I have a Bluetooth headset connected to my computer. The buttons play/pause/volume are working fine, but I have no sound in the headset. It only works in the speaker of the computer.

In fact, I played with the sound settings of my headset in the sound settings of Ubuntu, and after choosing "switch off", the headset did "disappear" from the settings.

My question is: how can I make it appear there again, to be able to hear the sound via the headset? Thank you all for your help!

8

8 Answers

For some more settings I would advice to install pavucontrol. It saved me some troubles diagnosing sound issues. It also will list any possible output where Ubuntu sound sometimes forgets to show outputs that should be available (though it keeps getting better: HDMI used to not show up; 1 update after 12.10 release it started showing up.

You too will be able to find your headset and control it from here.

If I recall correctly after I used pavucontrol to activate my hdmi ubuntu control picked it up too (but that might have been caused by an update too). Otherwise do not use Ubuntu sound settings but switch to this program since it also has far more options.

Command line install

sudo apt-get install pavucontrol

9

Try this script: a2dp.py

Install using:

curl "" | sh

The installation script will copy a2dp.py into PATH and make it executable. So, you may issue this command to use the a2dp.py script:

$ a2dp.py
Connection MADE
Selecting device:
1. 00:22:37:3D:DB:1A JBL E40BT
2. 00:22:37:3D:DA:50 JBL E40BT
Select device[1]: 2
Device MAC: 00:22:37:3D:DA:50
Device ID: bluez_card.00_22_37_3D_DA_50
Sink: bluez_sink.00_22_37_3D_DA_50
Turning off audio profile.
Disconnecting the device.
Connecting againt.
Setting A2DP profile
Device ID: bluez_card.00_22_37_3D_DA_50
Updating default sink
Exiting bluetoothctl

12

Terminating the PulseAudio daemon with pulseaudio -k did the trick. Headset started appearing.

-k | --kill

Kill an already running PulseAudio daemon of the calling user (Equivalent to sending a SIGTERM).

4

With the latest Ubuntu version (15.10) the Bluetooth headphones are recognized but not available in pavucontrol. After some testing I found this simple solution to enable it!

Install the bluetooth package then restart the bluetooth service and now the headphones are visible.

sudo apt-get install bluetooth

after this

sudo systemctl restart bluetooth

Note: you may need to turn your headphones off and on again after these commands.

4

(This issue has bothered me for a long time, and I just found the solution, it worked on my laptop.)

I am using Mint mate 18, which is based on Ubuntu 16.04. To make headset & ubuntu/mint work together, need both blueman and pulseaudio.

---

Connect & choose output device

Steps:

• sudo apt-get install blueman
  Install blueman.
• blueman-manager &
  Start blueman, and enable bluetooth as tip, if not yet.
• Start your headset device, make sure it's not connected to other device yet.
• In blueman:
  • Search device.
  • Right click headset -> trust, if not yet.
  • Right click headset -> pair, if not yet.
  • Right click headset -> audio sink.
  • And wait a bit for it to connect.
• sudo apt install pavucontrol
  Install pavucontrol.
• pavucontrol &
  Start pavucontrol.
• In pavucontrol.
  • In playback tab.
  • Find a outputer, e.g chromium.
  • Choose the headset device as it's output.
• Play some music in your chrome browser.
• Now your headset should be playing chrome's sound.

Tips:

• In pavucontrol, for each outputer (e.g chromium), could choose which device to use.
  By default, it's usually the computer's built-in audio, not your bluetooth headset.
• Each time bluetooth connected, need to choose which device to use in pavucontrol again.

---

Command shortcut

Add to .bashrc:

## bluetooth headset related,
alias btmanager="blueman-manager &"
alias btctrl="pavucontrol &"

---

It's really convenient

Next time, I want to get some drinks or snacks, I could just walk away, without needing to unplug the wired headset, and without interrupting the music or video I am listening to, really convenient.

Cheers !!!

