Setting Up Bluetooth in Windows Server 2003

Filed under: Networking, Tech Stuff, Windows — Written by Chrissy on Monday, June 5th, 2006 @ 5:44 am

This is a bit recycled from the last post but I'm reframing it so that Googlers can easily find the solution.

I've gotten Bluetooth to work in Windows Server 2k3. Here's are the steps:

  • Download the bt_stack_rtm.exe and extract to a temporary directory. Navigate to that directory and, within the ENU directory, copy Q323183_WXP_SP2_X86_ENU.EXE and place it in C:\. This file the XP SP2 Bluetooth Update
  • Extract the contents by doing the following: Start -> Run -> C:\Q323183_WXP_SP2_X86_ENU.EXE /x
  • Download update.inf and place it in C:\Q323183_WXP_SP2_X86_ENU\update. It basically changes the OS requirements.
  • Download btfiles.zip two files that seem to be missing from the update. Extract them to the C:\Q323183_WXP_SP2_X86_ENU directory.
  • Change directories into C:\Q323183_WXP_SP2_X86_ENU\Update and run update.exe

The ini provided works for Win2k3 R2 (R2 comes with SP1). If it doesn't work for you, you will need to tweak the update.ini file. Double click the ini file and play with the variables NtMinorVersionToUpdate, MaxNtBuildToUpdate, MaxNtMinorVersionToUpdate, MinNtServicePackVersion, MaxNtServicePackVersion, ThisServicePackVersion. Thanks to steeleprice.net for the heads up.

If this all works out for you, you should now see the Bluetooth in your Control Panel. It is listed under "Wireless Link."

28 Comments   -
  • Comment by Kevin | June 10, 2006 @ 7:40 pm

    For some reason downloading that didn't do as intended (step 1) - i had to stop the install and go to a temp directory that it makes. The update.inf that was extracted didn't work with the supplied one, as well.

    Thanks, tho.

  • Comment by Chrissy | June 10, 2006 @ 8:24 pm

    Kevin,
    The C:\Q323183_WXP_SP2_X86_ENU.EXE file is within the first file, bt_stack_rtm.exe. The update.ini will work for Win2k3 R2. If it doesnt work for your setup, you have to play around with the variables listed below step 5.

  • Comment by Kevin | June 15, 2006 @ 12:11 am

    Hi,

    I'm running Windows Server 2003 SE w/ service pack 1. Even changing the update.inf to match the version (5.2.3790 as reported by running the ver.exe command) I was getting the error "You can only install this update on Service Pack 0". Tweaking Min/Max/ThisMinNtServicePackVersion in update.inf didn't get me around this error.

    To get around it, I just tricked the update program - using regmon from sysinternals I saw that update.exe was quering the registry key HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Windows\CSDVersion which returns the SP level in hex. I just made it 0x00. This got past that check. Oh, I also made sure to change that back after
    the check :)
    Thanks for the help/post Chrissy.

  • Comment by Chrissy | June 15, 2006 @ 4:57 am

    Dang, that's hardcore! I have a 2k3 EE w/SP1. I'll see if I can figure it out w/o changes to the registry.

  • Comment by Jure Robic | August 8, 2006 @ 3:18 am

    Hi,
    I have successfully installed this update, but my Bluetooth dongle (in XP recognised as Generic Bluetooth Radio) is not installed because coumputer can't find the driver.

    What can I do?

  • Comment by Lolita | August 28, 2006 @ 10:51 am

    How can i know that my BT is working - update installed ok, but nothing is added in control panel and my bt device is still not recognized (it is not supposed to, because drivers need to be download from windows update)

  • Comment by Lolita | August 29, 2006 @ 12:31 am

    Update.exe installed witouth problem, but nothing appeared in control panel. Does this realy worked for you? Can you help me with it? Any ideas or sugetions?

    [and btw why did you deleted my last coment, i hope it was misstake (:]

  • Comment by Peter | August 29, 2006 @ 2:41 am

    I run Windows 2000, is there any way I can get this process posted here to be applied on Windows 2000? I have had a couple of people saying it is possible to install the Microsoft Bluetooth stack on Windows 2000 but no one could to date tell me how?

    Please ...

  • Comment by JD | September 18, 2006 @ 9:12 am

    I would love you forever if you figured out how to do this on x64 Windows Server 2003. :)

  • Comment by Dave | September 28, 2006 @ 4:09 pm

    I have Server 2003 Standard SP1, if one of you finds a way to make it work could you send me the files?

    Thanks!

  • Comment by Coz | October 6, 2006 @ 6:07 am

    After looking at the registry key value, depending on the hex number, mine equaled 512 in decimal. So I just changed the MaxNtServicePackVersion value to 512 instead of 256. It saves time and you won't have to change any registry values, but I used this on a XP sp2 computer. It should also work on W2003. Hope it helps someone.

