Authentication and Connection failure on XP Machines

[LucaUWF]

Hi,

I am currently using the WCL (v6.12.0.0) as a SPP Server and allowing Bluetooth devices (the same bluetooth device, Bluegiga WT12) to connect with PIN Authentication.

Servers are configured as such:

   

Code: [Select]

wclServers = new wcl.wclServer[7];
            for (int i = 0; i < 7; i++)
            {
                wclServers[i] = new wcl.wclServer();
                wclServers[i].Transport = wcl.wclTransport.trBluetooth;
                wclServers[i].BluetoothParams.Authentication = true;
                wclServers[i].BluetoothParams.Encryption = false;
                wclServers[i].BluetoothParams.Service = new Guid("{00001101-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb}");
                wclServers[i].BluetoothParams.Channel = 0;
                wclServers[i].OnClosed += new System.EventHandler(wclServer_OnClosed);
                wclServers[i].OnData += new wcl.wclDataEventHandler(wclServer_OnData);
                wclServers[i].OnDisconnected += new System.EventHandler(wclServer_OnDisconnected);
                wclServers[i].OnConnected += new System.EventHandler(wclServer_OnConnected);
                wclServers[i].OnListen += new wcl.wclConnectEventHandler(wclServer_OnListen);
            }
And the Authenticator is configured to handle PIN Requests.

I am receiving reports that when running on XP machines the WCL is not handling PIN requests and that the OS is requesting the user to enter the PIN and when the PIN is entered data is transferred but the application doesn't see it.

On Windows7 however it seems to pair successfully and transfer the data correctly. I have two log files below and as you can see the XP log never sees the PIN request, whereas the Win7 does and transfers the data correctly.
Although I can see the XP log had a Toshiba stack I believe that other reports of this are using Microsoft stacks (I have requested these).


Could you please suggest what might be going wrong?
Thanks in advance!


XP Log
======
Bluetooth Init
Bluetooth WCL Loading
Bluetooth WCL Loaded
Bluetooth Supported stacks:
baToshiba
Bluetooth Enumerate Radios:
Radio Name: SBANDLA.
API: baToshiba
Bluetooth Authenticator: open
Server open
Bluetooth set connectable: failed
Bluetooth set discoverable: failed
Bluetooth is discoverable: True
Bluetooth is connectable: True
Server 0 has been started
Server 1 has been started
Server 2 has been started
Server 3 has been started
Server 4 has been started
Server 5 has been started
Server 6 has been started

==========

WIN7 Log
==========
Bluetooth Init
Bluetooth WCL Loading
Bluetooth WCL Loaded
Bluetooth Supported stacks:
baMicrosoft
Bluetooth Enumerate Radios:
Radio Name: MGAVIN-M4700.
API: baMicrosoft
Bluetooth Authenticator: open
Nav Page: Home mem: 2751156
Server open
Bluetooth set connectable: True
Bluetooth set discoverable: True
Bluetooth is discoverable: True
Bluetooth is connectable: True
Server 0 has been started
Server 1 has been started
Server 2 has been started
Server 3 has been started
Server 4 has been started
Server 5 has been started
Server 6 has been started
Bluetooth PIN Request: 1235
Paired to device: (00:07:80:44:E5:C5)
Client: 500_4294967295 (00:07:80:44:E5:C5) connected to server 0
500_4294967295 connected: True
Data packet transferred
Data packet transferred
Client 500_4294967295 (00:07:80:44:E5:C5) has disconnected from server 0
500_4294967295 connected: False

[Mike Petrichenko]

Hello,

Thank you for so detailed report.

Unfortunately Toshiba does not provide an easy way for handle Authenticatio requests. Especialy when it works as a server. However, we did a lot of work to make it working better (http://www.btframework.com/news.htm#a11072013).

So I do recomend to try the latest 6.12.1.0 version. Unfortunately I can not promise that it will work on server side as there were a lot of modification for client only. However, we added some code to make it working on server side but the code we added has not been tested completly yet and may not work as expected. We hope to make it working (if it will be possible) better in comming release.

Any way, try latest 6.12.1.0 which has a lot of Toshiba authentication updates.

[LucaUWF]

Hi Mike,

I'll try the latest version.

As I said, the reports of failures are not just with with the Toshiba stack though. Below is another log I have received from another XP user. This user has a widcomm stack version:
WIDCOMM BLUETOOTH SOFTWARE 5.5.0.6100 with a Driver dated from 2008. We tried to update the driver but no newer one was found.

I have access to this machine as it's one of our engineers machines.

The problem this time is that it appears to Pair but fails to connect and ultimately no data is transferred. Also, please note that the WCL is unable to read/set the discoverable or connectable states.

Please see the log below and again, any ideas would be greatly appreciated. So far I am hearing that the WCL is failing on all XP Machines. Our application is set to x86 and we are distributing the 32bit versions and also including the wcl2wbt.dll within the installation directory.


