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Instructions on how to setup Arduino for Windows computer. Applicable for classroom situation where the permission is limited.
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arduino-setup-windows.md

How To Setup Arduino on Windows

This guide was written while I was preparing for Arduino tutorial for a group of students. The first part of the guide should work for any general Arduino installation on computers without admin access. These have been tried on Windows 7, 8 and 10. The later part of the guide covers how to add Sparkfun Inventor's Kit code libraries as an example. You can add other libraries by replacing the SIK code library to your own.

###Contents

Installing Arduino

  1. Go to Arduino website https://www.arduino.cc/

  2. Go to Download tab

  3. Select Windows - ZIP file for non admin install

  4. Select Just Download

  5. Download should start for file arduino-1.6.9-windows.zip

  6. Once the download is complete, extract the files in the directory such as Documents or similar.

  7. There should be a folder called arduino-1.6.9. Open it.

  8. You should be able to find arduino.exe file. Double-click to run.

Issues

  1. Error message pops up "This application was configured to use a bundled Java Runtime Environment but the runtime is missing or corrupted."

Solution #1

  • DONT'T USE WINDOWS DEFAULT UNZIP
  • Use programs like 7zip or other similar program to extract the zip file.
  • When I used default Windows 'extract all' it didn't create half the folders which included java.

Solution #2

  • Try downloading the Hourly Builds (Under the box that says Arduino 1.6.9 on Downloads page)
  • Select Windows and it should start downloading.
  • Once download is complete, extract the files
  • Try running the arduino.exe file now.
  1. Security warning pops up and requires Admin access to allow it. Depending on how the computer is setup, it might block Java runtime. Unfortunately in this case you'll need to talk to the IT department or people who are managing the computer system to allow access. I haven't found a bypass yet.

Install FTDI Drivers

  1. Plug in the USB cable to the RedBoard and computer.
  2. When I plug in I get an error message "Device driver software was not successfully installed". It shows FT231X USB UART in the list and the message next to it says "No driver found"
  3. This is because you have not installed FTDI drivers.
  4. Go to How to Install FTDI Drivers page on Sparkfun. (https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-to-install-ftdi-drivers/all)
  5. It will explain what it is and why you need it. Important part is the link to download the driver which is this link.
  6. It's about 2MB. Click OK to download it.
  7. When the download is complete, run it.
  8. Installer with a title FTDI CDM Drivers should pop up. Follow through instructions.
  9. Once the installation is complete, the LED on board blinks and the system tray message pops up to notify that the driver is installed. Yay!

I had a small issue while running the FTDI CDM Drivers installer. After clicking Extract button I get a cryptic error message that says "The requested operation requires elevation." What?? I tried running it again and this time it shows User Access Control message. I guess the previous error was due to permission error. It was all happy second time.

Run Blink

FYI - I'm using RedBoard that's part of Sparkfun Inventor's Kit v3.2

  1. Open Arduino and click on Tools.
  2. Go to Board and select the correct board type that you're using. Mine is Board:Arduino/Genuino Uno
  3. Go to Port and select the correct COM port.
  4. Open an example sketch
  • File > Examples > 01.Basics > Blink
  1. Click Upload (round arrow button at the top)
  2. The status message at the bottom should show "Done uploading." if successful.
  3. You should see a blue LED blinking on the board.

Run Serial

To check that serial is set up properly, try running the serial example.

  1. Open example sketch
  • File > Examples > 01.Basics > AnalogReadSerial
  1. Click upload.
  2. Open serial monitor
  • Tools > Serial Monitor
  1. The serial monitor should pop up and rows of numbers should display.

Install SIK Code Library

This is only applicable if you have a RedBoard and want to use the SIK Code Library.

  1. Go to SIK product page and click on SIK Code Library link.
  2. Or if you just want to download the code library here is the link https://www.sparkfun.com/sikcode
  3. Once it's downloaded, extract it to
  • (directory to arduino)/arduino-1.6.9/examples
  • Once extracted, it should show ../arduino-1.6.9/examples/SIK_Guide_Code_32
  1. Restart Arduino
  2. Go to Files > Examples and you should be able to see SIK_Guide_Code_32
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