Bluetooth Mouse Losing Connection No More!

Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000
Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000

I have a Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000 that I bought when I bought my new Thinkpad with built-in Bluetooth. At the time I was running 64-bit Vista and all was well. Then I upgraded to 64-bit Windows 7, and suddenly the mouse started constantly losing connection.

There was no detectable pattern. It would work fine for a while, and then start disconnecting all the time for no apparently reason. Sometimes it would not wake up after sleeping, but sometimes it would quit while I was using it. At first I got it going again by removing the mouse from the list of Bluetooth devices and then adding it back in. That took too much time. Then, by accident, I discovered that I could wake it up by opening my Bluetooth settings and toggling the checkbox “Allow Bluetooth devices to find this computer”. If it was off I’d turn it on, if it was on I’d turn it off. That was faster, but still a pain.

I searched the internet and found many similar complaints, but no solutions. Several sites suggested upgrading your Bluetooth drivers. There’s no new driver for the Microsoft mouse, but I updated the Thinkpad Bluetooth drivers. No joy. Then the other day the mouse started quitting on me every few minutes and in desperation I searched again. This time I found the answer. There are two separate settings that need to be changed.

Bluetooth Support Service Setting

Part 1 of the solution is buried in this Microsoft Knowledgebase article:

Connect a Bluetooth device that does not have or require a transceiver

And I quote:

How to make sure that the Bluetooth service is started

  1. Open the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in for Services. To do this, follow these steps.

     

    Windows Vista or Windows 7

    1. Click StartVista Start Button, copy and then paste (or type) the following command in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER: services.msc
    2. In the Programs list, click Services.

      Security Shield
      If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.

    Windows XP

    1. Click Start, and then click Run.
    2. Copy and then paste (or type) the following command in the Open box, and then press ENTER: services.msc
  2. Double-click the Bluetooth Support service.
  3. If the Bluetooth Support service is stopped, click Start.
  4. On the Startup type list, click Automatic.
  5. Click the Log On tab.
  6. Click Local System account.
  7. Click OK.
  8. If you prompted to restart the computer, click Yes.

My log on settings were okay, but my Startup Type was set to “Manual” rather than “Automatic”. I changed it, like so:

Bluetooth Support Services Properties

Bluetooth Power Management Setting

But sadly, my problem wasn’t solved. So then I tried something else. I opened up Device Manager, expanded “Bluetooth Radios”, and double-clicked on the device to open its Properties page – not the enumerator, the device.

Double click the device (highlighted), not the enumerator
Double click the device (highlighted), not the enumerator

Go to the Power Management page and clear the checkbox “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power”. And finally, relief! No more disconnects. Apparently there is a bug in the power management of the Bluetooth driver under Windows 7.

Uncheck 'Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power'
Uncheck 'Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power'

I can’t say for sure that the first step of making the Bluetooth Support Service automatic is necessary, or just turning off power management would fix it. It doesn’t hurt to change it to automatic so I didn’t test this. If you test it, post your results. Are both changes needed, or do you just need to turn off power management to stop losing connection?

302 thoughts on “Bluetooth Mouse Losing Connection No More!

  1. OMG. Thank you. THANK YOU. this is the ONLY site that has this solution, and it’s the only thing that worked. I was ~thisclose~ to going back to tethered mice. You are my hero. Seriously.

  2. Thank you again!

    This article has been really assistive. I was encountering Bluetooth disconnection issue with my JBL pulse. I could not find a solution till now. This has been awesomely helpful.

  3. Thank you so much for solving the mystery! My machine is a Thinkpad T540P. I am experimenting with just changing the Intel Wireless Bluetooth Settings (your second step). I skipped the first step. So far so good! I had already returned one mouse thinking IT was defective. Seems the bluetooth driver IS the culprit. Many thanks for your help!

  4. these solutions didn’t work in Windows 8.1.

    We need an App or a registry tweak that can reconnect the mouse

  5. I don’t have the problem at all on Windows 8.1 – at least not on the Surface Pro. The annoying thing about the Surface Pro is that the WiFi driver keeps faulting and has to be uninstalled and reinstalled.

  6. I didn’t have anything listed in the Management Console, but your step 2 worked a treat on its own. Thank you.

  7. I tried from all angles. Checked BIOS settings and forums on the internet. My Harman-Kardon Onyx Studio speakers just died when I started a browser etc. I almost gave up. Then I found your blog. What helped was to un-check the Bluetooth device to be shut down “to save power” in the device manager. The solution always seems so simple and obvious in retrospect. BUT it isn’t. Thanks a million! Tusen tack!

