I'm trying to connect both of my Android devices to my Windows 7 laptop, to see what I can do with them (file transfer, bluetooth tethering, etc.)
Here is the hardware I'm working with:
- Samsung Series 5 Laptop - Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 / fully patched
- Intel(R) Centrino(R) Wireless Bluetooth(R) 3.0 + High Speed Adapter
- Driver: Intel - 2011/12/09 - 1.0.90.20620
- Samsung Galaxy Nexus with Google official Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean (unrooted)
- Asus / Google Nexus 7 with Google official Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean (unrooted)
The pairing process between the Android devices and Windows 7 works flawlessly. Here is what I'm doing to pair them:
- Put the Android device into discoverable mode (Settings --> Bluetooth --> Tap device name)
- Open Devices and Printers on Windows 7
- Click Add Device
- Select Android device in device list and click Next
- When the pairing code is displayed, confirm on Windows 7 and Android device
- Pairing is complete
The devices are paired. However, they never seem to connect to each other. I see the device's icon switch between being greyed out and opaque, on Windows 7 Devices and Printers briefly, and eventually it just goes grey. No matter how much I tap on the Windows 7 computer's name in the list of paired devices on the Android device, it does not re-establish a connection.
One function that I tested successfully, is sending a file using Bluetooth File Transfer (fsquirt.exe). When I attempted to send a file to one of my Android devices, initiated from that utility on Windows, the Android device prompted me to accept the file transfer. The Bluetooth icon on Android was still greyed out, however, which indicates to me that the devices are not connected to each other persistently.
Bottom line: Does anyone know how to use Android Bluetooth features with Windows 7?
