NRF Connect

RE: NRF Connect

Simonr — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 10:17:25 GMT

This feature request has been forwarded to our development team, but I think you can use a relative path to avoid having to enter the different user name here. Alternatively use a script that reads and writes the user name of the computer that's used. I can not guarantee if/when this change will be made.

Best regards,

Simon

RE: NRF Connect

Kenya87 — Thu, 04 Sep 2025 19:30:49 GMT

It would be great to have Nordic MOVE the data directory out from under the AppData directory so that the program wouldn't be blocked by more IT departments group policy. Admittedly this can be a "cat and mouse" game as eventually it seems that IT group policy may eventually block that as well...but for now it works.

As others have noted the solution to add to the end of the shortcut Target: has worked as desired. "djh" is my user name so each user would have to replace the "djh" with their user name.

shortcut Target:

"C:\Users\djh\AppData\Local\Programs\nrfconnect\nRF Connect for Desktop.exe" --user-data-dir "C:\users\djh\NRF"

RE: NRF Connect

Simonr — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 07:14:54 GMT

Okay, unfortunately there is nothing more I can do than this I'm afraid, as the nRF Connect for Desktop has been reliant on running files from the APPDATA folder so I hope you are able to figure it out!

Best regards,

Simon

RE: NRF Connect

satellite — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 15:59:05 GMT

thank you Simonr!

Yes, our IT said that our group policy doesn't allow execute applications from the APPDATA folder.

Thank you for sharing the .tgz file! Our IT is looking into that and trying to help me with installing it in Windows. I will update with you later.

RE: NRF Connect

Simonr — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 10:47:48 GMT

Hi I only have the file as a .tgz link here (https://developer.nordicsemi.com/.pc-tools/nrfconnect-apps/pc-nrfconnect-programmer-4.2.0.tgz)

for you. We don't have each file available manually I'm afraid. Does your group policy also say you can not execute applications from the APPDATA folder?

Best regards,

Simon

RE: NRF Connect

satellite — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 19:50:22 GMT

Hi Simonr!

i have been having the same issue stated in this post. We are only trying to install the "programmer" utility in the nrfConnect Desktop app. And i have followed the instruction mentioned in this post.

for the command %APPDATA%\nrfconnect\nrfutil: C:\Users\XWEI>AppData\Roaming\nrfconnect\nrfutil This program is blocked by group policy. For more information, contact your system administrator.
So i moved the whole nrfconnect folder to C:\ dir directly and got the message:

C:\>nrfconnect\nrfutil
nrfutil

Usage:
nrfutil [+MODIFIER] [OPTIONS] [SUBCOMMAND]

Options:
--log-level <LOG_LEVEL> Set the maximum log level [env: NRFUTIL_LOG=] [possible values: off, error, warn, info,
debug, trace]
--log-output <LOG_OUTPUT> Set log output type: --log-output=stdout --log-output=file ... [possible values: file,
stdout]
--json Print output in a JSON Lines format
--json-pretty Print output as formatted JSON
--skip-overhead Skip all message overhead when in JSON output mode, outputting only the data part of
"info" messages and ignoring the rest
--changelog Print the latest changelog entry
--changelog-full Print the full changelog
-V, --version
--help-extended Show comprehensive documentation
--license Show license information for in-built dependencies
--detect-proxy Invoke libproxy's 'proxy' utility program to retrieve proxy server info and use it
-h, --help Print help (see more with '--help')

Built-in nrfutil commands (see installed commands with `list`):
help Show comprehensive documentation
install Download and install nrfutil commands
upgrade Upgrade nrfutil commands to the latest version
uninstall Uninstall nrfutil commands [aliases: remove]
prepare-offline Prepare local package and resource repositories for offline installs of nrfutil commands
search Search for installable nrfutil commands in the package index
list List installed nrfutil commands
self-upgrade Upgrades the nrfutil core functionality to the latest version

i also changed the directory in the property of the "nRF Connect for Desktop"
However, i was still having the same problem when installing the "programmer" utility:

Our IT suggested to check with you to see if you can provide me the specific files for "programmer" utility that we can install manually onto the nRF Connect app with the "Add sources" option in SETTINGS.

Thank you!!

RE: NRF Connect

Simonr — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 09:55:29 GMT

So there are no further issues at the moment, right? Let me know if you need anything else from our end.

