WIDCOMM/Broadcom Bluetooth stack works under Windows Vista if you brute force install it

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Saturday, October 21. 2006

WIDCOMM/Broadcom Bluetooth stack works under Windows Vista if you brute force install it

I have an older than dirt Kensington USB Bluetooth dongle that is actually a rebranded / relabeled MSI Bluetooth dongle. Due to the way WIDCOMM originally did licensing and firmware, it is easier getting an organ from the organ donation list than it is to get updated drivers and firmware for most Bluetooth devices.

For whatever reason that I haven't looked into yet, the dongle isn't automatically discovered correctly like most newer BT dongles with the default XP SP2/Vista BT support.

In an effort to get something working under Vista, I ended up pointing Vista to my original XP inf directory for initial BT support of the actual dongle to get rid of the 'Unknown device'. To avoid 30 or 40 'unsigned driver' warnings, I edited the local group policy to 'ignore' the fact that the drivers might be unsigned. Sure, not best practice, but I don't mind bending the rules on my home desktop machine. If I break it, I'm the one that has to fix it anyway.

I ran the WIDCOMM setup in XP SP2 compatibility mode and it installed everything correctly as far as I can tell. There are a few sections of the programs that have quirky display problems, but I just wanted some base functionality with this old dongle until I decide to get a newer USB 2.0 Class 1 Bluetooth dongle.

At least I don't have to suffer with the Toshiba Bluetooth stack that installs 40 COM devices on initial install, even if you are only going to use one COM port. A lot of programs still don't handle anything above COM8 correctly.

An unpatched Toshiba BT stack is also easy to crash if you have your system discoverable and in range of someone with exploit code. Sure, not very common in the real world, but given how difficult it is to get updated Bluetooth stacks from vendors, I am sure most people are still running the older versions.

I am hoping Broadcom, who bought WIDCOMM, will do something like what Agere did with their software modems. They released a 'generic' driver for their chips that might not have all the features of the original OEM drivers, but you can at least download and get basic functionality if you lose your original CDs.

Posted by Aaron Tiensivu in Vista at 12:57 | Comments (18) | Trackbacks (0)

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I'm a beginner in Bluetooth programming and, with the information I have, it seems to me that Broadcom is not paying attention to the Widcomm stack and, specially, to the SDK (it seems that Broadcom is not improving the Widcomm SDK and thal will forget it).
I wonder if the people who are interested in the Bluetooth world have the same impression...
Thanks in advance.

#1 Dito Albela on 2006-11-22 04:00 (Reply)

hi,,
can we talk about bt application developing ?
we want to build one application .
regards

#1.1 nymooss on 2007-12-05 01:40 (Reply)

i have a bluetooth adapter that works on my Dell P3 using SP2 but when i try to use it my Toshiba laptop using vista, the machine freezes. Please help me

#2 duncan (Homepage) on 2007-06-29 15:12 (Reply)

Hi, Duncan,

There is a problem with the Bluetooth stack not being licensed; probably not licensed for Windows Vista, if that's what you have. If there is a download from Broadcom or Microsoft to correct the problem, and you learn about it, please e-mail me and let me know.

Marshall

#2.1 Marshall Abuwi on 2007-07-25 19:46 (Reply)

I have vista. when the security certificte warning shows up right click an option to close by pressing alt + f4 appears hold buttons down driver installation should continue.

#2.1.1 robert cole on 2007-08-26 01:25 (Reply)

alt - f4 it just worked for vista ultimate 32, thanks robert,
and about the nokia you need to install nokia pc suite to get the driver and go to control panel - modems and add your nokia model as a modem, hope this help.

#2.1.1.1 wes on 2007-10-15 15:25 (Reply)

Hi,

I am having one major problem. Please help me quickly .
In my laptop having Vista OS. I have installed Bluetooth WIDCOMM drivers.

1.> I have developed the application using the Bluetooth WIDCOMM SDK. All devices enumaration works fine, but when i query for all available device services FAILS.

2.> Now , I opened the Vista Bluetooh GUI find the Bluetooth device and added that Bluetooth device, this time there one virtual COM port was created.

3.> After this i done that above STPE 1 [check for devices services in my app devdeloped using broadcom API] works fine.

I want my application should work without the adding devices by Vista bluetooth OS option .

Please help me quickly how to do that or may be i am missing any configuration.

Waiting for your reply.

