Bluetooth device permanently a part of Windows 11

Question

Bluetooth device permanently a part of Windows 11

Anonymous

Trying to remove Bose QuietComfort headphones but no matter what I do, they remain. I try clicking the '...' and selecting Remove Device but it just says 'Removing device' for a while before returning to 'Not connected'. Other than the aforementioned, other things I've tried are:

Going into Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers, selected the headphones and then Remove Device.

Opening Device Manager and removing the headphones from there. Reboot.

Opening Device Manager and removing the BT adapter altogether. Reboot.

Disable/Enable BT in Bluetooth and Devices.

Restart BT services in services.msc.

Open Regedit, browsed to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\BTHPORT\Parameters\Devices and removed the headphones. Reboot.

Open Regedit, browsed to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\BTHPORT\Parameters\Devices and removed everything. Reboot.

Open Powershell and issued the command Remove-Item -Path HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\BTHPORT\Parameters\Devices\* -Recurse. Which just does the above from command line, but...

I've also tried most if not all the above with BT services off.

In any case, the headphones remain. I've cleared the list on the Bose headphones so they are trying to pair with something. I'm not sure if my system isn't seeing them because it thinks they're already connected or what, but I can pair and remove other items, just not these headphones.

When did this issue begin? Well I had paired a device to the head phones that I no longer had access to so I cleared the device list and went to remove the orphaned entry from Windows and that's when all this began.

System information for those who might ask for it:

Host Name: XXXXX11

OS Name: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro

OS Version: 10.0.22621 N/A Build 22621

OS Manufacturer: Microsoft Corporation

OS Configuration: Standalone Workstation

OS Build Type: Multiprocessor Free

Registered Owner: Windows User

Registered Organization:

Product ID: 00330-81483-76184-AA134

Original Install Date: 10/18/2023, 7:04:06 PM

System Boot Time: 4/15/2024, 8:28:51 PM

System Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.

System Model: B650 AORUS ELITE AX

System Type: x64-based PC

Processor(s): 1 Processor(s) Installed.

                       [01]: AMD64 Family 25 Model 97 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~4201 Mhz

BIOS Version: American Megatrends International, LLC. FA3, 3/11/2024

Windows Directory: C:\Windows

System Directory: C:\Windows\system32

Boot Device: \Device\HarddiskVolume1

System Locale: en-us;English (United States)

Input Locale: en-us;English (United States)

Time Zone: (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)

Total Physical Memory: 31,894 MB

Available Physical Memory: 20,292 MB

Virtual Memory: Max Size: 36,502 MB

Virtual Memory: Available: 21,796 MB

Virtual Memory: In Use: 14,706 MB

Page File Location(s): C:\pagefile.sys

Domain: WORKGROUP

Logon Server: \XXXXX11

Hotfix(s): 5 Hotfix(s) Installed.

                       [01]: KB5036620 

                       [02]: KB5030323 

                       [03]: KB5031274 

                       [04]: KB5031354 

                       [05]: KB5031592

Network Card(s): 4 NIC(s) Installed.

                       [01]: Realtek 8852CE WiFi 6E PCI-E NIC 

                             Connection Name: Wi-Fi 

                             Status:          Media disconnected 

                       [02]: TAP-Windows Adapter V9 

                             Connection Name: Ethernet 2 

                             Status:          Media disconnected 

                       [03]: Realtek Gaming 2.5GbE Family Controller 

                             Connection Name: Ethernet 

                             DHCP Enabled:    Yes 

                             DHCP Server:     192.168.11.1 

                             IP address(es) 

                             [01]: 192.168.11.18 

                             [02]: fe80::d7e7:e104:7f91:d74b 

                       [04]: Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network) 

                             Connection Name: Bluetooth Network Connection 2 

                             Status:          Media disconnected

Hyper-V Requirements: A hypervisor has been detected. Features required for Hyper-V will not be displayed.

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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5 answers

Answer 1

Just an update. I'm back to this point again. I had to try and remove/add my Bose headset and have ended up in the same situation I was in last time. I would have updated with the a fix sooner except last time the issue resolved somewhat spontaneously so I didn't have a repeatable set of instructions to resolve I could post.

