Hi, please check the version of the package bluez. Open a terminal and type:

<pre>
dpkg -l | grep bluez
</pre>

The version should be "5.64-2+kali1". We just updated this package last week, and we hope that it should fix the issue.

If you have an older version, please update your Kali system (and maybe reboot, just to be sure). Thanks!

<code>
ii bluez 5.64-2+kali1 amd64 Bluetooth tools and daemons
ii bluez-alsa-utils 3.0.0-2 amd64 Bluetooth Audio ALSA Backend (utils)
ii bluez-cups 5.64-2+kali1 amd64 Bluetooth printer driver for CUPS
ii bluez-firmware 1.2-7+kali1 all Firmware for Bluetooth devices
ii bluez-hcidump 5.64-2+kali1 amd64 Analyses Bluetooth HCI packets
ii bluez-meshd 5.64-2+kali1 amd64 bluetooth mesh daemon
ii bluez-obexd 5.64-2+kali1 amd64 bluez obex daemon
ii bluez-test-scripts 5.64-2+kali1 all test scripts of bluez
ii bluez-test-tools 5.64-2+kali1 amd64 test tools of bluez
ii bluez-tools 2.0~20170911.0.7cb788c-4 amd64 Set of tools to manage Bluetooth devices for linux
ii libasound2-plugin-bluez:amd64 3.0.0-2 amd64 Bluetooth Audio ALSA Backend (plugins)
</code>

Looks good to me. But after rebooting, the bluetooth audio device connects, disconnects, connects, then finally disconnects again if it was paired before. If not, the device is found, but you can not pair it. Error message in the first case: "br-connection-unknown". In the second case: "no device found" -- even if the device was shown in "Bluetooth Devices".
The only notable difference: it is faster than before. Did I have to wait for about 20s before the first connect, disconnect -- it is now less than 3 seconds. Time between the first and second and final connect, disconnect pair is largely the same.

<code>
ii libpipewire-0.3-0:amd64 0.3.51-1 amd64 libraries for the PipeWire multimedia server
ii libpipewire-0.3-common 0.3.51-1 all libraries for the PipeWire multimedia server - common files
ii libpipewire-0.3-modules:amd64 0.3.51-1 amd64 libraries for the PipeWire multimedia server - modules
ii pipewire:amd64 0.3.51-1 amd64 audio and video processing engine multimedia server
ii pipewire-bin 0.3.51-1 amd64 PipeWire multimedia server - programs
ii pipewire-media-session 0.4.1-2 amd64 example session manager for PipeWire
</code>

Looks like there is some harmful interaction between PipeWire and bluez not building up the sound bridge, or building it, but not noticing it was build successfully, timing out and disconnecting?

Looks like there is some harmful interaction between PipeWire and bluez not building up the sound bridge, or building it, but not noticing it was build successfully, timing out and disconnecting?

What makes you think that? Do you see anything in the log that suggests that? By the way, you should try to run "journalctl -f" in the console to see the system logs in real time, maybe you will understand what happens exactly.

It's normal that pipewire is installed, there's nothing wrong with that. There's also pulseaudio on your system, and it's more likely that the issue lies somewhere in pulseaudio or the bluetooth stack.

Note that the issue can also be due to the drivers, that are part of the kernel. Did you try to boot an older kernel? It's something that you can select in the Kali boot prompt.

What makes you think that? Do you see anything in the log that suggests that? By the way, you should try to run "journalctl -f" in the console to see the system logs in real time, maybe you will understand what happens exactly.

The comments found for the very same bug within xUbuntu 20.04, 21.10 and 22.04. All three stopped connecting to bluetooth audio devices upgrading bluez and pipewire. Right before debian 11.3 stopped connecting them after upgrading bluez only. The pipewire update later on did not help.

Installing xUbuntu 22.04 from the static dvd, without upgrading, makes it work again. Upgrading one of pipewire, bluez or pulse-audio kills it again.

For Kali it is mainly the same: installing the last working weekly 2022-W18 it works until I upgrade one of pipewire, bluez or pulse-audio. Upgrading all to the latest versions does not help: non of my audio devices will connect, while the do with 2022-W18.

It's normal that pipewire is installed, there's nothing wrong with that. There's also pulseaudio on your system, and it's more likely that the issue lies somewhere in pulseaudio or the bluetooth stack.

I've tried to get rid of pulse-audio, but only managed to kill the whole bluetooth audio stack. Without pulse-audio none of the installed bluez tools will even recognize audio. Even after following various howtos replacing pulse-audio with pipewire.

Note that the issue can also be due to the drivers, that are part of the kernel. Did you try to boot an older kernel? It's something that you can select in the Kali boot prompt.

I've thought this first, but trying with only upgrading kernels and drivers did nothing to bluetooth audio devices. They even work with the latest kernel upgrades or with self compiled kernels right from kernel.org.
As soon as I upgrade pipewire, pulse-audio, or bluez connecting bluetooth audio devices fails with error br-connection-unknown. And it does it connect, disconnect, connect, disconnect. And in some cases, while not disconnecting, you may hear audio transmitted for short.

OK, that sounds like an issue with either bluez or pulseaudio.

installing the last working weekly 2022-W18 it works until I upgrade one of pipewire, bluez or pulse-audio

Wait a moment. I have a W17 image with me, and the version of bluez is '5.62-2+kali1'. And right now in Kali rolling the version of bluez is still '5.62-2+kali1'. So upgrading your weekly image 2022-W18 will NOT change the version of the bluez package. Or am I missing something? It's the same with pulseaudio, same version in Kali W17 as it's currently in Kali rolling...

You should save the list of the packages that get updated, otherwise it's all very confusing.

It seems that pipewire went from 0.3.50 to 0.3.51 though, so maybe that's the package that breaks the sound for you. Maybe you can try to downgrade this package.

Yes I found it too. I've installed the new 2022.2 and bluetooth audio devices work.
I've installed W17, bluetooth audio devices working then, then upgraded to 2022.2 and bluetooth audio devices stopped working.
I've installed again W17, this time allowing updates while installing. This time bluetooth audio devices did not work from beginning.

Next thing I try is to install, then upgrade and have a look at configuration files if they differ. Maybe here could be helpful comparing a working life system with an installed and upgraded one.