So, a lot of you know this can be quite problematic, and Windows 7 has a different Bluetooth stack than Windows 8, and it behaves weirdly with the DS4. I've come up with a list of stuff to do to help ensure the controller associates properly on the first try, and have tested it numerous times.
Step 1: Reset all Bluetooth devices and settings.
If you have NEVER attempted to associate the DS4 controller in question, you can probably skip this step.
To do this, you must first uninstall your bluetooth adapter:
1.) Click start, and type "device manager" open the first thing that shows up.
2.) Under Bluetooth devices, right-click your Bluetooth adapter and click Uninstall
3.) Leave device manager open after you complete the uninstall, we'll need it later.
Then, you'll need to remove the following keys from the registry - these are system protected keys, so you MAY NEED to install sysinternals, and follow an additional step.
1.) Click start, type "regedit" and open the first thing that shows up.
Before proceeding, click file, then export and save a backup to your desktop!
2.) Navigate the left-hand side to this location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\
3.) Right-click on BTHENUM and click delete.
4.) Right-click on BTH and click delete.
If step 3 or 4 fail due to a "permissions" error, follow the steps below, if not - move on.
1.) Install Sysinternals from here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysin...42062.aspx
2.) After you have installed sysinternals, open an administrator level command prompt by clicking start, typing "cmd" and right-clicking the command prompt and selecting "run as administrator"
3.) in the administrator command prompt type "psexec -i -s regedit.exe" and press enter. This will create a system level process and run Regedit as the child of that process. DO NOT FIDDLE WITH OTHER REGISTRY ENTRIES WHILE RUNNING IN THIS MANNER - you can literally delete ANYTHING now.
Step 2: Reinstall your Bluetooth adapter
1.) Switch back to Device Manager
2.) Click the far-right icon on the toolbar ("Scan for Hardware changes")
3.) You should hear the detection sound and the Bluetooth adapter should reinstall - IF IT DOES NOT; restart your computer, it should reinstall on boot.
Step 3: Disable the device permission dialog
This feature of Windows 7 seems to be the main problem with the DS4 associating with a Windows 7 computer.
1.) Click the Bluetooth icon in the taskbar (bottom right, you may have to click the arrow to reveal it)
2.) Click Open Settings
3.) In the settings window UNCHECK the box that says Alert me when a new Bluetooth device wants to connect (you can probably re-enable this later when all of your controllers are working)
4.) Click "Ok"
Step 4: Associate your DS4 controller.
BEFORE DOING THE STEPS BELOW Stop any DS4tool you have running. Make sure they are NOT running at all - they can interrupt the pairing process.
1.) Go back to the Bluetooth icon in the taskbar
2.) Click Add a Device
3.) Hold the PS button and Share to put the controller into pairing mode.
4.) Select the controller (not the headset portion) and click next
5.) Immediately the controller will detect, but the Bluetooth stack will turn it off during driver installation. This also ruins the pairing. To prevent this, every time the controller turns off - press the PS button again. Eventually the controller will stay on, and the driver installation will have finished.
6.) Click start, type "Game Controllers" and click the first option that shows up.
7.) Double click on "Wireless Game Controller" and verify your DS4 now works.
8.) Open up your DS4Tool of choice and see that the controller behaves as intended.
You're DONE!
I know this seems like a lot of steps, but once you've done it you'll realize its not that hard. Especially since you can skip Step 1 if you have not associated the controller with the Bluetooth adapter on the current install of Windows before. I really really dislike Windows 8/8.1 and have been successful enough getting controllers to pair by trial and error until now. Today I received a new Bluetooth dongle (my old one had some odd latency issues) and decided to figure out a nearly failproof method to pair on Windows 7. This seems to be it, I've deleted the controller and re-paired multiple times with a high success rate.
Step 1: Reset all Bluetooth devices and settings.
If you have NEVER attempted to associate the DS4 controller in question, you can probably skip this step.
To do this, you must first uninstall your bluetooth adapter:
1.) Click start, and type "device manager" open the first thing that shows up.
2.) Under Bluetooth devices, right-click your Bluetooth adapter and click Uninstall
3.) Leave device manager open after you complete the uninstall, we'll need it later.
Then, you'll need to remove the following keys from the registry - these are system protected keys, so you MAY NEED to install sysinternals, and follow an additional step.
1.) Click start, type "regedit" and open the first thing that shows up.
Before proceeding, click file, then export and save a backup to your desktop!
2.) Navigate the left-hand side to this location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\
3.) Right-click on BTHENUM and click delete.
4.) Right-click on BTH and click delete.
If step 3 or 4 fail due to a "permissions" error, follow the steps below, if not - move on.
1.) Install Sysinternals from here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysin...42062.aspx
2.) After you have installed sysinternals, open an administrator level command prompt by clicking start, typing "cmd" and right-clicking the command prompt and selecting "run as administrator"
3.) in the administrator command prompt type "psexec -i -s regedit.exe" and press enter. This will create a system level process and run Regedit as the child of that process. DO NOT FIDDLE WITH OTHER REGISTRY ENTRIES WHILE RUNNING IN THIS MANNER - you can literally delete ANYTHING now.
Step 2: Reinstall your Bluetooth adapter
1.) Switch back to Device Manager
2.) Click the far-right icon on the toolbar ("Scan for Hardware changes")
3.) You should hear the detection sound and the Bluetooth adapter should reinstall - IF IT DOES NOT; restart your computer, it should reinstall on boot.
Step 3: Disable the device permission dialog
This feature of Windows 7 seems to be the main problem with the DS4 associating with a Windows 7 computer.
1.) Click the Bluetooth icon in the taskbar (bottom right, you may have to click the arrow to reveal it)
2.) Click Open Settings
3.) In the settings window UNCHECK the box that says Alert me when a new Bluetooth device wants to connect (you can probably re-enable this later when all of your controllers are working)
4.) Click "Ok"
Step 4: Associate your DS4 controller.
BEFORE DOING THE STEPS BELOW Stop any DS4tool you have running. Make sure they are NOT running at all - they can interrupt the pairing process.
1.) Go back to the Bluetooth icon in the taskbar
2.) Click Add a Device
3.) Hold the PS button and Share to put the controller into pairing mode.
4.) Select the controller (not the headset portion) and click next
5.) Immediately the controller will detect, but the Bluetooth stack will turn it off during driver installation. This also ruins the pairing. To prevent this, every time the controller turns off - press the PS button again. Eventually the controller will stay on, and the driver installation will have finished.
6.) Click start, type "Game Controllers" and click the first option that shows up.
7.) Double click on "Wireless Game Controller" and verify your DS4 now works.
8.) Open up your DS4Tool of choice and see that the controller behaves as intended.
You're DONE!
I know this seems like a lot of steps, but once you've done it you'll realize its not that hard. Especially since you can skip Step 1 if you have not associated the controller with the Bluetooth adapter on the current install of Windows before. I really really dislike Windows 8/8.1 and have been successful enough getting controllers to pair by trial and error until now. Today I received a new Bluetooth dongle (my old one had some odd latency issues) and decided to figure out a nearly failproof method to pair on Windows 7. This seems to be it, I've deleted the controller and re-paired multiple times with a high success rate.