Now, the problem seems to be that Windows 11 still seems to think that my headset is still paired as evidenced by this:

Even after removing all devices in the reg path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\BTHPORT\parameters\devices these entries still exist in System > Bluetooth & Devices. This seems to indicate that Windows 11 is storing its memory of connected devices either a) somewhere else or b) somewhere else in the registry.

I need to obliterate any mention of any Bluetooth device this system has ever seen without reinstalling the operating system. Where is Windows 11 keeping this information?

Answer 2

In my case what allowed me to remove stubborn Bluetooth Devices was to remove the old unused Bluetooth radio that was paired to them originally and since removed from my machine. I had also removed their hidden device entries before this but what finally got rid of them out of Windows for me was removing the radio. Both might be required.

Device Manager > Show Hidden Devices > Bluetooth Drop Down > Uninstall any hidden "Generic Bluetooth Adapter"/"Intel Bluetooth" > Reboot/Toggle Bluetooth

If you're patient, you can go scorched earth and just uninstall all entries, hidden or not, in the Bluetooth category. Right click in Device Manager to "Scan for Hardware Changes" to reinstall your radios afterwards. Might need a reboot.

Good luck!

Answer 3

You are not alone - I (and many others going by online searches) have had this same issue - since a certain win11 update - cannot remove unpair or remove or uninstall or de-registry stale/unconnectable bluetooth devices.

For me it finally appeared to work if I 'uninstall' the device from the View->Show hidden devices' list in Device Manager -
I did this for two separate persistent bluetooth headset devices, both of which had multiple drivers I needed to uninstall, which were visible only after setting device manager View to Show Hidden Devices.

I have just rebooted now and those devices are gone. no longer in Device Manager, and no longer in the 'paired' Win11 Settings panels

I realise that in your multiple attempted steps, you also tried to remove via Device Manager and it did not work for you - or it worked until rebooting, so apologies up front if you are still unable to use this method to get your BT devices gone for good.

2024/09/23 Update - I was wrong! The Device Manager 'uninstalled' Bluetooth devices were gone only after that first reboot - I cold booted again today and they are back in the list!

As pictured below, a 'Bluetooth music' generic headset, and a R-Phonak hearing aid device - both fully uninstalled and not present after initial reboot, but both miraculously now back from who knows where?

Answer 4

Good evening All.

I searched for this problem for the last few hours. What a headache it is. I've talked with Microsoft Chat Support and unfortunately, it was a dead end.

When i looked at the last update date i was "OMG, we're in the same boat at the same time". My QC45 headset is driving me nuts. Since i switched my ssd on a new computer with onboard bluetooth, i can't seem to figure out how to remove the old connexion between my headset and Windows.

So i did try everything i found, everything you mentionned.

And... i was .. meh.. washed. So i went downstair to listen to the final episode of Unstable while browsing a solution for that. I assume some kind of Ellis Dragon modified something in my search criteria because, i found something that was new to me.

From an Independent Advisor : https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/why-all-these-audio-devices-and-can-i-get-rid-of/d01b5091-4bfc-40d8-9bfe-f01b7a705238

Basically, this got ride of the old ghost connexion :

Open Command Prompt as an administrator.
Type the following command and press Enter:
set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1

And that's where i am now. I figured out how to re-connect my bose headset but, there's a problem. It connects for a few seconds and then disconnect.

So problem fixed, new problem onboard ! 👍😂

Wish you all best luck with that ! I'll restart another time, maybe it will be the good one !

Answer 5

Hello Steve Prince1, welcome to the Microsoft community.

Based on your feedback, you are having trouble disconnecting your Bluetooth headphones from your computer.

You can go into the device manager, disable and then enable the Bluetooth driver.

If the problem persists, you can uninstall the Bluetooth driver.

Then restart your computer, reinstall the Bluetooth driver.

Then check if the problem still exists.

You can also reset the Bluetooth pairing of your headphones.

Different headphones have different reset methods.

You can refer to the headphone manual for instructions, and then check.

Hope the above information is helpful to you.

Kirito | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

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Bluetooth device permanently a part of Windows 11

5 answers