1

I am relatively new to the Linux world, but have had no major issues converting from Windows. Please be patient with my explanation because I wrote it with a brand new person to Linux in mind. I have fallen in love with Linux and wish for other "newbies" to do the same :)

For someone converting from windows... powerful "sudo" commands that are entered without understanding of their meaning... may quickly lead to a fresh re-install of one's favorite flavor of Linux. I speak from experience. If you are new to Linux, especially switching from Windows, it is important to know that not all hardware is compatible and to make it even more interesting, Linux “distros” are also not equal. I am currently using Linux Mint 17.1 KDE, which is more or less a derivative of Canonical's Ubuntu. For example, if you didn't know, most HP printers are recognized immediately and effortlessly within Linux because of the the wonderful HPLIP opensource project. Just connect and turn on your HP printer, then go to printer settings within Ubuntu or Linux mint 17.1 and simply add your HP printer (which should be already listed).

A little research first will definitely save a huge headache later. :)

I tried using my Insignia Bluetooth Receiver in the past, but had no luck on Mint or Ubuntu, while my newly bought Kensington Bluetooth 4.0 dongle #K33956AM was recognized and paired seamlessly with my other devices. It was able to list the exact device name along with the MAC address. Unfortunately, I had NO SOUND. :( I double checked it was not my system. My computer played the music file normally though my built-in analog stereo hardware. :(

I read what the awesome and helpful people stated above, but went though the graphical interface instead of using the terminal (I've used windows for the past 20 years, what can I say... LOL) I went to System Settings/Multimedia/Audio and Video Settings and discovered my Analog stereo hardware received priority over my Bluetooth hardware. I first attempted to change the priority of the devices within the "Audio Playback Device Preference for 'Music' Category" but this did not fix my sound.

THEN I DISCOVERED THE SOLUTION TO MY PROBLEM... I changed the priority of devices in the "Audio Playback Device Preference for 'Video' Category" and BINGO!!! :) :) :) This worked perfectly. For some reason the video setting also controls the music. I changed all pertinent settings to make my Bluetooth have priority and have not had any further issues since that point. Hope this helps. :)

Pulse Audio Volume Control is Pre-installed on Linux Mint 17.1 (. This is a great tool. Just search in the menu bar for the program or use the PPA from the repository a.k.a. Software Manager. Although I should mention, this program would not work for me until after I changed the settings in the Multimedia.

I LOVE LINUX!!!

1

Thanks CPlovlin, this is the one last config step I was missing. My Bluetooth headset works much better in Debian than in Windows 10. I had short range when using Windows and it cut out a lot. In Debian Jessie, I have nearly double the range.

For others using Debian or Ubuntu. Here is what I did to get my Bluetooth dongle to work and my headset configured.

1.) First I plugged my USB Bluetooth Dongle into my computer. After that I did a quick check to see if it was recognized.

sudo lsusb

2.) Open up terminal, you will need to install a few things.The following meta-package has most of what you will need. Don't forget sudo or su.

sudo apt-get install bluetooth

3.) Now we need an applet in the tool bar at the bottom. For KDE, I did this (if you are using a different window manager, you may wanna look for whichever will work best for you:

sudo apt-get install bluedevil

4.) I then had to add the blue tooth software to get the volume control to have the bluetooth modules needed.

apt-get install pulseaudio pulseaudio-module-bluetooth pavucontrol bluez-firmware

5.)After that, you should just probably do a quick reboot. Do either of the following: sudo reboot

OR

sudo systemctl restart bluetooth

You should have a bluetooth icon in your system tray. Now just right click and choose 'Add Device'

Now that your bluetooth is all set up, make sure to follow what CPlovin said above. Just because your testing out an mp3, make sure that your headphones are the preferred device for video and audio. I just set it to be my preferred device for everything.

Hope this helps others!

1

if not already installed install pulseaudio-module-bluetooth, this will add the required pulse audio sink that is needed.

sudo apt-get install pulseaudio-module-bluetooth

Afterwards restart pulse

pulseaudio -k
pulseaudio --start

Then make sure in the bluetooth manager your headset is connecting to the audio sink. At this point it should also appear in pacucontrol, make sure it uses the high quality audio protocol.