Easily Add Bluetooth to Your Computer

 

Add Bluetooth to Your PC

If you’ve found that your PC does not have Bluetooth built in, then you’ll need to add it. The good news is that it’s easy to do and you don’t have to spend much on it.

Step One: Buy What You’ll 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.

With a free USB port in hand, the only other thing you need 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 ($11.99) 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, but that’s a lot of hassle. One reason you might want to go the mini PCI route is if you really don’t want to give up a USB port on a laptop and don’t want to carry around a USB hub.

On the desktop side, the only reason we can see for not using the USB-based solution is if you’re explicitly in the market for a Wi-Fi PCI card for a desktop computer, since many Wi-Fi PCI cards come with Bluetooth built in.

Step Two: Install the Bluetooth Dongle

If you’re installing the Kinivo on Windows 8 or 10, the process is dead simple: just plug it in. Windows includes the basic Broadcom Bluetooth drivers required by the dongle and will install them automatically when it recognizes the new device.

If you’re installing it on an earlier version of Windows, 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). Download the version for your operating system (here’s how to see if you’re running 32-bit or 64-bit Windows), run the installer, and you’re good to go.

Step Three: Pair Your Devices

Now that you have the dongle installed, you’re ready to pair a device. 

After inserting the dongle (and with the appropriate drivers installed), a Bluetooth icon should appear in the system tray as seen in the screenshot below. Right-click the icon and choose “Add a Bluetooth Device” from the context menu.

If you’re using Windows 8 or 10, you’ll see a screen like the one below. Just hit the “Pair” button for the device you want to connect.

If you’re using Windows 7—or a previous version—you’ll see a screen like this one instead. Select the device you want to connect and then hit “Next.”

After making your selection, 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 navigating to Control Panel -> All Control Panel Items -> Devices and Printers. Either way, you should be able to see (and interact with) both your Bluetooth dongle and any attached Bluetooth devices.