Fixing Bluetooth problem with TP-Link UB400

I recently bought myself some Sony Bluetooth earbuds for my phone, but I was keen to see if I could connect them to my PC too – so that I could use them in conference calls, for example.

But my computer didn’t have Bluetooth. So I bought TP-Link UB400 Bluetooth Adaptor online, because I’ve used and liked their stuff before. But when I plugged it in it didn’t work! Windows 10 kept telling me I didn’t have Bluetooth installed.

I went to the TP-Link FAQ for the UB400 – but nothing they suggested worked.

After a bit of Googling, I went to the Windows Device Manager, looked at the Universal Serial Bus controllers, and disappeared down a rabbit hole trying to fix the “Unknown USB Device (Device Descriptor Request Failed)” problem.

And only then did I go to the “CSR Bluecore Bluetooth” driver that also appeared on the list of Universal Serial Bus controllers when I plugged in the dongle. As an experiment:

  1. I right-clicked “CSR Bluecore Bluetooth and selected “Update driver”
  2. Clicked on “Browse my computer for driver software”
  3. Clicked on “Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer”
  4. Picked “Generic Bluetooth Adaptor” in place of “CSR Bluecore Bluetooth”
  5. Clicked “next”

and suddenly everything worked!

So that’s my solution! I hope it works for you too.

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67 Responses to Fixing Bluetooth problem with TP-Link UB400

  1. Armand says:

    Thank you! I’ve had my UB400 dongle “disappear” after I moved it to another USB port, and in Device Manager it would come out as “hidden”, with all the device icons greyed out. What I could find on the TP-Link site was either useless or too annoying (e.g., installing the their CSR driver, which wasn’t made for Win 10, and was very annoying to use).

    Long story short, your solution worked immediately, and restored my settings, and access to the paired devices.

  2. Mark says:

    Awesome after some issues with the device, suddenly fixed it with your solution!

  3. Tobias Schmalzried says:

    Thank you so much, I actually reset my whole PC for this.

  4. NORB says:

    had to comment on this, you saved me a trip to best buy and more money, THE ONLY SOLUTION THAT WORKS!

  5. Themis says:

    You are fuckin amazing bro. I did so many stuff to restore that shit. Like, really, so many. This was my last try to fix this.
    Thank you so much!

  6. Jo says:

    You are awesome! Thank you for the solution and Merry Christmas!

  7. johannes says:

    Any idea if I don’t have the Generic Bluetooth Adapter in my driver list? Thanks!

  8. Johan says:

    Thank you very much. Whithout your suggestion I was not able to find the solution.

  9. Omer says:

    Thank you so so much. I’ve been looking to solve this problem for a few hours now and your solution is the only one that worked. Thanks for the article!

  10. Jeff Moralde says:

    You my friend is a life saver! Of all the tips and guides that I’ve encountered yours made the most sense and helped get my bluetooth to work!

  11. sam cadwallader says:

    This works, I’ve been tearing my hair out wondering if the issue relates to type of USB port or if I’m using the wrong driver but unable to find another. Many thanks for the concise and clear explanation. Perhaps you can go on to explain the merits of proportional representation with equal brevity! Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy new year to you and yours.

  12. elreno says:

    Thank you very much 🙂 🙂 🙂

  13. Ricardo Sanchez says:

    Thanks man. You ARE now my DAD!!!!!!!

  14. David says:

    This worked for me after experiencing the disappearing issue. Thanks!

  15. Marchy says:

    Give this man a medal !

  16. Brotha Z says:

    THANK YOU!!! JESUS CHRIST, THANK YOU!

  17. Huib van Hoorn says:

    Your solution was perfectly. I bought it by Amazon.and after several days of trying to get the d***mn thing working with no luck I decided to send it back and told them the dongle was not recognised by Windows, but they told me keep the thing I will send you another one, at first of course with the same result. But after reading your solution I now have two working dongles. You´re the MAN, thank you for the advise.

