Quick Fix for ‘Couldn’t Connect’ Bluetooth Issues on Windows 10
Windows shows "Couldn’t connect" when trying to add Bluetooth devices, even though the adapter is detected.
The Solution (3 PowerShell commands)
- Find the disabled Bluetooth devices:
Get-PnpDevice | Where-Object {$_.FriendlyName -like "*Bluetooth*" -and $_.Status -eq "Error"}
- Enable the disabled Bluetooth radio and network devices:
Get-PnpDevice -FriendlyName "Bluetooth" | Enable-PnpDevice -Confirm:$false
Get-PnpDevice -FriendlyName "Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network)" | Enable-PnpDevice -Confirm:$false
- Force restart the stuck Bluetooth service:
Get-CimInstance win32_service | Where-Object {$_.name -eq "bthserv"} | ForEach-Object {taskkill /f /pid $_.ProcessId}
Start-Service -Name "bthserv"
Why This Works
The issue is usually that Windows disables the Bluetooth radio devices (not just the adapter) with error CM_PROB_DISABLED. The standard "turn Bluetooth on/off" toggle doesn’t re-enable these underlying devices. You have to manually enable them through Device Manager or PowerShell, then restart the service properly.