-vivek

regards,
Vivek

#2.1.2 Vivek on 2007-11-04 20:50 (Reply)

How do you run the installer in windows xp compatibility mode?

#3 albatroz (Homepage) on 2007-07-16 18:40 (Reply)

go into help and ask installing old proggrams and click on link
hope this helps Geoff

#3.1 Geoff Guild on 2007-08-15 12:44 (Reply)

i have a kensinton too. it worked wonderfully on xp, but the cd it came with doesn't work on vista. i tried 3 times and it keep frozen up and even crush my computer for reboots. anyways, the way to fix this issue is to leave the cd out of the installation process... Just plug in your dongle and let vista handle the installation issue, it will say no driver found and then recommend online driver, just click whatever you need to get to that to check online, then it will refer you to a driver to download for the dongle. for the kensington dongle, the driver it proposed is Widcomm (BTWInitialUpdate MFC Application version 1.0.0.2) run in Windows XP service pack 2 compatibility. please make sure if you use msn live, you need to set msn live's compatibility setting to xp service pack 2. this is the only way i made it work. spend like 2 days on this... i hope you guys don't spend as much time as i do, so try this out.

#4 new tech on 2007-08-25 23:10 (Reply)

new tech is right...

I spent a good full day on this and couldn't get it to install, even the latest downloaded WIDCOMM Vista version wouldn't work on Vista Home Premium 32 / Vista Ultimate 64.

However, it worked without a hitch on a Windows XP Pro 32 machine.

I did find other sites that suggested downloading stacks from other companies, but I was never able to get the full thing working.

I haven't tried the compatibility mode because by that time, I was fed up and contacted Kensington about it.

They made me go through the same series of installations I did.

After a week of messages back and forth with Kensington, they still couldn't come up with a solution.

I ended up giving it away to a friend that has XP.

My 2 Cents:
It is very unfortunate that we have to go through all this hardship. I'm no pro with computers but I certainly consider myself above average.

I pitty the newcomers to the PC world where they have no clue what they are doing or better yet, what to do. Things like this make them shutdown their system and give up on the whole PC thing. Because to them, things have not changed since Windows 3.x

#4.1 Mark on 2007-08-31 10:47 (Reply)

hi all i feel your pain to,i recently bought a toshiba notebook running vista home premium.my bluetooth dongle only works partially,my nokia 6230 mobile phone connects fine,i can transfer and recieve data perfect but when i try using the phone as a modem,it jus says,no modem detected,additional drivers needed,my only way to connect to the net is through a gprs connection on my mobile phone,how can i get upates if i can't go online,the problem is the same when i try to use the usb cable,help me please.

#5 randy on 2007-10-14 12:50 (Reply)

Problem:
Dial-up modem or PPPoE option in New Connection Wizard is unavailable
Described in MS knowledgebase:
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb%3Buk%3B320558&x=3&y=11

#6 Dave (Homepage) on 2007-11-06 04:16 (Reply)

There's a still UNSOLVED and COMMON problem with Widcomm / Broadcom Bluetooth and XP SP2. I have installed the latest Bluetooth stack (Broadcom, not MS) but after some reboots when you double click "My Bluetooth Places" nothing opens. You can't use Bluetooth function. No dialog boxes are opened for my bluetooth places.

Tried with more than one driver and PC with the same negative result, and i think it has to do with SP2 which is completely disgusting behaviour.

Is there a certain solution?

Note: A re-install helps to overcome this issue but it's a temporary solution of course.

#7 Onur on 2008-03-20 16:33 (Reply)

http://www.thejackol.com/2007/11/30/dell-inspiron-64001505-bluetooth-not-activating/

Solution in this link works fine for me.

Dell Inspiron 1525 - Vista Ultimate.

#8 Gopal Raj on 2008-03-30 15:38 (Reply)

its for dell only ...

#8.1 AT on 2009-04-20 23:27 (Reply)

Thats nice but WHEREdaFUCK is the GODDAMN DRIVERS, not the BS installer that downloads the drivers?? I need an actual goddamn EXE..this is BULLSHIT wasting my GODDAMN TIME!!!

#9 zee on 2010-05-19 20:29 (Reply)

As much as I'd like to help on this, I have no control over executables from vendors. It is best to bring it up with them. I'm just a guy trying to help others out.

#9.1 Aaron Tiensivu (Homepage) on 2010-05-19 22:19 (Reply)

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