Can a Windows PC act as a Bluetooth beacon?

Question

Does a normal Windows (8.1) PC have the ability to act as a Bluetooth LE beacon? If so, is there any software to enable that?

Update

More current answers here: Beacons in Windows 10

Answer 1

Pre-Windows 10, Windows 8.1 in your case, doesn't support scanning or acting as iBeacon(s) nativly. However, you have some options:

• Use the WinBeacon managed library (yes, I'm the owner). Replace the driver of the Bluetooth 4.0 dongle with a libusb/WinUSB driver and you're all set
• Use a VM that runs linux with BlueZ stack
• Use a RaspberryPI as 'detector' that hosts a WebAPI interface to your Windows machine
• Switch to Windows 10

Answer 2

Bluetooth low energy or Bluetooth LE, marketed as Bluetooth Smart, is a wireless personal area network technology designed and marketed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group aimed at novel applications in the healthcare, fitness, security, and home entertainment industries.

Mobile operating systems including iOS, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry, as well as OS X, Linux, and Windows 8, natively support Bluetooth Smart.

I found software for Bluetooth 4.0 for windows 8 (64 bits) here http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/downloads/ds037617