MacBook Pro Boot Camp Windows 10 bluetooth mouse and keyboard problem

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Level 1

15 points

MacBook Pro Boot Camp Windows 10 bluetooth mouse and keyboard problem

I have just installed the Boot Camp with the latest Windows 10 to my MacBook Pro 13" 2017 macOS 10.14.2. The installation went fine but the Might Mouse and Apple keyboard not working on Windows.

The first time I logged in to the Windows, I checked the Device Manager, both mouse and keyboard were installed under the Bluetooth, all the bluetooth devices reported fine, the mouse and keyboard were paired under the Bluetooth configuration but nothing of them worked.

I cannot remove / unpaired them somehow, I try to turn off the Bluetooth but once it is turned off, I cannot turn it back on again.

I then logged on back to macOS, the mouse and keyboard worked fine, I unpaired them from Mac and booted to Windows, paired them on Windows, it worked. I then booted back to the Mac side and paired them, it also worked on Mac but once I booted to Windows, it stopped working again.

Tried reset SMC, reinstalling both Windows and macOS or tried to manually install the Windows driver from Boot Camp support software did not help (the Broadcom driver was installed but Windows could not start the device, they only work with the Windows default drivers) did not help.

Any ideas?

MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Posted on Jan 16, 2019 1:55 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

shaynewhite

Level 1

62 points

Jan 19, 2019 1:56 PM in response to AndyLau

Unfortunately lots of people on this forum have reported that Bluetooth devices don't work in Windows 10 under Boot Camp. It used to work, but I think (I could be wrong here) there was an EFI update or something when Mojave came out that killed Bluetooth in Windows. Thankfully there's a fix I just discovered today and it only costs $20:

-Go to your local Best Buy and get a USB-Bluetooth dongle. The one I found is from Insignia and it supports Bluetooth 4.0. I plugged it in, Windows installed it, rebooted and now I can pair my Magic Trackpad 2 without a hitch. It's USB-A so you'll need a hub or adapter for use in modern Macbook Pros.

Only downside is your devices will only be tethered to Windows. You won't be able to go back and forth between Windows and macOS without disconnecting/repairing. I have both Magic Trackpads 1&2 so that isn't an issue for me -- I can use one for Windows and another for Mac, but it could be a problem for other people. But at least it works.

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Answer 2

AndyLau Author

Level 1

15 points

Jan 19, 2019 10:29 PM in response to shaynewhite

The catch so far is "cold boot", my MacBook Pro is cold started or if you shut down the machine and boot to Windows, it has no issue.

If the machine is cold started and boot to Windows, then it is restarted to Windows, it has no issue.

The issue is reproduced when you are "restarting" the machine from macOS to Windows.

I have tried:

Reinstalling the OS
Reinstalling the Windows drivers
Reinstalling the drivers with the Boot Camp Windows support
Turned on / off the Bluetooth collaboration on the driver
Turn off the computer turning off the device in Power Management
Uninstalled and unpaired the mouse and keyboard from both Mac and Windows, then booting Windows, paired the mouse and keyboard, it worked until you booted to Mac and paired them again, it would then recreate this issue

The workaround so far is shutting down the machine and boot to either macOS / Windows.

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Answer 3

AndyLau Author

Level 1

15 points

Jan 17, 2019 3:02 AM in response to Loner T

I do not see "BT/WiFi collaboration" in the settings but it seems that I found a workaround.

As I use macOS most of the time, every time I switch to Windows by "restarting", rather than "cold start", if I cold start (shutting down first) the Mac to Windows, I can use my bluetooth mouse and keyboard without issue; if I restart my Mac to Windows, they will not be functioning on Windows.

On the Mac side, no matter how I restart my Mac from Windows or Mac, the bluetooth mouse and keyboard are working fine. I will use to this workaround at the moment, not sure if this issue is by design or something to do with the driver update

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Answer 4

AndyLau Author

Level 1

15 points

Jan 16, 2019 6:22 PM in response to Loner T

No, I tried to update the driver for the Bluetooth Device and Bluetooth Radio (RFCOMM Protocol TDI) with the Boot Camp driver by selecting the driver in the Drivers > Broadcom folder but it was unsuccessful, after installing the driver, it said the device cannot be powered up. For the "Broadcom Network adapter", I will check it tonight, thanks for response.

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Answer 5

AndyLau Author

Level 1

15 points

Jan 17, 2019 4:41 AM in response to Loner T

I did that at the very beginning as I found some people suggested in different forum, it doesn't work anyway. I think that this power option thing was fixed in the previous Windows update, so I enabled it back as it makes no difference in my issue.

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Answer 6

Loner T

Level 9

59,526 points

Jan 19, 2019 3:21 PM in response to shaynewhite

-Go to your local Best Buy and get a USB-Bluetooth dongle. The one I found is from Insignia and it supports Bluetooth 4.0. I plugged it in, Windows installed it, rebooted and now I can pair my Magic Trackpad 2 without a hitch. It's USB-A so you'll need a hub or adapter for use in modern Macbook Pros.

This method pairs your devices to the BT Radio on the USB dongle, not the Windows OS. It sees the devices as USB HID Devices. If you have the Lightning cable for the MT2/MK2, you can directly connect it to the Mac and use it as a standard USB HID, instead of the $20 spent at BB.

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Answer 7

Jan 21, 2019 9:10 AM in response to AndyLau

AndyLau: Thank you! I tried the cold boot method and Bluetooth now seems to be working fine with my 2016 MBP internal radio. I will keep testing throughout the day but I might be able to return the USB adapter I got at Best Buy after all.

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