CONFIG_BT_HCIBTUSB selects CONFIG_BT_INTEL. That causes CONFIG_BT_INTEL to be built-in instead of being built as a kernel module. When the driver is built-in, loading firmware fails during early boot with the following error message: [ 1.058941] bluetooth hci0: Direct firmware load for intel/ibt-17-16-1.sfi failed with error -2 Make sure the driver is built as a module which should fix firmware loading.