How To Get Up The Non-Metro Bluetooth Keyboard Connection Dialogue?

Ex_Brit

Older - But No Wiser
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Toronto, Canada. Born in the U.K.
I multi-boot so in order to get the keyboard working across several OS's seamlessly, i.e. without having forever to reinstall them each time, it's vital to install the KB without a passkey, which means I need the old wizard and not this flashy yet very dumbed down Metro interface where I can't see what the heck is happening.

The question is HOW? ;-)

By the way, the mouse doesn't matter as it doesn't use a password. I am starting out on the desktop and right-clicking the Bluetooth icon by the clock, display Bluetooth devices, but as soon as the connect button is pressed this new Metro look kicks in. But if I connect the mouse in 8 then it becomes totally disabled in the other OS's because I can't get the wireless set to Hardware-Based rather than Software-Based.

[DEL]Also how does one put back a missing Bluetooth item in the Control Panel? I see bthprops.cpl is in System32 but for some reason appears nowhere in the CP icons or category view.[/DEL] - that last part was sorted out.
 
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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 7 Ult SP1 + Win 10 Pro - (x64)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Alienware® ALX X58
    CPU
    Intel® Core i7-975 Extreme 3.86 GHz 8MB Cache
    Motherboard
    ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 Socket 1366 Core i7, Dual Triple Channel DDR3 Mem
    Memory
    24GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz - 6 x 4096MB
    Graphics Card(s)
    1792 MB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 295/Hauppauge HVR2250 TV Tuner
    Sound Card
    Onboard Soundmax® High definition Sound
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung XL2370 LED
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1080P
    Hard Drives
    2 X 500gb SATA
    1 X 1TB SATA
    1 X 3TB external eSATA
    (Non-RAID)
    PSU
    Alienware® 1200 Watt Multi-GPU
    Case
    Alienware® P2 ALX Chassis with AlienIce 3.0 Video Cooling
    Cooling
    Alienware® High-Perf. Liquid Cooling + Acoustic Dampening
    Keyboard
    Microsoft® Wireless Entertainment 8000 + Logitech® G15 Wired
    Mouse
    Microsoft® Wireless Laser 8000 + Logitech® G9 Wired
    Internet Speed
    1tbs
    Other Info
    Using non-RAID on purpose as I find it too fussy and temperamental.
The reason I wanted to avoid the passkey was that Bluetooth dongles rarely have the capacity to remember multiple passkeys so for a multi-boot setup it's a nightmare of re-pairing often.

I just tried an experiment. I paired my Microsoft BT mouse and keyboard in Windows 8 in the normal way and allowed the passkey pairing for the keyboard, which cannot be bypassed in any way in Windows 8. Then I opened Microsoft Mouse (or Keyboard) software and went to the Wireless tab > Bluetooth Connection > Advanced and made sure it was set to Hardware-Based, meaning the hardware is not controlled by the software as far as connections are concerned.
This allows my Vista, Windows 7 and even my XP VM's to keep their connection and continue functioning properly with no passkey.
I posted this to help others in the same situation.
By the way, there is a quick tutorial HERE (scroll down) on how to connect any Bluetooth device that normally requires a passkey, without one, but it only works in systems up to and including Windows 7. The enhanced UI in 8 has scotched any chance of it happening there.

It isn't a perfect solution as it doesn't always work but it will have to do. At least now I don't have to switch off my BT hardware because I'm scared 8 will auto-connect it and screw up the other OS setings.
One would have thought that Microsoft with all their expertise could have thought of this, especially when it's their own hardware involved.
 
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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 7 Ult SP1 + Win 10 Pro - (x64)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Alienware® ALX X58
    CPU
    Intel® Core i7-975 Extreme 3.86 GHz 8MB Cache
    Motherboard
    ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 Socket 1366 Core i7, Dual Triple Channel DDR3 Mem
    Memory
    24GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz - 6 x 4096MB
    Graphics Card(s)
    1792 MB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 295/Hauppauge HVR2250 TV Tuner
    Sound Card
    Onboard Soundmax® High definition Sound
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung XL2370 LED
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1080P
    Hard Drives
    2 X 500gb SATA
    1 X 1TB SATA
    1 X 3TB external eSATA
    (Non-RAID)
    PSU
    Alienware® 1200 Watt Multi-GPU
    Case
    Alienware® P2 ALX Chassis with AlienIce 3.0 Video Cooling
    Cooling
    Alienware® High-Perf. Liquid Cooling + Acoustic Dampening
    Keyboard
    Microsoft® Wireless Entertainment 8000 + Logitech® G15 Wired
    Mouse
    Microsoft® Wireless Laser 8000 + Logitech® G9 Wired
    Internet Speed
    1tbs
    Other Info
    Using non-RAID on purpose as I find it too fussy and temperamental.
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