OS Information
===================================
Name: Windows XP
Edition: Professional
OSBits: Bit32
ServicePack: Service Pack 3
VersionNumber: 5.1.2600.196608
Processor Bits: Bit32
ProgramBits: Bit32
Name: Windows XP
===================================

DAL connecting
App Load Preferences
Bluetooth Init
Bluetooth WCL Loading
Bluetooth WCL Loaded
Bluetooth Supported stacks:
baWidComm
Bluetooth Enumerate Radios:
Radio Name: SA.
API: baWidComm
Bluetooth Authenticator: open
Server open
Bluetooth set connectable: failed
Bluetooth set discoverable: failed
Bluetooth is discoverable: failed
Bluetooth is connectable: failed
Server 0 has been started
Server 1 has been started
Server 2 has been started
Server 3 has been started
Server 4 has been started
Server 5 has been started
Server 6 has been started
Bluetooth PIN Request: 1235
Paired to device: (00:07:80:46:DA:FA)

[Mike Petrichenko]

Hi,

Thank you for the information.

WidComm with default installation has its own SPP server running (as well as Toshiba and BlueSoleil). So your device connects to stack's server. You have to stop any stack's server to be able accept incomming connections in your application.

Discoverable/Connectable: as you may see the error code is FEATURE_NOT_SUPPORTED. Those functions are supported only On MS, partialy on Toshiba and on new BlueSoleil.

[LucaUWF]

Thanks for the prompt response Mike.
This sounds encouraging, do you already have a documented procedure for doing this or could point me to some other resource that describes the process?

[Mike Petrichenko]

As it is stack related you have to check its docs. Any way for Toshiba:

1. Right click on its tray icon and select Settings
2. On first tab (Common) there are check boxes at the bottom. Uncheck all.
3. Click OK

For BlueSoleil:

1. Open its settings (Right click on Tray icon -> Settings)
2. Functions Tab
3. Turn all off
4. Click OK

For WidComm:

1. Right click on tray icon -> Settings
2. Local services tab
3. Turn all off
4. OK

Sorry for possible mistakes in description as i have russian versions of BT stacks running here. In other language they may call different but I hope you can find them.

[LucaUWF]

Hi Mike,

I'm pleased to say that this worked for the XP machine in the office running widcomm, so thanks!
More reports are coming in so I hope you don't mind me adding them to this post.

[LucaUWF]

Mike,

This is a slightly different issue in that the WCL does not see the Bluetooth device at all and therefore does not proceed to openning the servers, please see the log.
I had the user pair his phone just to be sure the hardware was correctly enabled and he did without a problem.
The user sent me some screen shots as he was struggling to tell me anything about his bluetooth hardware / software, see attachments.

As always, any help appreciated.


OS Information
===================================
Name: Windows XP
Edition: Professional
OSBits: Bit32
ServicePack: Service Pack 3
VersionNumber: 5.1.2600.196608
Processor Bits: Bit32
ProgramBits: Bit32
Name: Windows XP
===================================


DAL connecting
App Load Preferences
Bluetooth Init
Bluetooth WCL Loading
Bluetooth WCL Loaded
Bluetooth Supported stacks:
Bluetooth Enumerate Radios:


[attachment deleted by admin]

[Mike Petrichenko]

It is something WCL does not support.

[LucaUWF]

What exactly does it not support Mike?
How are you determining this, simply due to the lack of Radio enumeration?

I asked the user to use the same dongle on his Netbook Win7 machine and that worked fine, so I assume it's not the dongle that WCL doesn't support.
In such a scenario how can I determine what the WCL does and doesn't support such that the application can help guide the user through the Bluetooth setup process?


Since we have thousands of users it's looking likely we're going to be encountering a lot of support calls, the more information we can provide the support desk the better.

[Mike Petrichenko]

WCL supports only BlueSoleil, Microsoft, Toshiba and WidComm Bluetooth stacks. The stack on screenshot looks like something other. So WCL does not support this stack.

[LucaUWF]

We obviously need to support as many users as we can, so in these circumstances where we encounter a stack that WCL doesn't support would you recommend that we try to get the user to install a different stack?
The Microsoft stack seems to provide the best compatibility with WCL, and I assume XP SP2 comes with this stack installed as standard.

I noticed a post on this forum about installing stacks but some of the links are now dead:
http://forum.btframework.com/index.php/topic,859.msg4119.html#msg4119

There are several similar references to configuring dongle's for the MS Stack such as:
http://www.himsa.com/default.aspx?tabid=2062

I have also found some other interesting utilities that may help get users up and running:
http://bluetoothinstaller.com/
http://bluetoothstackswitcher.com/


Do you recommend any particular approach to ensuring we can get the WCL working on a users machine when:
a) The stack is unsupported
b) The supported stack is failing to connect and the steps you provide above (stopping all the auto servers on Widcomm and Toshiba) also fail


Sorry for all the questions but thanks for your continued support.

[Mike Petrichenko]

Hi,

With rgeards MS stack installing: http://www.btframework.com/howto.htm#msinstall

Unfortunately I can not give any any recomendations about what your users should do with unsupported stack as user may use it in different way. For example user needs HandsFree or A2DP support. MS does not support this. However, you can recomend to install one of supported stacks. Usualy WidComm is shipped as standard driver (for XP). Or may recomend to use BlueSoleil. All Toshiba notebooks has Toshiba installed. So usualy you will not face such issues as unsupported stack. May be one of tool you found helps.

Also in case user do not want to remove unsupported stack you can use serial port connection (which is supported by WCL as well).

With regards to default running services: unfortunately there is no easy way to disable it from software, only manual disabling helps. However, not bad idea if you use your own service's UUID instead of SPP. So in this case it will work on any supported stack without any problem.