  8. “Don’t try this on a Dell XPS13 with Intel wireless and bluetooth. It messes up the entire system!”

    “If you messed up your system, it wasn’t from doing this.”

    I did this in Windows 10 running in Bootcamp on a 2011 Macbook Pro. On restart, all internet access failed. I could connect to the wifi network but I was not getting assigned an IP address. It turned out the DHCP service wasn’t starting up because some dependencies had failed. Reversing all the changes suggested here fixed it.

    I’m not convinced this is foolproof.

  9. Any idea on how to fix when using Windows 10? I’ve gotten to this section but the power management option isn’t listed. I’m extremely frustrated trying to fix this – but do want to say thank you for posting this. This helped me back when I hadn’t updated my computer.

  10. I have had this issue on Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 with different Bluetooth mice. The solution for setting the “allow this computer to turn off this device to save power” to unchecked has worked on all devices 100%.

    Just a note; on the Bluetooth settings, you may have a number of Bluetooth devices but typically only one device has the Power Management tab, so just go through your different devices to find the one that has the Power Management tab.

  11. Thank-you. Finally seems to have the problem fixed – bluetooth power management with Windows 7 it was. A lot of hours researching beforehand with no resolution. So many times felt like throwing the Microsft Bluetooth Mouse against the wall.

  12. sheryl – used this solution for barcode scanner – was working in 85 stopped working in 7.
    Pity I did not find your post yesterday morning – just wasted 2 days. thanks, thanks thanks

  13. I changed the service setting on my Windows10 PC and then somehow i can’t connect to webpages…
    reverted the changes and all is back to normal…. gave me a good scare
    blutooth is often on the same chipset as wirless internet. i wudn’t recommend changing the “log “on” tab setting.

  14. Hello, out of desperation, hope Sheryl can help me.
    – I paired Bose AE2 Soundlink bluetooth headset with my Dell laptop w/o any problem. Then, when I was enjoying all Bluetooth services, found a really annoying problem – VOIP disconnects every 15 mins. For example, when I do skype calls w/ contacts, it disconnects every 15 mins. Same thing for Cisco WebEx. It suddenly dies after 15 mins.

    I did everything above and it doesn’t solve this VOIP 15 mins disconnecting problem.

    PLEASE PLEASE HELP!

  15. Why do you think this is related to the bluetooth headset? When it’s not paired, does the VoIP disconnection stop? I can’t see how the two could be related.

  16. Thanks for the reply, Sheryl – really appreciate it.

    Short answer to your question – VoIP disconnection is only with this headset.
    The Bluetooth is still paired (btw the headset & laptop)…just the headset drops the POWER. So, I have to turn it back on.

    I made the bluetooth headset default audio source – speaker & mic for Skype & Webex audio settings. Before I used this headset, I used the same make Bluetooth headset but the older generation – no disconnection prob. The laptop default speaker and embedded mic didn’t have that prob either. It’s exactly 15 mins all the time. I had a Skype for Business (Lync) conference call w/ my colleague today and had the same 15-min disconnection prob. I called Bose to ask about this and they said this is no known issue. But I have no other reason to believe it’s the bluetooth headset prob whose setting somehow let bluetooth connection (for handsfree profile-related I guess) time-out every 15 mins.

    I almost gave up on using the bluetooth headset when doing WebEx VoIP calls (audio using computer) or Skype phone calls. It would’ve been fantastically convenient if I just need to use my laptop for all conference calls via the headset, but may be it’s time to give up.

  17. Just to be more clear on the POWER issue above – it’s only when you are using VoIP applications. When you listen to smartphone MP3s, no such things happen. when I use the bluetooth headset for other things (video streaming, intermittent alarms from Outlook after a while initial connection) on the laptop, it’s always there. It powers off only when I’m in any VoIP apps.

  18. This solution has bad side effects in Windows 10 that causes Wireless Internet to fail until you undo what is described here. It also causes a serious issue with the windows firewall.

  19. Thanks Sheryl.
    My new MS arc bt mouse works great with no hassle on your account.
    This solution has no bad effect on Windows 10 Pro in my case.

  20. “Don’t try this on a Dell XPS13 with Intel wireless and bluetooth. It messes up the entire system!”

    “If you messed up your system, it wasn’t from doing this.”

