How to Connect A2DP Bluetooth Stereo Headset with Vista?
If you are new here, Subscribe to Full Feeds or by Email or follow us in Twitter and receive free daily updates on Office and Windows Tips, Tricks and Tweaks..
I just got a Motorola Motorokr S9-HD Bluetooth Stereo headset to connect with my Nokia N95 8GB and with my Vista Home Premium laptop, HP Pavilion Entertainment PC DV 6500.

This Motorola S9 headset is one of the best A2DP Bluetooth headset (A2DP – Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) that are available now in the market. Connecting this with my Nokia N95 was a very easy task (I also tried connecting with other Sony Ericsson phone, it was also very simple and straight forward). But connecting with my Vista laptop took me a while to figure it out.
The coolest Option lets to connect both Vista and Phone to the same headset at the same time:

Here is my biggest reason why I wanted this Bluetooth headset to set both with my phone and vista laptop. Imagine you are watching a movie or listening to songs from your laptop using this headset, when you get a call in your phone, the movie or song automatically pauses, you take the call using the headset and after you are done with the call, the movie or song automatically resumes. So here you have a headset which is connected with both phone and vista computer at the same time.
Drivers for Bluetooth in Vista:
Many advised to change the Bluetooth drivers that came by default with Vista saying it doesn’t support A2DP. But I just managed to get it to work without changing my Bluetooth drivers as I had my HP Bluetooth Module driver from Broadcom.
Before I proceed these are the Bluetooth drivers that are in my laptop currently.
Microsoft Bluetooth Enumerator – 6.0.6001.18064 – Microsoft
Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network) – 6.0.6001.18000 – Microsoft
HP Bluetooth Module – 5.1.2535.0 – Broadcom
Bluetooth Hands-free Audio – 6.0.1.3700 – Broadcom
Bluetooth Stereo Audio – 6.0.1.3700 – Broadcom
So here is how to connect A2DP Bluetooth headset with Vista:
1. Make sure Bluetooth is active in your computer. Click the Vista Start button and type Bluetooth in the Search box. From the results in top select Bluetooth Devices under Programs. (Note: If Bluetooth Devices is not listed then it means you computer does not have Bluetooth)
2. From the Options tab, make sure all the options are checked.
- Allow Bluetooth devices to find this computer
- Allow Bluetooth devices to connect to this computer
- Alert me when Bluetooth device wants to connect
Also if you prefer select options like Show the Bluetooth icon in the notifications area.

3. Now turn on the Bluetooth headset. Click the Devices tab in the Bluetooth Devices window and click Add.
4. In the Add Bluetooth Device Wizard check My device is set up and ready to be found and click Next.

5. It will search for all the nearby turned on Bluetooth devices and it will list all the devices including Bluetooth headset. Choose the headset and click Next.

6. Choose a Passkey in the next window for security purposes. Usually the device may come with some documented security code (For example, Motorola S9 HD Bluetooth Headset has the Passkey 0000)

7. Now it will connect and install the drivers needed.

8. In the next window click Finish.

Now even if the Bluetooth headset is connected, you may not be able to hear any music from the headset.
So here is the tweak you need to do to make it work. Go to Bluetooth Devices and select the headset under Audio Devices and click the Properties at the bottom.

Select the services tab and make sure you have Headset checked, this is what is responsible for A2DP stereo connections. Check all necessary and click OK.

Now go to Audio tab in the Bluetooth Devices and make sure Bluetooth Stereo Audio says its connected. If not select and click Connect at the bottom.

Even now you may not be able to listen through your Bluetooth headset using A2DP.
So, Go to Start –> Control Panel –> Hardware and Sound –> Sound –> Manage audio devices. Now under Playback select Bluetooth Stereo Audio and select Set Default.

