressing connect makes it attempt to connect but fails then it goes back to Paired
- Remove device hides the device from the menu, but as soon as you turn bluetooth on and off, or restart the computer, the device comes back
- You pull your hair out.

Solution that worked for me after much, much unsuccessful internet trawling and one system restore:
- Download this 7 year old command line bluetooth toolset: Bluetooth command line tools - work with bluetooth from the command line
- Install it, make sure you enable the option to "Add Bluetooth Command Line Tools directory to path"
- Open Powershell
- Put your device that isn't working properly into pairing mode
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING COMMAND WILL UNPAIR ALL BLUETOOTH DEVICES
- type in "btpair -u"
- Boom, all of a sudden Windows asks me if I want to allow pairing to my device that isn't working
- Hit yes, successfully connected again
- Cry tears of joy

God I hope that helps someone else.

absoluite Beast, solution worked !
Why the $%£(*$ does Windows just not do this when you ask it to.

xzion said:

wouldn't normally necro a thread but i spent two weeks trawling the internet trying to sort this out and this thread is pretty high up on the search rankings, hopefully can help someone.

My symptoms:
- Previously working bluetooth speaker (UE BOOM 2 in my case) stops connecting
- Windows 10 'Bluetooth and other devices' menu shows the device as Paired
- Pressing connect makes it attempt to connect but fails then it goes back to Paired
- Remove device hides the device from the menu, but as soon as you turn bluetooth on and off, or restart the computer, the device comes back
- You pull your hair out.

Solution that worked for me after much, much unsuccessful internet trawling and one system restore:
- Download this 7 year old command line bluetooth toolset: Bluetooth command line tools - work with bluetooth from the command line
- Install it, make sure you enable the option to "Add Bluetooth Command Line Tools directory to path"
- Open Powershell
- Put your device that isn't working properly into pairing mode
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING COMMAND WILL UNPAIR ALL BLUETOOTH DEVICES
- type in "btpair -u"
- Boom, all of a sudden Windows asks me if I want to allow pairing to my device that isn't working
- Hit yes, successfully connected again
- Cry tears of joy

God I hope that helps someone else.

Thank You Thank You Thank You!!!!
ONLY YOU!!! ONLY You solve this problem!!!!!!
others not working at ALLLL...

xzion said:

wouldn't normally necro a thread but i spent two weeks trawling the internet trying to sort this out and this thread is pretty high up on the search rankings, hopefully can help someone.

My symptoms:
- Previously working bluetooth speaker (UE BOOM 2 in my case) stops connecting
- Windows 10 'Bluetooth and other devices' menu shows the device as Paired
- Pressing connect makes it attempt to connect but fails then it goes back to Paired
- Remove device hides the device from the menu, but as soon as you turn bluetooth on and off, or restart the computer, the device comes back
- You pull your hair out.

Solution that worked for me after much, much unsuccessful internet trawling and one system restore:
- Download this 7 year old command line bluetooth toolset: Bluetooth command line tools - work with bluetooth from the command line
- Install it, make sure you enable the option to "Add Bluetooth Command Line Tools directory to path"
- Open Powershell
- Put your device that isn't working properly into pairing mode
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING COMMAND WILL UNPAIR ALL BLUETOOTH DEVICES
- type in "btpair -u"
- Boom, all of a sudden Windows asks me if I want to allow pairing to my device that isn't working
- Hit yes, successfully connected again
- Cry tears of joy

God I hope that helps someone else.

Thank you so much! My Bose Soundlink Mini 2 wasn't connecting, not even being detected by my Dell XPS 15 anymore, but this solution solved it.
Had to restart once and the it detected the speakers and connected.

...Crying tears of joy....