    I did this in Windows 10 running in Bootcamp on a 2011 Macbook Pro. On restart, all internet access failed. I could connect to the wifi network but I was not getting assigned an IP address. It turned out the DHCP service wasn’t starting up because some dependencies had failed. Reversing all the changes suggested here fixed it.

    I’m not convinced this is foolproof.

    reversing all changes means you wrote down all those settings//ARGH! Local system account cleared my other settings and I cannot remember what they were. Name password.

  21. was local service for the name but did two rebuilds anyway. Still have the BT issue but I would rather have WIFI.

  22. Thank’s Sheryl. I was able to resolve a long pending issue with Bluetooth on my Dell Latitude E7440 by having a turning off the power saver mode for my USB bluetooth plugged in.

  23. I really wish I would have read some of the comments before trying this… Would have saved me about an hour.

    I can also confirm that in Windows 10, changing the “Bluetooth Support Service” log on to the ‘local system account’ will essentially disable all network connections/devices/adapters. In fact, having the log on account set to anything but ‘local service’ will make the Bluetooth settings inaccessible.

    So, yeah… don’t do that.

    …but this page did remind me where to find that Bluetooth power saving setting. I remember that being in the power plan settings for some reason. So, uh, thanks?!

  24. Wonderful!

    Just bought a well-rated Bluetooth mouse and had the exact same symptom – works for a while, sometimes 10 mins sometimes one min, then stops working. Still connected. Tried power off and power on. Reboot always fixed it for another few mins.

    Found this and it worked!

    Terrible bug and Microsoft still hasn’t fixed it?

  25. You made my day:
    Today I bought a Microsoft Designer Bluetooth mouse for my Lenovo Yoga and had the same problems.
    Thanks to your tip it works now.

  26. Thank you so much – this was driving me nuts. I am running Windows 10 having the same issue you describe above with a Microsoft Arc Touch Bluetooth mouse. I found the Power Management setting under Device Manager / Bluetooth / Intel(R) Wireless Bluetooth(R). Unchecked the box you describe above and it solved my issue.

  27. Thanks for this, I have same problem on windows 10 so hopefully your solution will stop me from going grey!

  28. Re Frank Malloy’s comment…

    Nice they finally got around to it. I wrote this post in January 2010. The Microsoft KnowledgeBase article was written in November 2014.

    P.S. How come the spam filter catches Frank’s perfectly legitimate comment with a link in it, but lets through dozens of spam comments with links??

  29. There is no ‘Power Management’ tab once I open up the bluetooth mouse. I have tried all other bluetooth devices listed there as well as those listed under ‘Human Interface Devices’ and none of them have a power management option either. What do I do now?

  30. This was very helpful and solved my problem with Windows 10. I found a couple of “bluetooth” devices that had power management on in unlikely areas of device manager so you really need to open and check everything.

    thanks!

  31. Many, many thanks!

    I have been struggling with this for years.

    I really appreciate your sharing this knowledge.

    Tony

  32. This messes up windows 10 sp4 users. Specifically, srwp 5 and 6 when you change to local account will jack up everything from wifi connection to windows functionality

  33. Thank you. I have a brand new Lenovo L560 with Windows 7 64-bit. In contrast to my 4 year old Dell the bluetooth connection to my hearing aid headset suddenly kept stopping when music, talk or sound was finished or paused. Very annoying when listening to a presentation with audio as the first words in very sentence was cut off before the bluetooth connection started again.
    Nevertheless: Changing the service to automatic and changing the power management each gave a extra seconds to the connection so my audio experiene is much better. The connection still gets cut off after some 10 seconds but i am closer to being a happy camper 🙂

  34. Peter says:
    October 21, 2016 at 8:02 pm
    There is no ‘Power Management’ tab once I open up the bluetooth mouse. I have tried all other bluetooth devices listed there as well as those listed under ‘Human Interface Devices’ and none of them have a power management option either. What do I do now?

    ——–

    Follow the instructions to update the driver for your Bluetooth radio here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2758967/a-bluetooth-mouse-or-keyboard-fails-to-reconnect-after-being-left-idle

    Once it is updated, the ‘Power Management’ tab and the option to “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power” will be there.

  35. Although an old thread it needs correction because of its exclamation mark
    which dragged our attention as XP is still not dead.

    “Bluetooth Support service” does not exist on a Toshiba Portege running on
    XP SP3 we still have in use for educational reasons of disabled people.

    Nor can we find any BT related services where a Power Management is offered
    i.e. can be altered.

    Toshiba got its own stack, connects for a couple of minutes and does not offer any further clues on its websites.

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