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Cannot get Plantronics bluetooth headset to appear as playback or recording device in Control Panel --> Sound in Windows 7 using Lenovo ThinkPad

Anonymous
2014-05-03T20:45:49+00:00

I installed a Plantronics Voyager Legend UC bluetooth headset to my work provided Lenovo ThinkPad laptop running Windows 7. The headset shows up as a device in Control Panel --> Devices and Printers. However, it does not show as as a device in the Control Panel --> Sound Playback or Recording tabs.  I need the headset to be the playback device for my VoIP work phone. 

I tried to delete the headset and reinstall it but I cannot delete it in Control Panel --> Devices and Printers. When I locate it and right-click, delete or uninstall is not an option. I went to Control Panel --> Device Manager --> Sound video and game controllers, found it there and uninstalled it. I then unplugged the headset USB connector and turned the headset off and rebooted. I then plugged the UBS connector back in and turned the headset on. THe PC started to reinstall the drivers but the headset still did not appear in the sound tabs.

I have been all over the internet trying to find a solution to this problem and so far have not been successful. I've spent hours on this and it should not be that difficult but it has turned out to be. I appreciate any help you can provide.

Thanks!

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-05-05T02:28:24+00:00

    Thank you Mann for your reply. Here's the answer to your questons.

    1. Were you able to use this headset earlier on this computer? Answer: Yes it did work and showed up in the Playback and Recording tabs in Sounds. However, I accidently deleted it in Sounds --> Playback when I was trying to troubleshoot why I could not hear the narration in eLearing courses played over our intranet through the headset. I meant to only change the settings so I could make the Speaker/HP the default device. BIG MISTAKE because now I cannot get it reinstall and show up in the Playback and Recording tabs.
    2. Have you checked plugging the headset to any other computer, does that work on other computers? Answer: The only other computer I have is an Apple MacBook Pro. I plugged the USB connector to that PC and appear to work although I cannot do a one-to-one comparison.
    3. You mentioned that Windows started to install the drivers automatically after you plugged the headset and restarted the computer after removing sound, video and game controller, was the driver installed successfully? Answer: Yes but it just does not show up any longer in as an option in the Playback or Recording tabs.
    4. Do other audio devices work fine on this computer? The only other device is the computer speakers and they work fine.

    Regarding Method 1. I had already installed and ran the MicrosoftFixit.Devices.exe file you provided although I ran it again and this did not fix the problem.

    Regarding Method 2. I checked and Show Disabled Devices is checked. The only other devices in Playback and Recording are Speaker/HP and Realtek HD Audio 2nd output.

    UPDATE!! I removed the headset USB connector and plugged it into the MAC, then removed it from the MAC and plugged it into the PC, voila! The headset now shows up as an option in the Playback and Recording tabs. Yeah! I was able to select it and set it as the default device, tested the VoIP phone and it all works!! Whew! I was about to give up on the VoIP phone. Thanks.

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-05-04T11:41:13+00:00

    Hello Marca,

    Welcome to Microsoft Community Forum.

    As per the description, I understand that your Plantronics Voyager UC Bluetooth headset does not appear as playback and recording device, however, it shows up in devices and printers. You have already tried a number of troubleshooting steps like uninstalling sound, video and game controller from device manager and reinstalling, but none of them helped you enough to get this problem resolved.

    I would appreciate if you can provide us the following information to help us understand the issue better.

    1. Were you able to use this headset earlier on this computer?
    2. Have you checked plugging the headset to any other computer, does that work on other computers?
    3. You mentioned that Windows started to install the drivers automatically after you plugged the headset and restarted the computer after removing sound, video and game controller, was the driver installed successfully?
    4. Do other audio devices work fine on this computer?

    Let’s try these methods below and check if that solves the problem.

    Method 1:

    First, I would suggest you to run the following Microsoft Fixit to get the problem automatically detected and fixed. It checks whether driver support is disabled through Windows update, or device driver does not work, or necessary audio service are stopped, audio device is not set as default etc.

    Automatically diagnose and fix Windows audio playback problems.

    http://support.microsoft.com/mats/AudioPlayback/

    Method 2:

    Enable to hidden devices in playback and recording devices in control panel.

    Sometimes its bit difficult to configure a playback device and Microphone because when you plug additional Microphone to your machine you have no idea exactly which Microphone is default. It could be your on board Microphone or USB Connected Headset’s Microphone.

    In most cases user try to disable the on board Microphone. Usually the device when disabled becomes hidden device but due to default settings do not show disabled devices, you can’t see them in the list. Here is the easy solution below. Right Click on the empty area, then you see couple of options to ***Show Disabled/Disconnected Devices.*******This will show all the playback and recording devices, right click and Enable the device.

    Please refer the picture below:

    Also see: **Tips for fixing common sound problems.**

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/tips-fixing-common-sound-problems#tips-fixing-common-sound-problems=windows-7

    Hope this helps. Please let us know the results. Feel free to write us back for any further assistance, we’ll be glad to assist you.

    9 people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2017-06-28T20:25:21+00:00

    Go to Device and Printers 

    Right click on your BT device -> Properties

    Select Services tab

    Check all the Bluetooth Services that you want (I put all).

    Click Apply

    You will see your headset become available on your playback

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2016-01-04T18:50:25+00:00

    Thank you, that helped tremendously

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-05-05T05:51:39+00:00

    Your efforts to resolve this problem is very much appreciated. We appreciate the time taken by you to share the resolution. I am sure it would benefit other community members as well. Please feel free to reply, in case you face any other issues with Windows in future.

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