  • Comment by Josh | October 6, 2006 @ 6:23 am

    If your getting a service pack version error try changing MaxNtServicePackVersion to 65536. I'm guessing service pack values go like this...

    0 = sp0
    256 = sp1
    1024 = sp2
    65536 = sp3
    etc...

    So 65536 will definitely get you through and you should only have to worry about the other service pack values or changing any registry settings.

  • Comment by Josh | October 6, 2006 @ 6:24 am

    Sorry, *shouldN'T have to worry about the other service pack values.

  • Comment by Speedo | November 7, 2006 @ 5:40 am

    Hey,

    Tip: i had the same problems, i installed the WIDCOMM32 / 64 drivers for bluetooth i think its from Broadcom who seems to do all bluetooth hardware.. try it..

  • Comment by mabra | November 19, 2006 @ 8:03 am

    Hi !

    Does someone has any information about a 64bit version standalone installation package for xP? IT's just, that I use Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition and would like to use bluetooth there also!

    Regards,
    mabra

  • Comment by Mínimus | January 16, 2007 @ 12:47 pm

    Hi!

    This don't works in other languages (Spanish). The bt_stack_rtm.exe is only for English versions.

    Help!!

  • Comment by Rocky | February 2, 2007 @ 1:30 pm

    i've made it through the installation process. n it worked but it can't search any device...any idea?

  • Comment by Ciro | February 19, 2007 @ 5:27 pm

    >This don’t works in other languages (Spanish). The bt_stack_rtm.exe is only for English versions.

    To install in Italian language I've modify update.inf removing %LangTypeValue%.

    [Version]
    LanguageType = %LangTypeValue%

    [Version]
    LanguageType =

    It works.

  • Comment by TimeSaver | February 27, 2007 @ 5:09 pm

    Just like Lolita says: The installation went fine but still no icon in Control Panel and still device is not recognized. Any help?

  • Comment by Mike | March 21, 2007 @ 9:13 pm

    I thought I'd give some of my experiences on an M200...

    I installed the hotfix as prescribed on Win 2003 SP2 (I had to change the Service Pack version to 512 in the update.ini, no problems here).

    After installation the Control Panel did not show up as described, so I started going through Device Manager.

    I found several "Unknown Devices", so I went through each one pointed it at the C:\Q323183_WXP_SP2_X86_ENU directory, which contains several .inf files. One of the devices was recognized as Bluetooth APCI.

    Sweet.

    I then installed Toshiba's Bluetooth stack, which had originally failed to install BT drivers but now detected and installed them without a hitch. Rock!

  • Comment by MC | April 30, 2007 @ 7:09 am

    Copy the bthprops.cpl to the system directory. Then you can access the Control Panel by double clicking on that file.

  • Comment by murali | May 20, 2007 @ 3:28 am

    very nice.. after installing the updates i just have to point the actual driver folder and it works

  • Comment by Pavzaj | June 10, 2007 @ 1:36 am

    Hello, is there any way to apply this solution to different language versions of windows 2003 server?

  • Comment by Nick | September 10, 2007 @ 3:23 am

    Any luck with Windows 2003 Server x64 bit? Anyone?

  • Comment by SuperGumby | September 27, 2007 @ 5:01 am

    Well, thank you.

    As well as the XP stack I had to install the Belkin BT software for the F8T003 v 2.11 device I have. During installation it did not detect the device but one option is to continue anyway, did so. DevMan still showed an 'unknown USB device' but rt-click and 'update driver', allow automatic search, loaded the drivers and Im up.

  • Comment by tony | October 8, 2007 @ 12:17 pm

    My Broadcom/Trust dongle worked ok on xp with MS drivers but after following the instructions on 2003 it didnt, searching on a xp pc I found a oem7.inf which contained the name of the BT radio displayed in device manager, Im guessing it downloaded extra drivers from MS when I did the 'search for drivers' on xp, copying that file (and updated versions for all the BTH* files) to my 2003 server fixed it

  • Comment by Vasia | November 13, 2007 @ 1:58 pm

    Whats about Windows 2000?

  • Comment by Vasia | November 13, 2007 @ 5:15 pm

    I was testing this method on Windows 2000. Update installed fine but the stack does not work because some libraries from this update not compatible with this OS & many errors appears related to shell32.dll. Who want to check for itself need to apply some changes in update.inf:

    LanguageType = (leave this field blank if language of your OS different from ENG)
    NtBuildToUpdate = 2195
    NtMinorVersionToUpdate = 0
    MaxNtBuildToUpdate = 2195
    MaxNtMinorVersionToUpdate = 0
    MaxNtServicePackVersion = 65536

    Thanks to Chrissy for this tweak, it help me with installing Bluetooth on my beta XP SP2 which was not have Bluetooth Stack at all, but anyone know if russian version of this update exist? That mentioned in BLUTOOTH.INF file (q323183_wxp_sp2_x86_rus.exe) but i could not find it anywhere. :(

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