Some Points to be Noted:
1. Now you should be able to hear the music in both speakers using stereo mode. If not try closing the players or browsers and start them again.
2. Make sure you don’t play anything while changing any options that I had mentioned above. It may cause the program not to respond or crash.
3. If you are absolutely sure that you have done all these steps, try restarting the system.
















































Ya well I had the freepulse headset from logitech and it came with a dongle of its own for ipods and mp3 players however my dongle jack got loose and started losing its sound. So logitech gave me a new pair and let me keep the old. So i decided to buy one of those $1 usb bluetooth dongle’s on ebay just to enable my laptop with bluetooth. And well lets just say this tutorial was exactly what I needed to use my old pair of freepulse headphones with my laptop.
Someone get this guy a drink lol
i am having a problem connecting my s9 to my dell pc which has bluetooth. it will pair ok, but when i click on connect(stereo headphones) it shows connecting and then disconnected. i get a message that says “bluetooth headset did not accept audio connection”. i know that it will because i had them connected ,once, but i cant do it again. h e l p
I can connect my S9 but there aren’t any services listed. Does anyone know where to find the latest drivers?
I have a Lenovo L3000 with windows vista I can connect and use my Motorola S9 Head set however it cannot connect as Stereo head set. Please help.
could any one tell me how to connect o2 bluetooth headset with windows vista
After searching for a while I found this article which really helped me a lot. Thanks man for posting!
Perfect howto. It worked for me! Very helpful
I have a plantronics bluetooth earpiece that I paired with my laptop yesterday… and now I want to connect to it again, but I do not have the Audio tab that your screenshots show that allows me to connect to the device. What’s up with that?
Garrett W., i have the same problem. still haven’t found a solution for that…
In the begening of his article this guy talks about being able to connect the S9hd to your pc and cell at the same time. Any one want to elabroate on how that’s done. I cant figure it out. I have to pair one, then when i connect the S9hd to the otehr device, i have to repair it to the origianal device. really annoying.
hey tnx a ton…its workin perfectly for me..peace
okay i followed this which did help alot, now i can use it if i want to hear from the left ear only however, under the sound stage there is no option for “Bluetooth stereo audio”. how can i get it to state that, is there a driver or something else i have to do? im using a dell studio 1737. thanks.
!!!!!!!!!!PROBLEM SOLVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
okay for everyone who had the issue that the “bluetooth stereo audio”, or “bluetooth audio stereo” wasnt showing up, ive found the solution. this is primarily for dell but seems to work on toshibas, hps, and sonys, so maybe for everyone since its an unzip to wherever your drivers are.
http://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R205174.EXE
its a Broadcom OEM bluetooth driver pack from dell. version 6.2.0.6600 (after installation will list as 6.2.04″…”) Dont worry.
then follow the instructions listed here already, the “Stereo Audio” WILL NOT show up as a second entity, it will just be “bluetooth handsfree audio”,
Important, click the “test” option, youll know it works when you hear both right and left working, then open whatever apps you want and have fun.
took me 6+ hours to finally figure this solution using S9 (not s9HD).
after several attempts over many months to get it to work.
now just waiting for iphone to have a2dp support
.
Thanks. Worked great.
perfect. very helpful. thank you!
Thanks a lot Mland! it worked for me!
http://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R205174.EXE
widcomm not available as of the moment so thank you very much!
Awesome Post !!
Thanks for all this.
Specialy to pratap
http://www.lytebyte.com/2008/07/06/how-to-connect-a2dp-bluetooth-stereo-headset-with-vista/comment-page-1/#comment-58326
who provided the link to roll back the HP driver.
I already spent 6-7 Hrs today in figuring out the issue.
Keep the good work gng.
I just used this procedure to connect my Jabra BT 3030. It worked perfectly! Thanks so much for the well-written guide!
Problem solved! I could finally connect my sony DR-BT21G. Thank you!
Thanks! Save me a lot of headache!
Hi!
I hope you’re still keeping an eye on this article and I hope as well that you can help me with my problem.. I have a Compaq Presario CQ40-340TU laptop and want to connect it to my Next-Base Media22 speakers via bluetooth.. The speakers come with a preinstalled bluetooth device that will enable you to stream music from any bluetooth enabled device such as cellphones.. However I tried pairing it with my laptop to make it my default speakers via bluetooth but it doesn’t seem to work.. My laptop was looking or asking me to install a driver for the bluetooth device… I tried looking it up on the net but Next-Base or other websites doesn’t have any for it… Please help.. Please email me if you’ll find any answers..
