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How to Install FTDI Drivers

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Contributors: Paul Smith
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Windows - Quick and Easy

Note: The screen shots in this tutorial are from Windows 7. The process should be very similar for other versions of Windows. For most late versions of windows, such as 8.1 through Windows 10, the hardware may work fine without any driver install. If you can't locate a COM port for your hardware, then the set of instructions below is the possible fix. The exception to this is Windows 8. For instructions on how to disable device driver signatures, [please visit this tutorial](https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/disabling-driver-signature-on-windows-8).
Note for Educators: You will most likely need to obtain administrative privileges from your network or IT administrator in order to install these drivers.

  1. By default, windows does not have FTDI drivers installed. If you plug in your FTDI, open the Arduino IDE, go to 'Tools -> Serial Ports', and see nothing, you need the drivers! Let's go get them!

    No Serial Ports

  2. Download a copy of the v2.12.28 FTDI VCP Driver Executable here:

    Windows FTDI VCP Driver Executable - v2.12.28 (CDM21228_Setup.exe)

    Otherwise, visit FTDI's VCP Drivers page for the latest download of the Windows FTDI Driver executable and clicking on the Window's "Available as a setup executable" link. Make sure to unzip the executable before proceeding to the next step.

    Download Windows Executable Executable

  3. Choose 'Run' once it is has finished downloading, or find the file you just downloaded "CDM21228_Setup.exe" and double-click it to run it.

    Choose The Run Option

    Note: At the time of this tutorial, the images were referencing the old “v2.12.00” FTDI VCP driver executable. The installation process will be the same regardless of the version number.

  4. Choose 'Extract' and continue through the installation until it finishes.

    Extract Files

  5. If everything was successful, you should see some nice green check marks, indicating success!

    Finish Installation

    Note: You may need administrator privileges on your machine in order for this to run properly. If things didn't work out, try the next section of this tutorial: Windows - In Depth.

  6. Open up the Arduino IDE, and go to 'Tools -> Serial Port'. If you now have a COM port, congratulations! Again, if something went wrong, either retry this tutorial or give Windows - In Depth a try!

Success

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Windows - In Depth
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