How to enable Bluetooth in Mac with shortcut or command line?

Solution 1:

Here's a sequence that worked for me (OS X 10.6.7) when I had the same issue.

1. Press ⌘ Space to activate Spotlight.

2. Type "bluetooth", choose the 'Bluetooth File Exchange' application, and press Return.

3. Bluetooth File Exchange will prompt to enable the bluetooth hardware, press Return.

4. Bluetooth is now enabled and you can quit Bluetooth File Exchange.

Solution 2:

I've been using blueutil occasionally - seems to work. It's free and comes with the source code.

blueutil --power 1
blueutil --power 0

Older versions:

Usage:

Print bluetooth status
blueutil status

Switch bluetooth on
blueutil on

Switch bluetooth off
blueutil off

Solution 3:

1. ⌘+Tab until you get to the Finder.
2. ⇧+⌘+G to bring up the Go To dialog: type in /Applications.
3. Just type the letters "sys" and your highlight should be over "System Preferences". Press ⌘+O to open it.
4. In System Preferences, the cursor should be in the search field. Just type in "bluetooth" and press Return. Now you're in the Bluetooth preferences.
5. Press Tab, and there should be a faint highlight on the "On" checkbox.
6. Press Space, and that should turn it on.

If you happen to have Quicksilver installed, invoke System Preferences from there and go directly to step 4 above. Or without Quicksilver press ⌘+Space to activate Spotlight, type "bluetooth" and go directly to the Bluetooth preference pane, and step 5 above.

If you don't have a Command key on the keyboard, then hit Ctrl+F2 to activate the Apple menu, press ↓ and go to System Preferences and continue at step 4 above.

If in Step 5 pressing Tab does not navigate through all inputs, then press Ctrl+F7 to activate Full Keyboard Access. When done, press Ctrl+F7 again to disable it.