Ten Thirty Two Bluetooth Refresh

A small, free Windows utility that asks Windows to rescan Plug and Play hardware. It is useful when a Bluetooth device was just powered on or connected but has not appeared yet.

Download the latest release · Product page

Requires Windows 10 version 2004 (build 19041) or newer, including Windows 11. Microsoft added pnputil /scan-devices in Windows 10 version 2004.

The app is intentionally conservative. It does not restart services, disable adapters, reinstall drivers, remove pairings, collect telemetry, or make network calls.

Use it

1. Download and extract ten-thirty-two-bluetooth-refresh-windows-x64.zip.
2. Run BluetoothRefresh.exe.
3. Select Refresh Bluetooth.
4. If Windows says the rescan requires elevation, approve the one-time UAC prompt. The app does not normally run as administrator.
5. Select Open Bluetooth Settings to pair or inspect a device.

While the app is running, press:

Ctrl + Alt + Shift + B

That global shortcut performs the same refresh. We call it the four-finger bee salute so it is difficult to forget. The shortcut is registered only while the app is open and is released when the app exits.

Windows SmartScreen

Version 1.0 is not digitally signed, so Windows SmartScreen may identify the publisher as unknown. Verify the SHA-256 value against the adjacent .zip.sha256 file and the SHA256SUMS.txt inside the archive before running it. A future signed build should say so explicitly; do not assume a signature is present.

What “refresh” means

The app runs the Windows inbox command:

%SystemRoot%\System32\pnputil.exe /scan-devices

pnputil /scan-devices is a general Plug and Play rescan, not a Bluetooth reset. A successful scan means Windows completed the request; it does not guarantee that an unavailable, unpaired, unsupported, or powered-off device will appear.

Privacy and permissions

• No telemetry
• No network access
• No background service
• No startup entry or scheduled task
• No saved device information
• No driver or adapter disable/enable cycle
• One-time UAC only if Windows requires it for the scan

Read SECURITY.md for the exact security boundary.

Build from source

Requirements:

• 64-bit Windows
• Windows 10 version 2004 or newer
• Windows PowerShell 5.1 or newer
• .NET Framework 4.x compiler included with Windows

Run:

powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\build.ps1

The script:

1. compiles the WinForms app for x64;
2. compiles and runs dependency-free core tests;
3. creates the release folder;
4. generates SHA256SUMS.txt; and
5. creates ten-thirty-two-bluetooth-refresh-windows-x64.zip.

The script also writes ten-thirty-two-bluetooth-refresh-windows-x64.zip.sha256 beside the archive.

Build outputs are written beneath artifacts\ and are intentionally ignored by Git.

Source layout

src\Core\                 Command execution and rescan policy
src\MainForm.cs           Branded WinForms interface and global shortcut
src\Program.cs            Normal app and short-lived elevated helper entry
tests\CoreTests.cs        Dependency-free logic tests
app.manifest              Normal-user execution manifest
build.ps1                 Reproducible compile, test, hash, and package script

License

MIT. Use it, inspect it, improve it, and share it.

Ten Thirty Two is not affiliated with Microsoft. Windows and Bluetooth are trademarks of their respective owners.