11-06-2011, 11:29 AM

I logged into my Windows 7 partition today, via Boot Camp, and it installed some updates. After the machine restarted, and I booted into Windows again, all of my Bluetooth devices (Apple keyboard, Magic Trackpad, Magic Mouse) no longer work.

I scrounged around and found a wired mouse and plugged that in, and then updated Windows two or three more times with all their updates, hoping that would work. It didn't. I installed the Boot Camp 3.3 update, and that didn't help. I reinstalled all the Boot Camp drivers (upgrading to Boot Camp 4.0 in the process), and that didn't work either.

There is no Bluetooth icon in the system tray. There is no Bluetooth options in the Device manager either.

I'm currently typing this on my Wireless Keyboard, on Lion, so there isn't an issue with the Bluetooth itself. Also, when I first got the issue, I had no other way to restart it other than by using the power button. When I turned it back on and booted to Windows, it brought up the Windows Error Recovery screen, and I could use my keyboard to select options.

Does anybody know what I need to do? Please tell me I don't have to reinstall Windows. I just went through that two weeks ago.

11-06-2011, 08:22 PM

It looks like Windows "lost" your BT hardware enumeration. All enumeration of hardware is annotated in the Registry. You could try repairing Windows 7 using your original Windows 7 DVD, or reinstall. The repair is going to set you back to day one anyway which means downloading and installing the updates again.

Also there's a "gotcha"... If you have already installed Windows 7 SP-1, it won't allow you to do a repair install because it "thinks" your DVD copy is older than the installed copy. (which is true)

You might be forced to reinstall anyway. Some advice: Unless you really need to use a dual boot setup to run games or some such, you can avoid all the headaches by running Windows 7 in a virtual machine with VM software. I highly recommend the new version of Fusion (4.0). Easy to setup and it does support accelerated graphics to some extent.