Hi guys,
My Bluetooth Stereo Headset (We-Com H580)its normally connects to mobile but not connecting to HP laptop pavilion dv5(OS-VISTA).plz help me.
Hi guyz! I tried everything you have here and I do commend Pratap for such great work! It didn’t solve anything as of yet, but I feel like I’m getting closer.. I have a compaq CQ40-304TU Laptop and I want to connect it to my Nextbase Media22 speakers.. Now the speakers comes with bluetooth A2DP profile but I can’t make the sound coming out from my laptop sound from my speakers.. Hope someone will find a solution from this one as well.. Thanks and more power everyone! Keep up the good work…
by the way I’m running on windows vista basic.. I don’t know if that matters…
Thanks butty, it helped me ..
Keep up the good work
thanks a lot……..bro
Thats grt bro thanks a lot for ur help………..
Great tutorial. I’m using Nokia BH-501’s and, using your tutorial, successfully did manage to pair and get audio through them. However, I disconnected them and when I went to reconnect the Bluetooth Stereo Audio device in the Bluetooth Devices window they wont connect. Any ideas?
Great help!! solved my bluettoth problem A2DP connection instantly!!!
Hi all,I need help pls…I just got the nokia bh 503 and I want to connect it to my laptop ( hp/ xp)I parried with the pc but when i am opening propietis /services nothing is showing up…can anyone help me pls?
I am having a A2PD bluetooth device and bh-503 headset…Thank you.
I’m using ACER 4937G, Windows Vista SP2 with Nokia BH-604.
I’ve successfully connected my bluetooth headphone with my laptop.
thanks for your solution.
Any help for XP users who can’t get bluetooth to show up for audio devices?
Mland,
Thank you very much! That did it for me,
Absolutely clear and helpful for HP 2510P with Vista and SE HBH-DS220 headset perfect function. All I needet to know, thanks!
I see the belkin tunestage does not have “headset” but “audio sink”. I will email belkin to see if they can update drivers?
Hi,
I can’t connect all three (laptop , bluetooth handsfree and cellphone) at the same time.I can pair only two devices at the same time but not the third one i.e.;the cell phone and laptop or cellphone and bluetooth hands free or laptoptop and bluetooth hands free. Can anyone pls. tell me how to connect all three at the same time as shown in the figure.
Thanks&Regards,
-Pad
Awesome!! Thanks.
Thanks you very much for ur help..its really working.I am now able to connect my sony DRBT21G headset to my DEl 1325 inspiron Laptop.
HEY – it worked!!!!!!
Thanks a lot, I tried many different things and this is the first workaround that works with VLC.
Amazing !! works like a charm !!
Thankx a ton and more !!
I have a diferent problem, under bluetooth options it will not allow me to select “allow bluetooth devices to find this computer”, when i select it and click apply it comes up with an error message.
Has anyone else experienced this?
Thankx to every one who invested there time and effort for giving this solution its really rockxx for me.
chess mate.
I have pretty much all the same settings, I’m using Vista, I have a bluetooth headset, I’ve paired it successfully with my laptop. The part that fails for me is changing the Playback/Recording device, my bluetooth device isn’t listed so I don’t have it as an option to use or set as default. Can anyone help with this? If needed; I’m using Vista Home Premium and I have a Motorola H12 headset that I’d like to use instead of my headphones or my built in microphone as it picks up a lot of background noise.
This worked great for a MOTOROKR T505 and an HP laptop running Vista 64bit. THANKS!
well…..ugh! i have the s9 aand paired it with my hp 9000t laptop but dopnt know how to get it to hear anything thru it from my pc. under bluetooth devices it says its paired but under connection in use it says no. under sound playback devices its not listed.just speakers and spdif interface.undr bluetooth radio propertiesmeverythings checked to be allowed.when i clik properties of the s9 within bluetooth devices,under the services tab, all the boxes are checked including headset. yet i just dont know how to hear anything from the s9.pc recognised it and downloaded whatever drivers for it that it did when pairing it,yet i dont know how to listen to music or hear anything from it from my pc.im so dam frustrated.im begging for help tho i know that this thread has gone on and on about this issue. and some of things suggested i tried if applicable but some things wernt like the passcode thing wich i was never given the option. i put headset in pairing mode and turned on bluetooth on pc and i clicked add bt device,it found the s9 then i clicked the next button to install the drivers it asked to do, but thats it. it paired it up and i see it in the bluetooth devices but i dont know what else to do.please someone help somehow.
Thanks for your instruction. I can now connect my bluetooth headset with the computer and enjoy the music. Thanks again
amazing……thanks a lot
awesome! very helpful! Thanks for sharing!
hey anyone can tell me how can i connect HBH-DS220 with windows xp in my laptop.
which driver useful to connect it.
thanks in advanced…………
THANKS FOR THE TUTORIAL. SIMPLE AND EFFICIENT.