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26

How can I deactivate Bluetooth on system startup?

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11 Answers

up vote 35 down vote

Run gksu gedit /etc/rc.local and add this before line with exit 0:

rfkill block bluetooth

You should still be able to enable Bluetooth through the top bar applet.

This should work for most systems but it looks like there are a few bugs lurking in the kernel's ACPI for Thinkpads. If you're on a Thinkpad, add the following to /etc/rc.local:

echo disable > /proc/acpi/ibm/bluetooth

Or check out http://ibm-acpi.sourceforge.net/ -- some reports suggest that ibm-acpi includes bluetooth control (amongst other nice things). But I don't have the hardware so I'm completely unable to verify these claims. Good luck.

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3  
For Thinkpads (and only Thinkpads) this works: echo disable > /proc/acpi/ibm/bluetooth in /etc/rc.local – Marius Gedminas Nov 2 '11 at 19:51
"rfkill block bluetooth" option works for my Sony Vaio. Thanks a lot. – Bakhtiyor Nov 8 '11 at 23:13
Works with Toshiba Portégé M800 – Elmatou Jan 3 '12 at 10:07
@MariusGedminas Your suggested fix for thinkpads works like a charm on T420s – jan groth Jan 16 '12 at 15:23
'rfkill block bluetooth' worked for Thinkpad Edge 15 – kilaka Oct 9 '12 at 9:29
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up vote 9 down vote

To disable the bluetooth driver from loading on startup:

sudo $EDITOR /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

add:

blacklist btusb

Enabling it later should just be:

sudo modprobe btusb
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Thanks for that, that does seem to work but I was trying to avoid command line stuff as per my original question. You would think this would be as simple as ticking a box so that it remembered that I don't want BT to start automatically but it looks like its way more complicated than that. With Ubuntu's drive for quicker boot times and the general focus on power consumption in laptops and netbooks I am suprised that this has never been addressed. I appreciate the help though. – Chris Giltnane Aug 19 '10 at 9:52
2  
"Run gedit as root and edit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf" <-- ok, is that less command line for ya? – maco Aug 19 '10 at 13:35
up vote 4 down vote

Type the following into a terminal:

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

At the bottom of the file, add the line:

blacklist bluetooth

Save the file and restart - Bluetooth should now be disabled.

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This won't work on my pc... – Floqqi Oct 16 '11 at 21:47
@Floqqi: Can you please try it again? I've updated my answer. – Nathan Osman Oct 16 '11 at 23:42
up vote 1 down vote

No. It is not always in the startup applcations list. I tink that the best solution is to add the rfkill command in rc.local script or to set the InitiallyPowered parameter in /etc/bluetooth/main.config

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up vote 1 down vote

I using Sputnik Kernel, which fixed this on my Dell Inspiron 14R N4110.

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up vote 1 down vote

You can edit your update-rc.d settings. I used something similar to:

sudo update-rc.d bluetooth remove

In Debian Wheezy. Check out man update-rc.d for more info on how to use it.

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up vote 0 down vote

I add

"/etc/init.d/bluetooth stop"

into 

"/etc/rc.local"

before "exit 0" command for boot with bluetooth turned off.

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up vote 0 down vote

I had to use a brute-force method to stop bluetoothd from being automatically started at boot. I renamed the executable so it couldn't be found.

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It's faster starting things in parallel. At least that's the idea. – Douglas Leeder Sep 28 '12 at 13:48
up vote 0 down vote

No. It is not always in the startup applcations list. I tink that the best solution is to add the rfkill command in rc.local script or to set the InitiallyPowered parameter in /etc/bluetooth/main.config

This did it for me. Think it is the best solution.

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up vote 0 down vote

There is a GUI way to disable services at startup. You can install Boot-Up ManagerInstall bum.

Boot-Up Manager

You can disable Bluetooth services from here.

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up vote -1 down vote

You need to disable it from the Start Up Applications list in System Settings.

Click on the cog in the top right hand side of the menu bar and then select System Settings.

Click on Start Up Applications then scroll down until you find the bluetooth setting, take the tick from the box and you all done.

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2  
I can't find bluetooth in the Start Up Applications.. – Floqqi Oct 16 '11 at 21:40
3  
That doesn't actually stop the Bluetooth subsystems and hardware from running (and importantly: consuming battery). It just stops the applet running. – Oli♦ Oct 16 '11 at 23:59
@Oli - thanks for the heads up, I never actually knew that ! I assumed if you disabled it in the start up applications it did not start the process at all. – Mark Rooney Oct 17 '11 at 9:44
1  
Sadly, it's not in the startup applications in 11.10. – Amanda Jan 28 '12 at 1:24

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