Bluetooth not working in Windows
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Symptom
Section titled “Symptom”Bluetooth has disappeared from “Settings”: there is no toggle, and device search finds neither headphones, nor a mouse, nor a phone. The Bluetooth icon disappears from the notification area, and previously paired devices do not connect. From the outside it looks as if there is no Bluetooth module in the computer at all.
Typical causes
Section titled “Typical causes”- Most often, system Bluetooth services have been disabled — by an “optimizer”, a tweaker or manually. The adapter itself is fine, but without the services the Bluetooth stack does not work.
- Less often, the cause is the adapter driver after a major Windows update, a disabled module (“Airplane mode”, a physical switch) or a fault in the adapter itself.
Fix in BoosterX
Section titled “Fix in BoosterX”Open BoosterX, in the left menu select the “Fixes” section, type “Bluetooth” in the search, open the “Bluetooth” card and click “Fix”. Then restart Windows. The fix returns the Bluetooth services — BTAGService, BthAvctpSvc, bthserv, NcbService and the user BluetoothUserService — to their default startup if they had been disabled. BoosterX can be downloaded from the official website boosterx.org.
How to check
Section titled “How to check”After the restart, open “Settings” → “Bluetooth & devices” (in Windows 10: “Devices” → “Bluetooth”) — the toggle should appear. Turn on scanning and connect your headphones or mouse: the device should be found and work.
Manual alternative without BoosterX
Section titled “Manual alternative without BoosterX”Press Win + R, type services.msc and press Enter. To search by short names, add the “Service name” column: right-click on the column headers → “Add/remove columns”. Find the services bthserv, BTAGService, BthAvctpSvc and NcbService; BluetoothUserService is a user service, it is displayed with a numeric suffix and does not need to be changed separately. For each service: right-click → “Properties” → “Startup type” → “Automatic” → “Apply”. Restart Windows.
If that did not help
Section titled “If that did not help”The cause may be the driver or the Bluetooth module itself; errors that coincide in time with the failure are convenient to view in EventX. If Bluetooth started working but the sound in the headphones remains “telephone-like”, that is a separate problem — Bad sound in Bluetooth headphones. In all other cases, write to support.
Last checked: 2026-09-20. Full catalog of fixes.