How can I convert my wireless keyboard Bluetooth dongle as a universal Bluetooth dongle?

Question

I have an old Logitech wireless keyboard which is still working perfectly fine. I was wondering if I could use its Bluetooth dongle in order to connect my Bluetooth speakers (different brand) to my computer? Is this something possible at all? If so, I'd be happy if I could get a hint or some write-ups on that.

Answer 1

Try this solution found at forums.logitech.com. It worked for me. The issue seems to be that the Logitech dongle is using HID mode and needs to be in HCI mode to work with headphones.

When I first got my diNovo Edge, I found and tried the solution here. Unfortunately, I also discovered that following these instructions locks the dongle in Bluetooth mode. That is, even when you power up your system, the dongle is in Bluetooth mode!

That presented a big problem for me, because I could no longer get into the BIOS! (Note: if anyone who sees this knows of a way to use the instructions here to put the dongle in Bluetooth mode and retain the ability to get into BIOS, please share it!)

Anyway, I found an alternate solution, two actually!

The first, which is the one I use, is found here. This guy wrote a small program, called LHid2Hci, which works perfectly. All you do is download the binary and place a shortcut to it in your Startup folder. The binary takes two command line options, the VID&PID values of the Bluetooth dongle. (The instructions are all there.)

The program does exactly what the name says, it converts the Logitech Bluetooth dongle from HID (USB) to HCI (Bluetooth) mode! It's activated when you log in, and voilà! You have your Bluetooth dongle, with which you can pair any other device. (I have a Microsoft Bluetooth number pad and a Bluetooth stereo headset.)

The way in which this solution is different is that, when your system reboots, the dongle goes back into HID mode, meaning that your keyboard is immediately connected, and you can get into BIOS!

That's also why the command to run this program has to be in the Startup folder. It has to run every time a user logs in.

The second solution I mentioned is the LBTService, search on Google.

This is a service that supposedly does the exact same thing as LHid2Hci, but as a service instead of a startup program.

I haven't used this one, since I found the former solution first, however I've seen a lot of people who are using it successfully, so I figured I should mention it.

Answer 2

Are you sure the dongle is actually a Bluetooth dongle? Logitech is pretty big on their Unifying receivers, which are used to connect up to six Logitech devices using similar (but incompatible) technology to Bluetooth.

The unifying receivers tend to be marked with a 'red star' type logo, though my one has the text '1000 Hz' printed on it instead because it came with a 'high performance' mouse.

If it is one of these propriety dongles, you won't be able to repurpose it as a generic Bluetooth receiver.

If your receiver, however, has the blue Bluetooth logo on it, it should already be available within Windows as a generic Bluetooth adapter.

Answer 3

I recently stumbled upon this when I was trying to find out the answer to a similar question using my Logitech diNovo Mini Bluetooth dongle.

The diNovo mini definitely uses Bluetooth, so I was sure the USB dongle was a Bluetooth one. The included dongle has two modes that it operates in, an embedded mode and a Bluetooth mode. It's set to embedded mode by default, which allows you to connect to the Logitech device without having to do the pairing process. To switch it to Bluetooth mode you have to do the following:

1. Unplug the dongle from your computer
2. Press and hold the connect button on the dongle while plugging it into your computer. If you are using Windows then you will probably see a drivers update tooltip showing that it is installing a Bluetooth device.

Once you do this, you can now pair a Bluetooth device directly from Windows by simply going to your taskbar's Bluetooth icon.

Source: [Q] Possible to connect S2 to diNovo Mini Bluetooth dongle?

Answer 4

It is possible in general, although a Bluetooth dongle may support only a subset of Bluetooth profiles.

I think keyboards operate on an HID profile, while speakers require A2DP. So you may or may not be able to use speakers with your specific dongle, depending on what profiles it supports.

You should try to pair your speakers with the dongle in the same way you have paired your keyboard and in the same way you have paired your speakers elsewhere. Have in mind that successful pairing may happen even if the dongle lacks support for required profile.

You have paired your keyboard at least once? Or haven't you?

In case you never had to pair your keyboard with the dongle, there comes another issue: are you sure you've got a Bluetooth keyboard, not a simple wireless one? It's good if you are sure, but certainly there are users out there who do not know the difference, so let me explain for them.

As far as I know, vast majority of wireless keyboards and mice uses non-Bluetooth (vendor-specific, I think) protocols to communicate with their dongles. The reasons are: lower power consumption and simplicity. Such a set works "out of the box", the keyboard knows nothing about relatively complex Bluetooth, pairing, etc. The host may also know nothing about Bluetooth, and USB support is enough.

In addition, there isn't any need for two-way communication: the keyboard works as sender only, and the dongle as a receiver; still, Bluetooth requires two-way communication, even with a keyboard or mouse. That's why Bluetooth devices are more expensive than their non-Bluetooth counterparts.

Bluetooth or not, how can you tell? A Bluetooth keyboard should have a Bluetooth symbol on it and a button allowing it to pair with something other than attached dongle (example: with a laptop having internal Bluetooth adapter).

In fact, there isn't often any dongle in the set. The Bluetooth dongle reports to operating system as Bluetooth radio, while non-Bluetooth keyboard dongle is recognized directly as a keyboard (HID device) connected to USB just like any wired USB keyboard.

If your keyboard and dongle are Bluetooth devices, you have to pair them in every operating system you connect the dongle to, because a Bluetooth keyboard (and any other Bluetooth device) pairs with the operating system via the dongle, not with the dongle only. If given set works just by plugging the dongle, then it's not Bluetooth.

In case you cannot tell whether you've got Bluetooth or non-Bluetooth keyboard, name its model here, so we could figure it out. If it is Bluetooth one and you need more help pairing speakers, I need to know your operating system before I guide you further.