Bluetooth headphones can fail in several ways on a PC: they never show up, they pair but refuse to connect, they connect and stay silent, or they drop every few minutes. Usually the cause is a setting, a driver or a stale pairing. Try the steps that follow in turn, checking the headphones after each. Later sections cover the cases where the headphones pair but play no sound or keep cutting out.
Make sure Bluetooth is on and the headphones are ready
A few simple things cause most failures, so rule them out first.
- If your laptop has a physical wireless switch, make sure it is on.
- Select the Network, Sound or Battery icon at the right of the taskbar and check that Bluetooth is on and Airplane mode is off.
- Charge the headphones, keep them close to the PC, then turn them off, wait a few seconds and turn them back on.
- Move the headphones away from USB devices plugged into a USB 3.0 port, which can sometimes interfere, and away from a router or other electronics.
Turn Bluetooth off and on, then remove and pair the headphones again
If the headphones are listed as paired but will not connect, the saved pairing has probably gone bad.
- Select Start > Settings > Bluetooth & devices. Turn Bluetooth off, wait about 10 seconds, then turn it on.
- Under Devices, find your headphones, select More options (the three dots) and choose Remove device, then confirm with Yes.
- Put the headphones into pairing mode.
- Select Add device > Bluetooth, pick the headphones from the list and wait for the connection.
Fix headphones that never appear on the device list
Check whether the headphones are still connected to a phone or another PC. If so, disconnect them there, then put them in pairing mode again.
- Select Start > Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Devices.
- Change Bluetooth devices discovery to Advanced. The default setting shows only common device types, while Advanced lists every type.
- Under Related settings, select More Bluetooth settings. On the Options tab, tick Allow Bluetooth devices to find this PC, then select OK.
Run the Bluetooth troubleshooter
The built-in troubleshooter runs diagnostics and tries to fix the problem.
- Select Start > Settings > System > Troubleshoot > Other troubleshooters.
- Next to Bluetooth, select Run and follow the prompts.
- In Windows 10 the path is Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot. Under Find and fix other problems, select Bluetooth, then select Run the troubleshooter.
Start the Bluetooth Support Service
Windows uses this service to find and connect Bluetooth devices. If it is stopped or set to manual, Bluetooth can stop working.
- Press Win + R, enter services.msc and select OK.
- Find Bluetooth Support Service, open its Properties.
- On the General tab, set Startup type to Automatic, select Start (or Restart if it is already running), then select OK.
- Restart the PC and try the headphones again.
Update or reinstall the Bluetooth driver
Drivers written for an older version of Windows often cause trouble after an upgrade. Check for a newer one first.
- Use the search box to open Device Manager.
- Expand Bluetooth and right-click your Bluetooth adapter. The adapter name may contain the word radio.
- Select Update driver > Search automatically for updated driver software and follow the prompts. Restart if asked.
- If Windows finds nothing, download the latest Bluetooth driver from your PC maker's website and run the installer.
Reinstall the adapter if the driver update didn't help
If Bluetooth is listed in Device Manager but the icon or connection is missing, remove the adapter and let Windows rebuild it.
- In Device Manager, expand Bluetooth, right-click the adapter and choose Uninstall device.
- In the dialog that opens, select Uninstall to confirm.
- Select Start > Power > Shut down, wait a few seconds, then turn the PC back on. Windows tries to reinstall the driver.
- If it does not, open Device Manager and select Action > Scan for hardware changes.
Get sound from headphones that connect but stay silent
Windows can treat Bluetooth headphones as two devices: a stereo one for music and a hands-free one for calls, which has a microphone and lower sound quality. If you only get the hands-free entry or no audio at all, work through these checks. If every device is silent, the no-sound steps apply.
- Select Start > Settings > System > Sound, and under Output choose your headphones. Or right-click the Sound icon, choose Sounds, open the Playback tab, pick the headphones entry that is not hands-free and select Set as Default. Check that the volume is up on both the PC and the headphones.
- Open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Devices, select the headphones, then choose Advanced sound properties. Set the format under Output settings to 2 channels, 16 bit, 48000Hz (DVD Quality). This option only appears while the headphones are connected.
- Under Input in the Sound settings, select a different input device, then test the headphones again.
- Check the manual or the maker's website to confirm the headphones support A2DP, the profile used for stereo audio.
- Open Devices again, go to the bottom and select More devices and printers settings. Open the shortcut menu on the headphones, choose Properties, open the Services tab, untick Hands-free Telephony, and select Apply, then OK. This turns off the hands-free (call) entry, so calls will not use the headphones' microphone.
- Turn the headphones off and on, then reconnect them in Settings.
Stop the headphones from dropping
If the headphones connect but cut out or need to be paired again and again, power saving is a common cause.
- Select the battery icon near the clock, select Energy saver under Battery and set it to Never. This and the adapter setting below make the battery drain faster.
- In Device Manager, expand Bluetooth, right-click the adapter and choose Properties. On the Power Management tab, untick Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power, then select OK.
- Restart the Bluetooth Support Service from services.msc by right-clicking it and choosing Restart.
- Update the Bluetooth driver as shown earlier.
- If the headphones drop whenever a Bluetooth mouse connects, remove both in Settings, restart, then pair the headphones first.