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DMC-12

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 16, 2007
346
2
Nashville, TN
OK, I bought an Apple wireless (aluminum, bluetooth) keyboard on eBay for my HP Pavilion laptop. I thought it would work after reading all the successful reports from other people in forums using the wireless keyboard with Windows XP PCs.

I've done a ton of searching, and many people seemed to use a few workarounds to get the keyboard to pair properly, but I have had no success after hours of attempts. I've tried various drivers for my Kensington USB bluetooth adapter, but still no luck. When I run the bluetooth wizard, the keyboard is recognized, but at the pairing screen where a security code should come up, the wizard freezes for several seconds and gives me an error message saying, "Error in paring device..." I believe that on my 2nd or 3rd attempt, a security code came up but then it just froze again. So far, I haven't been able to input anything from the Apple keyboard.

Any advice? If you've paired the Apple wireless keyboard with an HP or other PC running XP, what did you have to do to pair successfully? Thanks in advance.
 

simplyearl

macrumors newbie
Jan 13, 2008
4
0
I am experience the exact same problem. Using Microsoft Windows XP SP2 on a Dell Optiplex GX620. I have the Kinsington USB Bluetooth Dongle. I'm running version 5.1.0.1700 of the WIDCOMM software.

I can see the keyboard but get the same error pairing. Have you had anymore luck? Thanks.
 

simplyearl

macrumors newbie
Jan 13, 2008
4
0
I found these instructions to finally work... (after following them then rebooting).

Hello all.
I would like to thanks BeDammit for his brilliant solution.
I' ll add some extra information to help people flawless set up their Apple Bluetooth keyboard on Windows XP.

1. Press Win Start button, choose Run and then type regedit and press enter to access windows registry editor.

2. Into the registry editor search for and select -> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Widcomm\BtConfig\General

3. Set the key 'PinCodeWord' to a decimal value of 1111

4. Set the key 'UseFixedPin' to a decimal value of 1

5. Then attempt pairing. When you get to the greyed PIN screen type 1111 using OTHER keyboard THAN Apple Bluetooth keyboard.

6. Press the Return key on the Apple keyboard.

7. Enjoy your nice Keyboard.

I think this one is the best solution cause you don't have to mess with windcomm driver version.
Thanks again BeDammit.

Originally found at....

http://www.neowin.net/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t285546.html
 

DMC-12

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 16, 2007
346
2
Nashville, TN
Thanks for doing the research, simplyearl. I think I had stumbled across this once before and tried it with no luck, but maybe I did it wrong. I'll give it another shot... with my MacBook arriving in a few days, though, hopefully I can put these Windows woes behind me.
 

sundial2k

macrumors newbie
Feb 8, 2008
1
0
Pairing Apple Bluetooth Keyboard to Windows XP

Hi SimplyEarl -

Thanks for the detailed info on how to pair the Apple Bluetooth Keyboard to a Windows XP machine. Your solution partially of works for me, and since you seem to be much more of an expert than on this topic than anyone else I've come across on the message boards, I was hoping you could help.

Until the new MacBook Pros ship; I'm using a 3 year old IBM ThinkPad T42 with Windows XP SP2. I have a Kensington USB Bluetooth Adaptor with Broadcom (Widcomm) driver version: 5.1.0.3200. I'm using a Bluetooth Logitech Laser Travel Mouse with no problems but I cannot get the Apple keyboard to pair and function properly.

I did the registry tweak and from what I can tell system sees the keyboard but it is not functional. In my Bluetooth Neighborhood the Apple Keyboard shows up initially with the green "connected" arrows when I tell it to connect, but then the arrows change to a red-check.

Can you give me any suggestions?
Thanks,
John
 

DMC-12

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 16, 2007
346
2
Nashville, TN
I bought a D-Link bluetooth adapter on eBay, and it works with the wireless keyboard and my HP. I downloaded the drivers from D-Link's site. I learned after the fact that the model I bought isn't as current as the model Apple says you need for bluetooth on Macs, but it seems to work fine.
 

Jernespand

macrumors newbie
May 14, 2009
1
0
Small remark to the guide

I didn't figure out until randomly testing that i needed to type 1111 on BOTH the keyboards :)

This worked for me, i have a Samsung NC10 netbook (with original Widcomm drivers v5.1.x).

Revised version of the guide

1. Press Win Start button, choose Run and then type regedit and press enter to access windows registry editor.

2. Into the registry editor search for and select -> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Widcomm\BtConfig\General

3. Set the key 'PinCodeWord' to a decimal value of 1111

4. Set the key 'UseFixedPin' to a decimal value of 1

5. Then attempt pairing. Which gets you to the greyed PIN screen.

6. Type 1111 using wired keyboard
7. Type 1111 using Apple Bluetooth keyboard.

6. Press the Return key on the Apple keyboard.

7. Enjoy your nice Keyboard.​
 
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