How to connect Pico to Windows 10

[espruino-discuss]

Posted at 2018-12-17 by user96257

The docs at http://www.espruino.com/Troubleshooting say to download drivers from http://www.st.com/web/en/catalog/tools/PF257938

I did, but the zip file contains installer apps that fail to run in windows 10

FWIW when I plug in the Pico while holding the reset button per the instructions, I get alternating green/red for a couple seconds, then solid green and red. Device manager reports a USB serial device on com8 with "this device cannot start" status, and an "STM32 Virtual ComPort in FS Mode" under Other devices, but with "There are no compatible drivers for this device." status.

[espruino-discuss]

Posted at 2018-12-18 by @gfwilliams

Hi, you shouldn't need any drivers on Windows 10. The boards should just plug in and start working right away (I'll update the troubleshooting guide).

Having said that, I just tried an older Espruino Pico and it does exactly as you say. All looks fine and then both LEDs turn on and windows reports an error. Newer Espruino Picos work fine, as does Espruino WiFi.

Does the Pico work ok for you when it's not in Bootloader mode? It looks like something in Windows 10 has been updated which means it has trouble with the older bootloader, although new firmware works fine.

There are a few solutions I think:

• If you can plug in to a Mac, a non-windows 10 PC, a Linux PC or Chromebook then you can update Espruino's firmware to the most recent. Bootloader mode still won't work on Windows 10, but otherwise the Pico will be fine.
• You can follow the steps on https://www.espruino.com/Pico#advanced-reflashing to completely rewrite the firmware (including the bootloader) - it'll then work great on all devices
• Assuming you can connect to your Pico when it's out of bootloader mode, I could give you some code to run on the Pico that would update the bootloader. There's a certain amount of risk there though because if it does fail, you'll have to go to the step above to fix it.

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Posted at 2019-03-27 by Skog

is there a way we can write the port search in the script to avoid driver downloads?

so it would involve the access to the IDE to specify any differences along with the software request the pc needs to identify the device.

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Posted at 2019-03-28 by @gfwilliams

I'm not sure I understand the question? On Windows 10, Mac OS, Linux and Chromebook you don't need drivers as long as the firmware is up to date (eg. any Espruino board sold in the last 3 years or so). Older boards can be updated in just a few seconds and only have to be done once.

If Windows refuses to recognise an older device firmware then there's no way the IDE can even tell that it's plugged in - short of installing a native application that might be able to search Windows for devices that haven't installed correctly (but I have no real idea where you'd start on that).