nRF Connect SW package doesn't work on a Windows 7 32 bit system.

[Pietertje]

Dears,

I have tried to install the nRF connect SW package on a Windows 7 32 bit system (different versions) but was not able to get the applications running. When  installing an older version of the nRF connect version "nrfconnectsetup360ia32" I could install some applications, but when starting them the message appeared that these apps only work in the updated environment.

When installing the latest version "nrfconnect-setup-4.0.1-ia32" the nRF connect startup screen stays completely empty.

Is there a possibility to install an older version on this machine that has the programming and BLE functionality working?

As this machine is used in production, updating it to Windows 10\11 is not so easy. Would require of lot of extra work.

Thanks in advance,

Pieter Vermeulen

[Elfving]

Hi Pieter, 

By nRF Connect SW, do you mean getting the SDK and buildsystem up and running? Or which exact parts are you referring to?

EDIT: I see now that you are refering here to the "nrfconnectsetup360ia32" so nRF Connect for Desktop, but is nRF Connect for Desktop the only thing you need to get up and running?

Regards,

Elfving

[Pietertje]

Hi Elfving,

Yes, only nRFconnect for desktop is needed to get the functionality we need. We only need the programmer to work via the nRF connect desktop. This to program the nRF52840 BLE dongle with our FW. We have our own program developed that controls the BLE dongle once programmed.

Thanks,

Best regards, Pieter 

[Elfving]

Could you try installing an older version of the app using this drop-down menu?

Regards,

Elfving

[Pietertje]

That option is not available in the drop down menu. See below:

When pressing the install button it gives a warning that the version is not compatible and when ignoring this warning an error is returned and nothing is installed. 

I solved this issue by programming the nRF52840 on another Win10 machine. There the installation and updating worked OK. But I would prefer to get this working also on the Win 7 machine so that future dongle FW updates can be programmed easily.

Regards, Pieter

[Elfving]

Pietertje said:

But I would prefer to get this working also on the Win 7 machine so that future dongle FW updates can be programmed easily.

Understandable. Though I am glad you have some way of working around this.

I asked the relevant R&D team about this, who said that it is hard to say anything definite about this. There could be multiple things that would make this not work. They could give this a look sometime next week to check if there is something simple fix here, though until then it is hard to say anything about if it can be fixed.

EDIT: I see that installing older versions of apps where added in v4.1.0, could you see if you are able to install that version?

Regards,

Elfving

[Pietertje]

Hi Elfving,

Sorry for my late response but i was very busy with other projects and could not work on this one. as said before, installing nRF Connect v4.0.1 gives the following result on a windows 7 machine:

As you can see the apps cannot be installed as the menu is not shown. Installing nRF connect v.2.5.0 is working better but the apps are not compatible anymore and are not working. See below:

When pressing launch an error appears and the app doesn't work.

I have installed the BLE sniffer FW on the nRF52840 USB Dongle to see if that will work but the USB dongle in not recognized in Windows 7. The USB driver cannot be found. See below:

Can you support in getting the nRF52840 USB dongle working on the Windows 7 OS? Maybe by installing a separate USB driver or package? nRF connect SW package is not needed to run on this machine but we need to get the USB dongle working. The SW we have written to test our products is programmed on this USB dongle. 

Thanks in advance for your support.

Best regards, Pieter