Cannot Flash ESP32 board on windows 11 with vsc esp-idf

[GvTardy]

Hello,

I just installed windows 11 for testing (vmware).
Installing vsc and esp-idf was straight forward, the only thing that I cannot get working is flashing the esp32.

The board I use is a LilyGo T1.8, equipped with a cp2101 usb->com chipset.

I tried various cp210x drivers, no difference yet.
Checking device manager, the com port shortly disappears, making the typical disconnect-connect sound.
In vsc I get the following message:

Code: Select all

> Executing task: C:/Users/GvT/.espressif/python_env/idf4.4-rc1_py3.8_env/Scripts/python.exe C:\Users\GvT\ESP-IDF\components\esptool_py\esptool\esptool.py -p COM3 -b 460800 --before default_reset --after hard_reset --chip esp32 write_flash --flash_mode dio --flash_freq 40m --flash_size detect 0x10000 mqtt_websocket.bin 0x1000 bootloader/bootloader.bin 0x8000 partition_table/partition-table.bin <

esptool.py v3.2-dev
Serial port COM3
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\GvT\ESP-IDF\components\esptool_py\esptool\esptool.py", line 4930, in <module>
    _main()
  File "C:\Users\GvT\ESP-IDF\components\esptool_py\esptool\esptool.py", line 4923, in _main
    main()
  File "C:\Users\GvT\ESP-IDF\components\esptool_py\esptool\esptool.py", line 4370, in main
    esp = esp or get_default_connected_device(ser_list, port=args.port, connect_attempts=args.connect_attempts,
  File "C:\Users\GvT\ESP-IDF\components\esptool_py\esptool\esptool.py", line 122, in get_default_connected_device
    _esp = chip_class(each_port, initial_baud, trace)
  File "C:\Users\GvT\ESP-IDF\components\esptool_py\esptool\esptool.py", line 326, in __init__
    self._port = serial.serial_for_url(port)
  File "C:\Users\GvT\.espressif\python_env\idf4.4-rc1_py3.8_env\lib\site-packages\serial\__init__.py", line 90, in serial_for_url
    instance.open()
  File "C:\Users\GvT\.espressif\python_env\idf4.4-rc1_py3.8_env\lib\site-packages\serial\serialwin32.py", line 64, in open
    raise SerialException("could not open port {!r}: {!r}".format(self.portstr, ctypes.WinError()))
serial.serialutil.SerialException: could not open port 'COM3': OSError(22, 'A device which does not exist was specified.', None, 433)
The terminal process "C:\Users\GvT\.espressif\python_env\idf4.4-rc1_py3.8_env\Scripts\python.exe 'C:\Users\GvT\ESP-IDF\components\esptool_py\esptool\esptool.py', '-p', 'COM3', '-b', '460800', '--before', 'default_reset', '--after', 'hard_reset', '--chip', 'esp32', 'write_flash', '--flash_mode', 'dio', '--flash_freq', '40m', '--flash_size', 'detect', '0x10000', 'mqtt_websocket.bin', '0x1000', 'bootloader/bootloader.bin', '0x8000', 'partition_table/partition-table.bin'" terminated with exit code: 1.

On the internet I did not find any useful hints except to change the driver...

Does anyone have the same problem or and ideas/ workarounds.

Any help is highly welcome!

Many greetings
Georg

[GvTardy]

Hi,

I found a solution...
Windows 11 did use a newer driver that fails...

- ControlPanel-> device manager -> delete driver // select delete files

- on page https://community.silabs.com/s/article/ ... uage=en_US
download the Windows XP/Vista driver CP210x VCP Driver

- in device manager manually install this driver

Now I can flash the ESP again.

Sometimes I need a 2nd try, I will solder in the delay capacitor as well.

Cheers
Georg