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January 30th, 2008 09:00
Disable Bluetooth Radio on multiple laptops?
Hi all
I know how to manually disable the Bluetooth Radio on a Dell laptop, but to resolve an iPass Remote Access / bindop.exe issue, we need the ability to disable the Bluetooth Radio on 500+ Dell Latitude (D410/20/30) laptops, so we are looking for a script to deploy to these laptops. We'd prefer not to disable the Bluetooth service, in case users need to use Bluetooth in the future (long story!).
I have searched the web for ideas and some have attempted registry changes but didn't work. Has anyone else tried to disable the Bluetooth Radio on multiple laptops via the registry/scripting/anything else please?
Thanks Scott
Message Edited by unifyscott on 01-30-2008 06:07 AM
I know how to manually disable the Bluetooth Radio on a Dell laptop, but to resolve an iPass Remote Access / bindop.exe issue, we need the ability to disable the Bluetooth Radio on 500+ Dell Latitude (D410/20/30) laptops, so we are looking for a script to deploy to these laptops. We'd prefer not to disable the Bluetooth service, in case users need to use Bluetooth in the future (long story!).
I have searched the web for ideas and some have attempted registry changes but didn't work. Has anyone else tried to disable the Bluetooth Radio on multiple laptops via the registry/scripting/anything else please?
Thanks Scott
Message Edited by unifyscott on 01-30-2008 06:07 AM
Message Edited by unifyscott on 02-04-2008 06:46 AM
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unifyscott
3 Posts
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February 4th, 2008 10:00
Cheers
Scott
unifyscott
3 Posts
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February 5th, 2008 14:00
Testing has confirmed that the following automated methods to disable Bluetooth (BT) do not work / are not suitable:-
1) Killing the TosOBEX.exe and/or TosBtProc.exe processes running in Task Manager do not disable the BT NIC.
2) Disabling any of the BT Services does not disable the BT NIC.
3) No appropriate command line arguments with BtSwInst.msi (master BT Installation file).
4) Regmon confirmed there were 10s if not hundreds of registry keys that were involved when the BT NIC is manually disabled, so would be finding a needle in a haystack!
5) We could disable the BT BIOS setting, but Toshiba do not supply a utility to manage multiple BIOSes and the Dell Client Configuration Utility (DCCU) is limited on managing multiple machines also.
6) There may be a way to move the NIC to top of list in the Network "Adapter Bindings" (Control Panel --> Network Connections --> Advanced --> Advanced Settings), but none found as yet.
7) Utility called "ToggleNIC" created by a 3rd party individual works but need to know exact name of NIC to be disabled, e.g. C:\>toggleNIC.exe "Bluetooth" disable may work on one machine but not on a machine if the BT NIC is named "Local Area Connection #3", for example.
*** SOLUTION ***
Microsoft's own DEVCON.exe utility disables any NIC including Bluetooth http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q311272. For example:-
C:\>devcon.exe disable *bluetooth*
…searches for all NICs containing "bluetooth" and disables them. 14 instances found on a Dell D420.
However, if at a later date we need to fully re-enable the BT NIC, the following command line must be executed 3 times (on a Dell D420 at least anyway):-
C:\>devcon.exe enable *bluetooth*
NB: The first time this command line is executed, 2 instances of "bluetooth" are re-enabled. The second time this command line is executed, 13 instances of "bluetooth" are re-enabled. Finally, the third time this command line is executed, 14 instances of "bluetooth" are re-enabled, then the BT NIC re-appears in Control Panel --> Network Connections.
Hope this helps others!
Scott