  18. Heiko says:

    thank you very much. Your solution was perfect!

  19. Jim says:

    Worked a treat. Many Thanks!

  20. Roberto says:

    My warmest thanks. Your solutin worked perfectly also for me.

  21. Marc says:

    You save my device! Works perfectly now.

  22. Elie says:

    4 months ago I buyed this tp link, thank you so much !

  23. VinA says:

    Martin,

    Thanks your suggestion worked for me….for connecting UB-400 with KT480 keyboard in Lenovo Laptop L470.

  24. Harshdeep Singh Pal says:

    Your Trick 1000% Accurate & Working…. I would say now it’s works “LIKE A CHARM” on Windows 10 64bit Thank you….

  25. Ale says:

    For me i didn’t work… it does not let me install this driver. Any ideas how to fix? Help asap ;p

    • Martin says:

      Hi Ale

      It’s important to click on “Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer” – i.e. not try to install a new driver – but use one that’s already installed.

      Martin

  26. William Powell says:

    Brilliant, worked perfectly.

  27. Fredy says:

    Awesome! I used my UB400 for sometime, all of the sudden disappeared, after a few days troubleshooting and surfing the web for ideas I ended up here. Your solution made for me. Thank you so much!

  28. Ken Reed says:

    Thanks for this solution, worked perfectly first time. Had previously spent hours trying to get bluetooth to work.
    Billiant!!

  29. MrNope says:

    Oh my god finally solution that works. I was dealing with this crap for years on lot of devices and BT cards/dongles. original drivers didn’t work, default windows drivers that suppose to be the same thing as what we did in this post, but now it magically works. Thanks mate, you saved me from ending in asylum.

  30. Tony says:

    Brilliant !

    thank you from Paris, France

  31. Prasanna says:

    I have windows 7 and bought a tp-link UB4A bluetooth adapter. I tried your hack, didn’t work. Any other solutions?

  32. Andrew R. Johnson says:

    omg yes I was about to throw this PC out the window. i knew it was going to be something easy and stupid

  33. Navanshi says:

    Omg finally working. Thank you so much. I was getting it replaced. 🙂 Good day.

  34. M White says:

    Thank you! This solution was the end of hours long troubleshooting. I was so relieved this simple fix worked. Thanks so very much.

  35. Gerald says:

    I love u, this worked perfectly

  36. Jam says:

    Thanks man. I tried everything to connect X-box controller. This is the perfect!!!

  37. Jason says:

    This completely solved my issue! Thanks so much!!!

  38. kenan says:

    thank you thank you that’s the solutions !…
    congratulations…

  39. CaptainAfrica says:

    This worked like a charm for me after failing to use the FAQ and failing to connect. Thanks so much!

  40. Justice238 says:

    THANK YOU!!!! lol this is wild that you are helping so many people with this and this is the only place ive found this solution on the WWW. Had this working out of the box for about 6 months, then all of a sudden it stopped recognizing. I thought it went bad because nothing worked. After 2 days and freaking out fearing id have to wait on a new one shipped i found this. I installed CSR bluetooth from TPLink website, (was just plug and play before – no downloads out of box) and it was conflicting with windows bluetooth i think. Once I tried this fix, however, it started working instantly and all my devices are back working. THANKS AGAIN!

  41. Jean says:

    THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
    IT WORKS FINE!!!

    It helps a lot

  42. Andy says:

    Amazing! Thanks!

  43. Khaw Hengyeam says:

    Thank you very much. Amazing.

  44. eugii says:

    THANK YOU! you are a genius!

  45. Mike says:

    You are a genius!!!!!!! Thanks

  46. fredorscl says:

    Alleluia. thanks.

  47. david says:

    yo lo solucione instalando drivers 2015 bluetooht me aparecio icono bluetootht y conecte mando xbox one sin problemas y a la primera

  48. Reinhold says:

    Worked for me too, great solution!

  49. Theo says:

    Thanks a lot, works great.

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