nRF54L15-DK Development Environment Setup Issues (SDK v2.9.1)

[minan.lee]

nRF54L15-DK Development Environment Setup Issues (SDK v2.9.1)

Environment

• OS: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (Korean language version)
• CPU: 11th Gen Intel Core i5-1135G7
• RAM: 8GB
• nRF Connect SDK: v2.9.1
• Toolchain Path: C:\ncs\toolchains\b620d30767

Issue Description

I've been trying to set up a development environment for the nRF54L15-DK board using nRF Connect SDK v2.9.1 with VS Code. Despite multiple clean installations and various troubleshooting attempts, I keep encountering the same build errors.

Error Messages

When attempting to build even simple projects (like blinky sample), I consistently get the following errors:

1. Toolchain path error:

include could not find requested file: /cmake/toolchain/zephyr/generic.cmake

2. Toolchain file not found in expected location:

include could not find requested file: C:/ncs/toolchains/b620d30767/opt/cmake/toolchain/zephyr/generic.cmake

3. Device Tree preprocessor error:

dt_preprocess() missing required argument: CPP

Steps Already Taken

1. Performed multiple clean reinstallations of nRF Connect SDK v2.9.1
2. Manually created missing toolchain.cmake file with content:
   <cmake>

   # Zephyr toolchain configuration

   set(ZEPHYR_TOOLCHAIN_VARIANT zephyr)

   include(${ZEPHYR_BASE}/cmake/toolchain/zephyr/generic.cmake)
3. Verified environment variables are correctly set:
   ZEPHYR_BASE=C:\ncs\v2.9.1\zephyr

   ZEPHYR_SDK_INSTALL_DIR=C:\ncs\toolchains\b620d30767\opt\zephyr-sdk

   ZEPHYR_TOOLCHAIN_VARIANT=zephyr
4. Attempted building in different locations (outside of nRF Connect SDK directory)
5. Tried building with different generators (Ninja, MinGW Makefiles, NMake Makefiles)
6. Verified all required executables (cmake.exe, ninja.exe, etc.) exist in toolchain bin path
7. Set up system locale for UTF-8 support
8. Modified VS Code settings for proper encoding and toolchain paths
9. Tried command-line only approach (without VS Code), with same results

Questions

1. Is there a known issue with nRF Connect SDK v2.9.1 on Korean Windows that could cause these toolchain path problems?
2. Are there specific steps required for setting up nRF54L15-DK that differ from the standard SDK setup?
3. Are there any specific workarounds or fixes for the "dt_preprocess() missing required argument: CPP" error?
4. Would using an older SDK version (e.g., v2.5.0) and then upgrading be a viable approach?
5. Is there a pre-built binary available for testing the nRF54L15-DK hardware while I continue troubleshooting the development environment?

I appreciate any guidance on resolving these issues. I'm trying to set up this environment for firmware development on the nRF54L15-DK board.

Thank you for your assistance.

[AHaug]

Hi,

Is there a known issue with nRF Connect SDK v2.9.1 on Korean Windows that could cause these toolchain path problems?

Installation and setup seems to have gone wrong, but I can't state that I know of anything that's related to using Korean Windows (or related to any non-western symbol language packs such as Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic etc. etc)

Could you describe your installation procedure more in detail? 

As far as I can see the OS you're using is supported, but please verify with https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ncs-latest/page/nrf/installation/install_ncs.html#update_operating_system yourself as well to be sure.

A few recommendations:

1. Remove everything that you've installed for NCS (except for your custom projects that you want to keep), i.e toolchains, SDK's nrfutil, nrfjprog, Segger J-Link, VS Code extension and other tools in path
2. Follow the steps for https://academy.nordicsemi.com/courses/nrf-connect-sdk-fundamentals/lessons/lesson-1-nrf-connect-sdk-introduction/topic/exercise-1-1/  without using custom paths (just use default path)
   1. Alternatively follow the steps in https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ncs-latest/page/nrf/installation/install_ncs.html without using custom paths (just use default path) 
3. Report if is different this time

Are there specific steps required for setting up nRF54L15-DK that differ from the standard SDK setup?

No, the setup of the SDK is identical, but there are certain versions of the nRF54L15 DK that is only supported on various versions of the SDK.

See  from https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ncs-latest/page/nrf/app_dev/device_guides/nrf54l/index.html 

Which revision of the nRF54L15DK are you using?

Are there any specific workarounds or fixes for the "dt_preprocess() missing required argument: CPP" error?

AFAIK it's caused by a faulty installation and/or that the installation does not find things in path.

Would using an older SDK version (e.g., v2.5.0) and then upgrading be a viable approach?

If you have a working version of v2.5.0 where you don't get the messages and if you're working with CLI and git then sure, you can install the required toolchain and upgrade the tools by migrating them manually and checking out the versions.

What you would need to do is to follow the command line steps in https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ncs-latest/page/nrf/installation/install_ncs.html 

1. Install the relevant prerequisites i.e install and/or upgrade all the relevant tools
2. Install the toolchain you need for v2.9.x
3. Get the NCS code

Is there a pre-built binary available for testing the nRF54L15-DK hardware while I continue troubleshooting the development environment?

Unfortunately there are no pre-built binaries, but here's a basic prebuilt hello world (with a bootloader chain that I've tested. It's https://github.com/nrfconnect/sdk-zephyr/tree/main/samples/sysbuild/with_mcuboot/sysbuild with one addition to sysbuild.config. You find the images within the build-folder

2_chain.zip

Kind regards,
Andreas