I'm on an older Mac Pro, and I bought the ASUS USB-BT400 so that I can use Yosemite's Handoff feature. The problem is, I don't know how to disable the internal Bluetooth and force my machine to use the USB Bluetooth instead. I searched around but didn't find anything that worked.
asked Mar 20, 2015 at 17:52
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2 Answers
Continuity Activation Tool is a great app for doing all of the command-line stuff necessary to enable Continuity, and it claims to be able to work with USB dongles.
answered Mar 20, 2015 at 17:55
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I know all about it. :) But it requires Bluetooth 4.0, which is why I bought this USB dongle which I can't get working. Commented Mar 20, 2015 at 17:55
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@CaptSaltyJack Are you on version 2.0.0? That's what I'm on, and after I press 1 for "Activate Continuity," it says it'll go with the dongle if it detects you plugging one in. Commented Mar 20, 2015 at 17:57
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Yeah, I run
contitool.sh -dand it saysVerifying Bluetooth version... NOT OK. Your hardware doesn't support Bluetooth 4.0, necessary for Continuity. Current LMP Version=4, expected 6.Commented Mar 20, 2015 at 18:07 -
How old is your Mac Pro? This graphic from the developers shows what CAT can and can't do. Commented Mar 20, 2015 at 18:08
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1Got it! This was documented in the issues page for CAT. I had to disable Bluetooth, plug in the dongle, enable Bluetooth, and then the tool worked. Handoff is working like a charm! Commented Mar 20, 2015 at 20:04
To force your system to use an external Bluetooth controller instead of the internal one, open Terminal and type:
sudo nvram bluetoothHostControllerSwitchBehavior=always
then reboot. To revert to the default OS X behavior, type:
sudo nvram -d bluetoothHostControllerSwitchBehavior
You may need to turn off (or un-pair) Bluetooth accessories that are currently using your internal Bluetooth controller, as they can prevent the dongle from being detected by the Continuity Activation Tool.
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(Hackintosh) sudo nvram bluetoothHostControllerSwitchBehavior=never– flapjackCommented Sep 3, 2020 at 2:45