Bluetooth device not detected on Windows: the checks that work

Windows says "Add a device", scans, and finds nothing. Your controller or headset is right there, switched on. Below are the causes in order of frequency: start at the top, and do not skip the first three because they look too simple. They are the ones that are usually to blame.

One thing to rule out before anything else: a device supplied with its own USB receiver is not Bluetooth, and will never appear in this list however long you look. Once yours is paired and you want its battery in the taskbar, that is what BatteryOnPC is for. Now, the six causes, in order.

1. The device is not in pairing mode

Switched on is not the same as discoverable. A device that is on reconnects to what it already knows and stays invisible to everything else. It has to be put into pairing mode explicitly, and that is almost always a button held for several seconds until an indicator flashes fast.

• DualSense: hold Create (left of the touchpad) and PS together until the light bar flashes rapidly.
• DualShock 4: hold Share and PS together.
• Xbox controller: the small pairing button on top, next to the USB port.
• Headsets and mice: usually a recessed button underneath, sometimes the power switch held longer.

A slow flash generally means "searching for my usual device". You want the fast one.

2. It is already paired with something else

A device holds several pairings but connects to only one at a time. A controller that reconnected to a console, or a headset that grabbed your phone as you walked in, will never appear on your PC.

Turn off Bluetooth on the other device, or move away from it, then retry. This single cause explains a large share of "it worked yesterday".

3. It is listed but does not connect

If it is already in your list as Paired without being Connected, do not try to pair it again; Windows will ignore you. Remove it first: three dots on the device › Remove device. Then start over from a clean state.

4. Bluetooth is off, or absent

Check that the toggle in Settings › Bluetooth & devices is on, and that airplane mode is off. If there is no Bluetooth toggle at all, your PC may simply not have Bluetooth, which is common on desktops, where a USB adapter is needed.

If Bluetooth used to be there and has disappeared from the settings, look in Device Manager: an adapter shown with a warning icon points to a driver problem rather than a device problem.

5. Too much interference, or too much distance

Bluetooth shares the 2.4 GHz band with Wi-Fi, wireless dongles and microwave ovens. Pairing is the most fragile moment of the whole exchange.

Bring the device within a metre of the PC and retry. On a desktop with the adapter plugged into the back, the metal case sits between the two. A front port or a short USB extension often solves it outright.

6. It is not a Bluetooth device at all

Worth ruling out before spending an hour on it. A device supplied with a small USB receiver (Logitech Lightspeed, Razer HyperSpeed and similar) is wireless but not Bluetooth. It has its own radio protocol.

It will never appear in the Bluetooth list, and that is normal. It works through its receiver, and its settings live in the manufacturer's software.

Detected, but no battery

Different problem, different article. A device can pair perfectly and still show no level, simply because it does not publish it in the standard format Windows reads. For a PlayStation controller that is the expected behaviour, not a fault.

BatteryOnPC reads controllers over both USB and Bluetooth and shows their level in the taskbar, including for devices Windows itself displays nothing for.