For posterity for me (verbatim from here, thanks to the original poster):
- Change #AutoEnable=false to AutoEnable=true in the /etc/bluetooth/main.conf (notice new line is un-commented)
- Unpair the headset
- Restart the bluetooth service sudo /etc/init.d/bluetooth restart
- Pair your headset again and connect it
- Go to sound settings. From the output device tab you should now see the headset listed along with other output device like internal speakers
- Choose it as the sound output device.
Still scratching my head as to why this stuff still doesn’t work out of the box in 2016, even though all the pieces are there to make it work. Linux could be so much easier.
Buddy…excellent piece of information…worked like a charm….was stuck from sooo long… your idea did the trick..thank u so much…
Thank you. It’s solution solve my headset problem. My hadset is Philips shb5500 bluetooth
Can I connect a Windows 10 laptop and a Ubuntu 16.04 one with Bluetooth? The Win10 can’t find the Ubuntu, the Ubuntu can’t find anything.
Well, that’s Ubuntu for you…
Hi, I’m from Brazil and your tip helped me with my JBL T450BT handset.
Thank you.
June 2017 and I am still unable to connect the Akai bluetooth speaker to Ubuntu now at version 16.04 LTS.
Will it ever be resolved in an update or upgrade?
That did trick! Thank you so much for your help. I was stuck for 2days out of this UNEXPECTED disconnection.
thanks. you save our time
There was a lot of problem in Ubuntu 16.04 with bluetooth…
Switched to Ubuntu gnome 16.04 and your solution solved the problem. Thanks!
Ubuntu 17.04, 2017…. impossible to connect a JBL Flip4 !
despite
AutoEnable=true
Hey max,
You’ve just prevented a user running away from Ubuntu (my very first experience) back to Win environment (love my marshall woburn, sorry). I tried many of the posts on the net about this but only yours did the trick. Thanks a lot.
YES it works ! Fantastic ! back to 21st century on Ubuntu !
Thank you very much
Damn I messed it up with pulse audio install / uninstall it doesn’t work anymore !
Solution found if this can help, so simple !
Just have to install the pulseaudio-module-bluetooth !!
sudo apt-get install pulseaudio-module-bluetooth
Why it is not installed by default ? That I don’t know !
Ubuntu 17.04
The bluetooth connection in Ubuntu 16.04 is never stable. After I commented on your post here, I started to have problems again. I just cannot use my bluetooth speaker. Lots of reboots to connect it successfully. And even when it connects, after some while it disconnects for no reason. It’s been 2 months now and I started to feel tired. Windows 10 is much more reliable and easy to use in my opinion.
Windows 10 is pretty solid, it is actually where I spend most of my computing time.
Ubuntu-xenial (16.04) updated pulseaudio-module-bluetooth.
Solution from this article worked for me until the update.
Right now I see my version as:
dpkg -s pulseaudio-module-bluetooth
And I see in output: “Version: 1:8.0-0ubuntu3.4”.
I found update log:
zmore /var/log/dpkg.log.1 | grep pulseaudio-module-bluetooth
I see “2017-10-02 21:13:31 upgrade pulseaudio-module-bluetooth:amd64 1:8.0-0ubuntu3.3 1:8.0-0ubuntu3.4”.
Before update it was 1:8.0-0ubuntu3.3 and solution from this article worked!
Right now solution does not work and I do not see any A2DP bluetooth devices. When I swithed back to #AutoEnable=false everything works again. So right now you do not need any hacks with “Version: 1:8.0-0ubuntu3.4”.
Current version is here https://packages.ubuntu.com/xenial-updates/sound/pulseaudio-module-bluetooth
Thank you!!! I spend almost a day trying to figured out what is wrong. This post was very helpful!
Thank you! Was fighting with Bluetooth and my new headset. Now it works like a charm!
I found that the Bluetooth redirection of sound to the audio device (Score K1-MINI) is reliable only if sound from Rythmbox music player software is already going to the laptop (Dell Vostro 3550) speakers BEFORE making the Bluetooth connection to the Bluetooth speakers. Then it takes a few seconds to change over in mid stream. Some how, (without an audio stream), the Bluetooth connection just seems to stay connected to the old output destination, even when you use the “Test Sound” button in sound settings. I think this is a bug in the Bluetooth sound redirection control mechanism, not in the Bluetooth setup mechanism. It is probably tested like this and so that bug has been missed.
Hi guys
what solved it for my was going into the sudo nano /etc/bluetooth/main.conf file and uncommenting the multipleProfile variable and setting it to true.
Thereafter just restart bluetooth service via sudo /etc/init.d/bluetooth restart and go to sound settings.
There you’ll now see an extra option to connect to the bluetooth speaker on ubuntu 16.04
I removed and re-installed pulseaudio-module-bluetooth, put AutoEnable back to false (the default), restarted the bluetooth service and voila, c’est marche!
Thank you dude, it saved me a lot of time 🙂
Thank you! I almost couldn’t believe that this setting would change anything… Very glad that it works now
Well … it is 2019 and this is still a huge blob of bad.
Have used hours to get my Sony WH-1000XM3 up and running on Ubuntu 18.04, stationary PC with onboard BT and WiFi.
Why do I mention WiFi? After trying to pair the headphones for a long time I found that when I turn on WiFi, even though I do not use it, the headphones pair on BT. But not trough control panel.
Have to run bluetoothctl as root and pair. Then set as trusted. Then connect. Now it connect from time to time, and then disconnect, and one have to restart services to manage to get it connected again.
When finally connected and showing up in Sound tab of config utility, the sound does not work. It is hyper laggy and only distorted sound comes trough. Changing to stereo result in headphones again being disconnected.
Have checked packages, logs, run with debug on bluethooth and pulseaudio etc. It looks like it still is a long time before I can use them with Ubuntu – if ever.
Thank you.
I was stuck from 5 days your idea actually worked 🙂
2020 – still a relevant solution for 16.04 + jlab speakers. thanks!