VS Code nRF Connect Extension nrfutil version issue

[tnesheim1]

Hi all,

I have been attempting to get the nRF Connect VS Code extension setup to try out some samples on the nRF9161-DK board.

I'm currently having a problem with a version mismatch between what the extension wants for nrfutil-device.exe and what the latest version of nrfutil installs.

Specifically the generated_nrfutil_batch.json file gets generated as follows:

{
  "nrfutil_device_version": "2.15.2",
  "family": "NRF91_FAMILY",
  "operations": [
    {
      "core": "NRFDL_DEVICE_CORE_APPLICATION",
      "operation": {
        "chip_erase_mode": "ERASE_RANGES_TOUCHED_BY_FIRMWARE",
        "firmware": {
          "file": "C:\\nordic\\blinky_tutorial\\build\\merged.hex"
        },
        "type": "program",
        "verify": "VERIFY_READ"
      }
    }
  ]
}

 

However when I run nrfutil install device using version 8.1.1 of nrfutil, it installs version 2.15.7:

nrfutil --version
nrfutil 8.1.1 (b6089d0 2025-08-21)
commit-hash: b6089d08a9cfdb292f8ab8d21e0908ded814cd11
commit-date: 2025-08-21
host: x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
build-timestamp: 2025-08-21T14:12:43.593658000Z
classification: nrf-external

nrfutil search
Command            Installed  Latest  Status
91                            0.5.0   Not installed
ble-sniffer                   0.17.1  Not installed
completion                    1.5.0   Not installed
core               8.1.1      8.1.1   Installed
device             2.15.7     2.15.7  Installed
mcu-manager                   0.8.0   Not installed
npm                           0.3.1   Not installed
nrf5sdk-tools      1.1.0      1.1.0   Installed
sdk-manager                   1.9.4   Not installed
suit                          0.9.0   Not installed
toolchain-manager  0.15.0     0.15.0  Installed
trace 

The effect of this is the Flash command fails within VS Code (toochain v3.2.1, SDK v3.2.1):

FATAL ERROR: command exited with status 1: nrfutil --json device x-execute-batch --batch-path 'C:\nordic\blinky_tutorial\build\blinky_tutorial\zephyr\generated_nrfutil_batch.json' --serial-number 1050
955061

If I run the same command from Windows Powershell I get more information stating that it is due to the version mismatch in the generated json file:

nrfutil --json device x-execute-batch --batch-path 'C:\nordic\blinky_tutorial\build\blinky_tutorial\zephyr\generated_nrfutil_batch.json' --serial-number 1050955061
Error: Unsupported batch file nrfutil device version: 2.15.2 - please regenerate your batch file with this version of nrfutil-device

I was able to temporarily work around this issue by manually editing the generated_nrfutil_batch.json file to be "nrfutil_device_version": "2.15.7".

Unfortunately this only works for flashing, when attempting to "Debug" the json file is autogenerated again and this gets reset to "2.15.2".

Another thing that was attempted was forcing nrfutil to install this older version, however this seemingly breaks nrfutil 8.1.1.

Also attempted to install nrfutil 7.7.0 as a co-worker had more success with that version, however it seems the Nordic URL paths have changed so I am unable to run the nrfutil install device command successfully.

Thanks any help would be appreciated with this issue.

[Hieu]

Hi tnesheim1,

I am unfamiliar with generate batch file feature. What is your end goal with this?

The toolchain runs its own copy of nrfutil and installed command, independent from what you install on your system.

How did you open the Powershell window to run the nrfutil command? If you are using Nordic's VS Code extension, you can use the "Create Shell terminal" feature to open a PowerShell with environment initialized to the same one your build configuration needs to use.

Hieu

[tnesheim1]

Hi Hieu,

I am also unfamiliar with the generate batch file feature and have no end goal with it. It seems to just be something that is generated automatically as part of the normal nRF build process when using the VS Code Extension.

For the actual build I am just using the UI to do the "Build" and "Flash" processes, so it is opening a terminal window in VS Code like you said. So I would think it would be using this built-in nrfutil as you suggested, here is a screenshot of the full output:

There is another error there that I'm not familiar with regarding a 'None' value in that image so not sure if that is something causing a problem.

For further debugging I was opening an external Powershell that showed me the mismatch version error I mentioned previously, but perhaps there are two different errors depending on which environment I use.

I will try to uninstall nrfutil from my machine to see if it is causing issues with the VS Code extension's version of it, and also attempt on another machine that doesn't have any nrfutil/Nordic packages installed to see if that helps.

[tnesheim1]

Hi Hieu,

Looks like the issue was conflicting USB devices causing things to get confused. I have a test system setup with a bunch of other devices connected (aka a nRF Dongle, JLink, etc.).

After I unplugged all of that stuff I am able to flash/debug the nRF9161 board.

See this post showing more details about the problem:

 nrfutil-device.exe fails if a USB-serial adapter is connected to computer