outgoing serial ports using Broadcom bluetooth software under Windows Vista (x64)

Ever wondered why you were not able to add an outgoing COM port using the Broadcom bluetooth suite running on Windows Vista (x64)? For some months now, i tried to get my old licensed copy of Oxygen Phone Manager for Symbian 2.16.0 running after i switched from Windows XP to Windows Vista x64. Bought an Anycom USB-500 BT dongle for that. But OPMS refused to work, after some trials (and remembering the hassles i had with BT connection type under WinXP) found out that an outgoing BT serial port was missing under the COM Ports tab. So how to add such? Usually one would do the following:

1. Choose COM Ports ->Add… to add the port.
2. Select the type of COM (serial) port that you want to add: Outgoing (computer initiates the connection)
3. Device that will use the COM port -> Browse… to scan for discoverable devices in range.
4. Select your discovered device. (*n1)
5. Install the port.

But my Nokia N73 mobile phone was never found during step #4, regardless of device and computer discovery and other settings.

Ok, today i repeated the whole procedure but first i removed the phone device (my phone’s BT name is terminal-n73) under Devices.

During step #4, i got a message stating “The device you selected does not have a serial port service running.” Bummer!

The solution? Start the OPMS agent (needed for communication between phone and OPMS) on your Symbian phone before, and add your phones under Devices.

Now, have a look:

widcomm-vista-serial-ports

…seems to work, isn’t it? Previously, i had no COM4 installed.

Notes:

n1 – This could work only if your device was not already set up and paired.