Although the majority of laptops now come with Bluetooth support (along with more than a few modern motherboards), there are still plenty of us in need of Bluetooth upgrades. If you’re rocking an older device or simply purchased a new device without Bluetooth support, don’t fret. Read on as we show you how to easily and cheaply add Bluetooth support to both laptops and desktops alike.
Why Do I Want To Do This?
While you can get by just fine without Bluetooth support on your computer (especially if you’re rocking a desktop machine) there are tens of thousands of peripherals and accessories that require Bluetooth (or it at least makes them more convenient to use).
You could, for example, run an auxiliary audio cable from your computer to any of the Bluetooth speakers we reviewed in our recent Bluetooth speaker guide, but it would make your speaker a lot more portable and convenient to pipe in the music via Bluetooth so you could retain the ability to move it anywhere in your office. Bluetooth is also handy for adding on wireless head phones, game controllers, and other peripherals that it’s nice to enjoy wire-free.
Checking Your Computer for Bluetooth Radios
Before we precede, we’d encourage you to give your computer a double check for Bluetooth radios. If you have an older laptop or computer you’re probably correct in assuming that you don’t have a built-in Bluetooth radio. If you have a newer laptop, however, it’s practically a given that you have Bluetooth. Further, it used to be a non-existent feature on motherboards but in the last few years a surprising number of desktop motherboards have begun shipping with Bluetooth radios.
Fortunately it’s simple to check for evidence of Bluetooth in Windows. Breadcrumbs pointing the existent of the installed radio are littered liberally throughout the operating system and various menus. You can check for Bluetooth in the Networking section, as it’s a network protocol, by navigating to Control Panel -> Network and Internet -> Network Connections. If there is a properly installed and configured Bluetooth radio you’ll see an entry for “Bluetooth Network Connection” alongside any other more expected network connections like Ethernet and/or Wi-Fi.
Alternatively, you can also open up the Device Manager and look for a “Bluetooth” entry.
In addition to the above check, we also suggest double checking the stats on your computer and motherboard just to be sure. Although unlikely it’s possible that the hardware vendor behind your hardware uses a specialty driver or some other tool that you need to download in order to enable the Bluetooth connection. A little poking around with Google with reveal if you have the hardware in the first place and if it needs any special driver, BIOS, or other updates.
What Do I Need?
You don’t need a whole lot to follow along with this tutorial. Once you’ve determined that your computer is definitely in need of a Bluetooth radio (and not just a driver update) it’s time to check that you have a free USB port. (If you don’t, and there’s no making room because you need all your current ports, you should consider getting a quality USB hub or a USB expansion card.)
Open (or cleared out) USB port in hand, all you need in addition is a USB Bluetooth adapter. For the purposes of this tutorial (and for use on our own machines) we’ll be using highly-rated and inexpensive Kinivo BTD-400 ($13.99) USB dongle.
There are other ways to approach the problem but the majority of them are quite impractical. You could, for example, use up your laptop’s mini PCI slot with a laptop Bluetooth/Wi-Fi module or using the same module with a mini PCI adapter in your desktop computer) but that’s a lot of hassle when practically speaking a USB-based adapter is the cheapest and easiest way to achieve our ends. The only reason you might skip using the USB-based solution is if you’re explicitly in the market for a Wi-Fi PCI card for a desktop computer; many Wi-Fi PCI cards come with Bluetooth built in.
Installing the Bluetooth Dongle
If you’re installing the Kinivo on Windows 8, the process is about as dead simple as it can be: just plug it in. Windows 8 includes the basic Broadcom Bluetooth drivers that the dongle requires.
If you’re installing it on an earlier version of Windows like Windows 7, Vista, or XP, you’ll need to install the Bluetooth drivers. You’ll know you require the drivers if the Device Manager pane looks like this after you plug in the dongle.
You can download the drivers from Kinivo (the manufacturer of the dongle) or from Broadcom (the manufacturer of the actual Bluetooth radio inside the device). Run the installation app and you’re good to go. Don’t be put off by the significant size discrepancy between the driver file sizes (150MB+ from Kinivo and only 4MB from Broadcom) as the Broadcom installer downloads the larger driver files when you run it.
Pairing Your Devices
Now that we have the dongle installed, it’s time to actually pair a device. Let’s demonstrate the process by hooking up one of the speakers we used in The AG Guide to Portable Bluetooth Speakers.
After inserting the dongle (and with the appropriate drivers installed), a Bluetooth logo should appear in the system tray as seen in the screenshot below.
Select “Add a Bluetooth Device”. Depending on whether you’re on Windows 8 and above or Windows 7 and below, you’ll see a slightly different screen (but with identical outcomes). Windows 8 users will see this screen:
Windows 7 users and below will see something resembling the screenshot below (note: the screenshot is of the traditional pairing interface in Windows 8 but shares the same UI style as previous editions of Windows).
The only difference between the two is that in one you select the device and click “Pair” and in the other you click “Next.” After making your selection and hitting “Next” Windows will communicate with the device for around a half minute as it automatically finishes the pairing process. After that your device is available for use!
You can manage your Bluetooth devices by accessing the Bluetooth menu via the system tray (as we did a moment ago) or you can navigate to Control Panel -> All Control Panel Items -> Devices and Printers to see (and interact with) both your Bluetooth dongle and and any attached Bluetooth devices.
That’s all there is to it! $15, one USB port, a virtually painless installation process, and now your computer has Bluetooth connectivity.