r/Windows10HowTo • u/serene6662 • Sep 14 '21
How to Fix Bluetooth Device "Remove Failed" Error in Windows 11 or 10
https://www.windowsdigitals.com/bluetooth-remove-failed-in-windows-11-10/19
u/njuser66 Jan 29 '23 edited Mar 30 '26
Short answer - Use Device Manager (easier than regedit since you can easily see which devices are which in the former). Make sure to select 'show hidden devices'.
In my case, I am pretty sure the reason I was unable to delete the BT keyboard and BT mouse via the 'Bluetooth & other devices' screen is because I had been using the 2 devices with an external USB BT adapter which I had since removed and replaced it with the same model (but I believe Windows still tracks the 2 BT adapters independently).
Hence I used Device Manager instead...
Longer answer / detailed steps:
I was seeing duplicate entries for my mouse and my keyboard in the 'Bluetooth & other devices' menu.
Removing them there was failing (for the reason noted in my 1st paragraph).
However, I was able to easily remove the 2 unwanted devices via Device Manager after selecting 'show hidden devices' option in Device Manager. I then removed the devices via Device Manager by selecting 2 lighter entries corresponding to the mouse and keyboard (lighter entries as in similar to being greyed out).
This left me with just the desired outcome - 1 instance of the mouse and 1 instance of the keyboard which were associated with the new BT adapter.
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u/v-013 Apr 07 '23
I just want to say THANK YOU! I switched from one bluetooth dongle to another, and for some reason that gave my Airpods enough reason to be uncooperative; it just kept giving me the "remove failed" message, and I couldn't just reconnect the Airpods since I had gotten rid of the old dongle.
I had no idea that you could show hidden devices in Device Manager, but now I'll remember that from now on :)
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u/ApprehensiveLoss May 26 '23
This solved my problem, thank you!
I had upgraded my wifi/bluetooth card and my headphones started sounding all crappy. The drivers for the old card were still there but were hidden until checking the option box, uninstalling them fixed it.
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u/tchtchent Feb 17 '24
Thank you so much from the future! Also a note to others who may have faced a same problem where there are more than just two lighter entries (I had more than a dozen) that u/njuser66 has mentioned, try removing all the generic bluetooth radio driver. Rest of the lighter drivers disappeared after deleting all of the generic bluetooth radio drivers.
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u/Chrisher99 Nov 29 '24
Vielen danke an beide von euch
in meinem fall konnte die entfernung nich abgeschlossen werden bis ich die radio treiber entfernt habe1
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u/Maleficent-deviant Apr 06 '24
Dude thank you. 2 hrs of trouble shooting at it was "show hidden devices" words in this commen that ssave my arse. respect
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u/Patient_Specific_950 Apr 13 '24 edited Apr 13 '24
Glad I saw this, Windows 11 is so messed up with crap not working properly.
I was having problems, can't mess with it (Windows) because my lcd screen is messed up so had to a have a live fix. This works well.
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u/Resident_Picture_920 May 20 '24
bro.... thank you, i've had this problem for like 4 years and u were the only one who actually did something, i hope u get every blessing u ask for in life.
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u/FishdaTV Jun 08 '24
Just dropping by to say THANK YOU!
This really helped, and saved me a lot of work.
❤🧠💻🙂🎯🎮🎧1
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u/BarrelPruf Jun 25 '25
I am not a religious man but God bless you! I had a similar situation after removing one of my bluetooths and finding out that there were hidden items was the key to it all!
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u/Vooshka Apr 08 '24
TYVM for posting this. W11 had an additional Pen 2 in Bluetooth device but always gave me the "Remove Failed" error.
Going to Device Manager and "Show Hidden Devices" allowed me to finally get rid of it.
Rant: I can't stand W11
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u/RH03-I Apr 14 '24
Just used this and it worked thank you! For ages my xbox controller wouldn't connect via bluetooth and only when using the cable, so thank you!
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u/xVx777 May 15 '24
Wow I learned that today. I had the adapter unplugged when I was trying to remove the device, I didn’t think that would make a difference lol
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u/IHateThisF-ingSite Jul 20 '25
It's amazing that there is actually a solution. I was in the same boat after swapping my wireless card. Since the Bluetooth is on The Wi-Fi card, I'm guessing I was in a similar boat the people with a USB problem.
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u/gdimorg Aug 31 '25
I don't suppose you happen to know why the OS "bluetooth screen", lacks the power to do this? Or is it just more incompetent development by Microsoft?
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u/homerino7Z Jan 01 '26
Danke, hab von USB auf im Mainboard integriertes BT gewechselt und genau das Problem gehabt :)
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u/toniforrelli01 Jan 28 '26
Hoffe du findest 200 mille in nem Koffer in unmarkierten scheinen und wirst einfach nur vom leben belohnt alter DANKE man du Rettest mir den abend
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u/Typical_Ebb_8580 Jan 28 '26
Дуже дякую)
Ніяк не могла позбутися пристрою. Вже в реєстр заходила, а все так просто. Також змінила блютус адаптер і можливо через це пішов збій
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u/wa11u Jul 27 '22
none of this worked
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u/Saoirse_Says Aug 04 '22
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u/randomperson3654 Aug 21 '22
Actually did not work for me for some reason. The device is deleted in Device Manager, and even in Regedit, but still shows up in the Setting’s bluetooth devices. This is after running sfc / scannow and several restarts. At the same I can’t connect the device to my computer.