Best regards,

Simon

RE: NRF Connect

Jayhumbard — Fri, 19 Jan 2024 21:04:24 GMT

Never Mind the last issue - The VSCODE UI has evidently changed a bit - the SDK and ulilities all seem to be working now - it's just different slightly from the video

RE: NRF Connect

Jayhumbard — Fri, 19 Jan 2024 17:26:28 GMT

Very good. It works with the alternative file path. Now I have a new issue. I am following the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcMCaODyISo

which walks one through the install process. I have downloaded the SDK, and installed VSCODE. I ran the install process in the Toolchain manager and it appeared to get all the SDK related tools. However when I open VSCODE there is no "Welcome to NRF Connect" tab and I see no way to get this tab to appear. So I cannot seem to enable the SDK by selecting it as shown in the video.

My install of VSCODE looks like this:

The NRF Connect extensions are clearly there.

I have this same problem on my non-Garmin personal laptop.

Any ideas?

RE: NRF Connect

Simonr — Fri, 19 Jan 2024 12:59:54 GMT

Some feedback. It is very interesting that you're not able to run nrfutil due to a group policy, as that is a prerequisite for all nRF Connect for desktop apps. Unfortunately there is not an option that lets you choose where the nRF Connect installer installs files. The installer installs the nRF Connect for Desktop program itself within %LOCALAPPDAT%\Programs\nrfconnect but during runtime nRF Connect for Desktop stores several things (among others the nrfutil executable to run) in the folder %APPDATA%\nrfconnect. These look similar, usually both are in the users home folder, but in slightly different locations. Because of that changing the folder where nRF Connect for Desktop is installed wouldn’t help.

But there is one thing you can try: This is an option we don't support, so it may break other/future things, but you can at least try. When running nRF Connect for Desktop you can use the command line option --user-data-dir to specify a different directory than %APPDATA%\nrfconnect in which many of the run time files will be stored, including nrfutil. So if you point that at a location that your IT policy don't block, it might help. One way to achieve this is to edit the properties of the shortcut that is used to run nRF Connect for Desktop and at the appropriate option and folder to the “Target” field, as pictured below:

Best regards,

Simon

RE: NRF Connect

Simonr — Fri, 19 Jan 2024 09:46:40 GMT

I've forwarded this internally and let you know when our developers have an idea. Is your firewall blocking apps from/to the Appdata folder? This has not been an issue for anyone in the past as far as I know.

Best regards,

Simon

RE: NRF Connect

Jayhumbard — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 21:44:57 GMT

My IT guy says he thinks it is because the app is going into the appdata folder... He recommends installing everything to a temp folder in C:\

I uninstalled everything and reinstalling. I can tell the desktop tools where to install but the nrfconnect-setup-4.3.0-x64.exe installer does not give me any option to choose a path

Ideas?

RE: NRF Connect

Jayhumbard — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 19:25:45 GMT

Deleting NRFutil was of no result...

#3 yielded the following result:

PS C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0> C:\Users\Humbard\AppData\Roaming\nrfconnect\nrfutil search Program 'nrfutil.exe' failed to run: This program is blocked by group policy. For more information, contact your
system administratorAt line:1 char:2
+ C:\Users\Humbard\AppData\Roaming\nrfconnect\nrfutil search
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.
At line:1 char:2
+ C:\Users\Humbard\AppData\Roaming\nrfconnect\nrfutil search
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ResourceUnavailable: (:) [], ApplicationFailedException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : NativeCommandFailed

So it looks like this is an IT thing...

RE: NRF Connect

Simonr — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 12:30:40 GMT

Three things you should try in the following priority:

1. Delete nrfutil.exe from %APPDATA%\nrfconnect\nrfutil.exe, close the nRF Connect for Desktop app and reopen it. This will re-add the file and would fix it in case it's broken.

2. This error could be caused by antivirus quarantine, and you should check with your IT department. Especially since this is the second time AFAIK your company specifically reports this issue.

3. execute the command %APPDATA%\nrfconnect\nrfutil search in your command line and let us know whether does it shows an error or the installable nrfutil commands.

4. Let me know what apps you want specifically and I will try to provide the specific files for you that you can install manually onto the nRF Connect app with the "Add sources" option in SETTINGS.

Best regards,

Simon