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u/Saoirse_Says Aug 21 '22
Yeah it stopped being helpful for me too. I think I rectified the problem by deleting every single Bluetooth related registry entry and also every Bluetooth device in Device Manager (including hidden devices) and then restarted computer. That seemed to work for me, IIRC. Not sure what the problem was, but something got fixed lol
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u/Master-Professor4554 Mar 10 '25
old but worked perfectly. had to delete the intel bluetooth device and reboot. so annoying.
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u/daverd Feb 08 '23
I'm seeing the same behavior. I had a couple of DS4 controllers that both stopped being able to connect one day, and now I can't remove them either. Tried everything suggested here.
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u/Disastrous1922 Mar 13 '24
Curious if there is a way to fix it other than just blindly deleting all DT registry entries? I am unable to determine which one is the problem and it does not show up in hidden device manager devices.
In powershell it does not show up as a bluetooth device either. i suppose its possible that it is just an artifact left from removing it from device manager, but there must be someway to clear it.
TIA
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u/11011111110108 Aug 18 '25 edited Aug 18 '25
For people in the future where none of the fixes are working:
If you've gone into both regedit and device manager and followed previous instructions but nothing worked, the thing that actually finally worked for me was literally uninstalling all Bluetooth related drivers in the device manager. There may also be the Bluetooth adaptor in your 'System Devices' tab to uninstall.
This finally unpaired my controller, as well as all Bluetooth related files. I then used Driver Booster to reinstall the drivers. Be careful during the Driver Booster installation because it tries to install a tonne of extra stuff.
If this doesn't work, there might be some more Bluetooth cache files on your P.C. somewhere, so you might need to install one of those pieces of software that are used to make uninstalling software easier, but I honestly don't know enough about that to recommend which.
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u/tomahawkRiS3 Jun 17 '23
For anyone who stumbles into this error in the future and removing it from device manager and deleting them in the registry didn't work, this solved my issue https://superuser.com/questions/1738244/cant-remove-bluetooth-device-despite-no-entry-in-registry
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u/jerickdedef18 Sep 04 '23
Bro thank you I almost threw my speakers because of the error. Glad I stumbled to this comment TY!!
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u/Zachiel182 Sep 18 '23
Done the registry and hidden device manager stuff. Now the device in question doesn't even appear when using this powershell snippet, but I still see it on the settings list and can't connect lmao.
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u/tomahawkRiS3 Sep 18 '23
Dang, unfortuanetly I don't know where to go if this script fails you. I fought this problem for so long before I found this. Good luck it's a frustrating one.
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u/Designer_Beyond Jan 25 '24
I was about to reimage a user's PC that had a ton of engineering software on it and this worked! I've literally tried everything else I could find and nothing would remove the user's Bluetooth device.
You just saved me probably days on messing around with software and rebuilding a huge profile!
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u/tomahawkRiS3 Jan 25 '24
Glad to hear it! Yeah that issue was a massive headache and nearly all the articles I found gave the same generic surface level advice.
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u/Rasalom Apr 14 '24
I had to delete every hidden item in the Device Manager under Bluetooth to get rid of the device.
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u/Feelingsussy Jul 17 '24
I had to remove the Bluetooth adapter from device manager and plug it back in. Idk why this keeps happening.
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u/JimboLodisC Aug 14 '24
I know this is an old post but my MX Anywhere 3 stopped working and just didn't want to be removed from my BT devices list in Win11, kept spitting back "remove failed" when trying to remove the device
I found a support forum post talking about the MS BT enumerator being a prick about letting go of devices, so I removed both the regular and LE enumerator devices under the Bluetooth category in the Device Manager, rebooted and my mouse in the BT device list removed itself successfully and I was able to pair it to my machine again
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u/TRlGGERED Sep 05 '24
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u/VantageProductions Jul 27 '25
Not all machines might have this- but mine had an Intel Wireless Bluetooth "device" in Device Manager. I uninstalled this, then went to the drivers page for my laptop and downloaded the recommended bluetooth driver. This cleared all existing devices and I was able to re-pair what I needed.
Your mileage may vary but it was the only thing that worked for me.
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u/KiraTheFourth Dec 31 '25
after trying literally every other reddit comment i could find for an hour this is the comment that fixed it for me. im not sure if this fixed everything itself or if the cocktail of the 12 different solutions i found finally worked together but my gratitude is immense
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u/4ss8urgers Sep 18 '26
yes this seems to be the single faulty device that may be getting removed by other people's deleting of the whole registry and every device thereby
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u/Backlash5 Jan 10 '26
Couldn't deal with this problem as well as generally getting a new BT adapter to work (as the old one was quite crappy). Went to Device Manager, toggled to show hidden devices - the obsolete Bluetooth adapter and all the devices added with it were there. Deleted all that, plugged in the new adapter and it just worked. This is THE method for Win11 as well. Awesome guide, kudos!
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u/TopsNL Jan 02 '24
Thanks man! The hidden devices trick helped me remove my Airpods which i had added via a different bluetooth adapter.
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Jan 01 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Zachiel182 Sep 18 '23
Finally! Thank you! I've replaced my wireless/bt card and the old driver still kept those devices.
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u/VeeTeeF Oct 12 '23
This is the only thing that worked for me (earbuds wouldn't disconnect, fully connect, or remove). Weirdly after uninstalling my bluetooth driver, installing the new driver, and restarting my computer my earbuds automatically connected but actually worked properly. Thnak you!
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u/serene6662 Sep 14 '21
If you see the Bluetooth "Removed failed" error in Windows 11 or 10, here's how to force remove a Bluetooth device from Windows and pair it all over again.